There is a lot of brouhaha about air pollution these days. However, few know that our forefathers and the founders of the nation considered the malaise with the breath and magnitude that it deserved. And they expressed their concerns about the deteriorating health of the environment in no uncertain terms. One such great leader was MK Gandhi.

According to the Father of the Nation MK Gandhi or better known as Mahatma Gandhi, a man could do without any food for days and even live a day without water; however, it is not possible to carry on without air even for a second or a minute. It is such a thing which is so vital to life that if it is not pure, the results can’t but anything but be deleterious.”

The words of MK Gandhi still ring true. He wrote in the pertinent context of big cities of the United Kingdom, in which air pollution had been quite rampant. In fact, so much so that laborers had to survive in particularly harsh as well as bad conditions, totally unfit for human beings. Such deficiencies led to the absence of clean air for people to breathe. That was a major reason for the severe deterioration in the health of the people. It also led to a rise in deaths.

Mahatma Gandhi also observed that the matter deserved serious consideration by the contemporary Indian leaders. He goes on to say: We suffer because we don’t realize the immense value of pure air and this is a reason for diseases such as plague spreading amongst us.”

It is time to wake up and do our duty towards the environment. The recent case of Delhi Smog is a warning that if urgent measures are not taken then the entire human race could be heading for a disaster. In fact, global warming and climate change need to be taken seriously along with air pollution. Let’s heed to the advise of MK Gandhi.