12-year-old girl pens an open letter to draw PM Modi’s attention to air pollution impacting children

Worried over the serious health implications on breathing toxic air on children,12-year-old Ridhima Pandey, a global climate activist has written an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on behalf of all the children of India, seeking immediate steps against rising air pollution.

Highlighting the plight of people living in densely-populated cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and others which report high levels of air pollution, Ridhima has requested the PM to order strict implementation of all the rules and regulations, which will safeguard the health of every Indian, especially children who are the most vulnerable.

Ridhima decided to share the copy of her letter on her social media on Monday, September 7 since the day is being observed globally as the first International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies.

Sharing an anecdote with the PM she stated that once at school, her teacher asked all the students about their worst nightmares. “I told the teacher that mine was coming to school with an oxygen cylinder because the air was becoming so polluted. This nightmare is still my biggest worry because polluted air is one of the biggest problems in our country today,” she wrote in her letter.

Ridhima highlights that every year, in many cities like Delhi, the air becomes very polluted, which even makes breathing difficult post-October. “I worry that if a 12-year-old like me finds it hard to breathe, what must it be like for babies or children younger to me living in cities like highly polluted cities like Delhi and others,” she states.

Citing an example of Delhi she shared that air in Delhi becomes so toxic that people find difficulty in breathing and she had herself experienced this last year during Children's Day when she was in Delhi.

The young activist from Haridwar who was among 16 children, including Greta Thunberg who filed a complaint at the UN Climate Action Summit against the lack of government action on Climate Change, said that she is worried that if rising air pollution is not tackled, people will have to carry an oxygen cylinder with them to breathe clean air and survive.

Through her letter, she has urged the PM to give strict instructions to all the concerned authorities and officers-in-charge of managing pollution across India to strictly implement all the rules and regulations so that citizens of India can breathe clean air. “Kindly help us by making sure that an oxygen cylinder doesn’t become an essential part of the life of children, which we have to carry on our shoulders everywhere in the future,” she signs off.