Mums are up in arms

Bhavreen Kandhari, who lives in Delhi’s Defence Colony, says the change in the Capital’s air quality was palpable as long back as 2003 when she delivered twin daughters. Pic/Nishad Alam

Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, nine, lived metres away from South Circular Road in Lewisham, one of London's most polluted streets. An asthma patient, she had visited the hospital nearly 30 times in three years. After a series of seizures, Ella suffered a serious attack in February 2013 which she couldn't survive.

In India, two mothers were following the developments. "That little girl didn't deserve to die," says Bhavreen Kandhari, a resident of Delhi's Defence Colony, who together with mother of two and Pune resident Anuja Bali Karthikeyan, were tracking Ella's case via online news reports. Last December, she became the first person in Britain to officially have air pollution listed as cause for death on her death certificate. After her mother, Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah campaigned for seven years to overturn a 2014 ruling that had not taken into account whether air pollution had caused the 27 asthma attacks, an inquest last year found that air pollution had "made a material contribution" to Ella's death. In a landmark ruling, Coroner Phillip Barlow said that to prevent similar deaths in future, the government must reduce existing particulate matter pollution targets so that they comply with World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. Campaigners and legal experts said the verdict could push the British government to get tough on air pollution.

Particulate matter refers to particles so tiny, they are no more than 2.5 micrometres in diameter, making them easily latch onto the lungs and enter the blood, leading to subsequent damage to organs. WHO recommends that particulate matter should remain under 10 micrograms per cubic metre of air (µg/m3), to prevent deaths.
"Ella's heartbroken mother, Rosamund, is now using the coroner's recommendations to draft the Ella Law, which will establish the right to clean air as a human right.

But what about India?" asks Kandhari, 50, who is no stranger to air pollution. A long-time resident of the Capital which has had a consistently poor record of clean air, she says she began to notice a big difference in air quality as long back as 1998. By the time she had given birth to her two daughters, it was 2003, and their health was testimony to the attack on the environment. "The kids had so many allergies. When they were little, they'd suffer from constant cold, cough and had even begun wheezing. While the elders of the family brushed this off as simple allergy, I instintively felt this was more serious. When I noticed how someone that little who was wheezing would miraculously turn well when we travelled out of Delhi, I realised that it was the city's pollution that had to be the reason."

Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah before the opening of a coroner's inquest in London on November 30, 2020 into the death of her daughter Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, 9, who died in February 2013 from a severe asthma attack that was later linked to air pollution. She is now drafting guidelines for a law she hopes will make access to clean air a human right. Karthikeyan and Kandhari say they have been inspired by the average mom's relentless fight. Pic/AFP

Karthikeyan, 48, had a similar experience. She had her first child, who is soon to turn 18, in Mumbai. "She had the best childhood. We went on all sorts of adventures and she never had health issues," tells the business management graduate. When her son was born a few years later, things weren't the same. "I gave birth to him in Gurgaon. This time, everything was different. I was the same healthy person who was following an organic diet, and yet, he was delivered a month before my due date. He was also underweight. He first started wheezing when he was seven-months-old," she adds, saying how she decided to be a fulltime mother for her children.

This was in 2007, when infrastructure development was booming in Gurgaon. "There was just so much dust around us, it was hard to breathe. He never went down to play even though we had a fabulous condo. My daughter couldn't go out either, as her brother was struggling at home. He had a terrible childhood, until we moved to Chennai three years later and he started to breathe better. His lungs worked better and everything seemed normal again. This was when I realised that it had to do with the toxic environment we were living in," Karthikeyan informs.

When the pandemic started last year, nature began to heal across the globe and countries recorded reduced air pollution. It was around this time that Karthikeyan and Kandhari got in touch and started the Warrior Moms collective. "On September 7, 2020, the world observed International Day of Clean Air. It seemed the right time to start our initiative. Our group included people from Pune, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Nagpur, among other metros. I've not met the core members of the group even today, and yet, our goal is clear - to create a better world for our children to live in," adds Kandhari.

Today, the group has clocked 1,000 members across India. They are all worried mothers who want the Indian government to tackle air pollution on priority. "The end goal of having clean air will require all citizens to work along with the local authorities. And so, we urge everyone to take every little environmental hazard seriously. If there is a tree being cut or waste not being segregated, people need to take charge of the situation by making an official complaint. If they don't know how to, they can ask us; we are here to take you through all the official processes. But please do not ignore a matter that has irreversible consequences," Kandhari warns.
Karthikeyan speaks of an initiative they launched in Diwali of 2020, #DhoomDhamakaWithoutPatakha, which was a campaign against crackers. "Everyone thinks green crackers are eco-friendly, but that is not the case. They emanate smoke, and can still be toxic. We also turned our attention to the problem of parali or stubble burning by farmers in Punjab. The resulting pollution was affecting neighbouring regions, as far as Rajasthan."

That the pandemic has forced everyone to follow their work and passions from home means that the group hasn't had the chance to meet in person. All initiatives are planned and executed virtually, and later amplified on their social media handles. With the war cry, ‘Enough is Enough', Warrior Moms has most recently collaborated with Parents for Future Global, that focuses on making the climate strike movement intergenerational. The movement operates across 23 countries, as a network of grassroots, decentralised and volunteer-led national and local groups of parent-climate activists. The mission is singular and clear: access to
clean air.

1,000
Number of members the Warrior Moms collective has gathered in one year

Measure air quality index

GOOD (0 to 50): Minimal impact, air quality good
SATISFACTORY (51 to 100): May cause minor breathing discomfort to sensitive people
MODERATELY POLLUTED (101 to 200): May cause breathing discomfort to people with lung disease, asthma, heart disease, children and older adults
POOR (201 to 300): May cause breathing discomfort to people on prolonged exposure, and to people with heart disease
VERY POOR (301 to 400): May cause respiratory illness to people on prolonged exposure. Effect may be more pronounced in people with lung and heart diseases
SEVERE (401 to 500 and above): May cause respiratory impact even on healthy people, and serious impact on those with lung/heart disease. The health impact may be experienced even during light physical activity