Indian school children took to the streets on Sunday with a strong message.
“I am protesting for my right to breathe because it’s completely taken away and I need to live. It’s my right, you can’t just take it away,” said Shaurya Vardhan, protesting school student.
Schools in the capital New Delhi will reopen on Monday after closing for two days due to a spike in pollution levels, but air quality is likely to remain “very poor”, just a notch below the most hazardous “severe” rating, raising health risks for millions of students.
“This is affecting everybody. As a patient, as a doctor and as a family man, I am really concerned about it,” said Devendra Taneja, doctor and parent at protest.
Toxic smoke choking the city has plunged air quality into the “severe” pollution category on several days this month, as data showed that a pledge by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stamp out burning of crop stubble in neighboring states hasn’t worked.
