India, Dec. 22 -- Years ago, I saw Nelson Mandela's dingy cell in South Africa's Robben Island prison - an equivalent of India's "Kalapaani". It was a 7x9 square-ft, cage-like cell where the 6-ft tall Mandela spent 18 years of his life. In the dark cell that seemed to sap one's energy, he worked out every day, trying to keep himself mentally and physically fit. He spent 27 years in various prisons, living the same life. Meanwhile, the world saw innumerable ups and downs, but Mandela, in solitary confinement, kept the flame of his struggle alive and intact. Recently, he has been appearing more often in my thoughts. Not because of his sacrifices, struggles or ideals but for the cell where he carried out his prison sentence while trying to keep himself healthy and fit. The toxic air in the National Capital Region (NCR) has forced thousands of people like me to walk or work-out within the confines of our homes. Last Sunday was the limit. I got up a bit late and was stunned by what I saw from the balcony. From my 17th floor home in Noida, I wasn't able to see the ground below. Between me and the surface of the planet, lay a thick pall of grey smog. I have seen clouds descend from the sky, but the smog seemed as if it were rising from the ground up. These days, toxic air dominates our conversation and is perhaps the only point of discussion in Delhi-NCR. The old are unable to breathe, the young are suffocating too. Pregnant women are shying away from stepping out and the newborns are struggling. Not everyone can afford an "air purifier", and those who have installed it, can't hide behind closed doors and windows for the entire duration of the winters. Mandela was jailed by an apartheid government, but we are condemned to suffer confinement in a democratic system. Why am I saying this? Till now our country has shown a lot of concern for the environment in words, but a fraction of this has been visible in deeds. Even today, lakhs of people use coal and firewood to cook food and keep warm. Small industries use the same fuel. Foreign car manufacturers maintain a quiet tech divide; When it comes to carbon emission norms for engines, they produce one type for us and another for the West. Those farmers who burn farm stubble haven't been offered any new options. A large number of trees are being cut for infrastructure development. There are provisions to plant many more trees. But no one assumes responsibility to see it to fruition. Do you think that our Parliament and legislature shows enough concern about this issue? This is the reason our leaders are now being booed by the public. In every meeting, the Delhi chief minister is regularly quizzed about it. But even Arvind Kejriwal should be asked the same question, shouldn't he? He ruled Delhi for a decade, Rekha Gupta is a recent arrival. I can say without any hesitation that all political parties are equally responsible for the mess that is Delhi's air pollution. I would like to quote China's example. In 2008, I visited Beijing with the then Prime Minister. A year ago, the World Bank had designated the city as one of the most polluted in the world, claiming that every year 400,000 people were dying in the megapolis due to pollution. When we reached the city, it was busy in preparations for hosting the Olympics. Stadiums were being built, residential blocks were being beautified and the infrastructure was being refurbished. As a result, there was dust everywhere. The media was speculating that such an atmosphere will have an adverse impact on the athletes as well as the spectators. They weren't wrong. During the Olympics, on August 10, 2008, Beijing's air quality index (AQI) stood at 604, whereas the AQI in London and New York on the same date stood at 38 and 24, respectively. In the five years after the Olympics, things deteriorated further. According to the data presented by the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2013, an estimated 16 lakh people died due to pollution in China. During that time Beijing's AQI crossed 750. This was the inflection point, and Chinese leaders swung into action. A five-year plan was drafted and massive government funding was allocated to tackle Beijing's air pollution. A ban was imposed on the direct purchase of petrol- and diesel-run cars. Those who wanted to buy such a car had to go through the limited lottery option. Those who wanted to buy a car were given easy options to buy electric vehicles and trucks were banned from entering densely populated areas. The use of coal-fired machines was steadily brought down. The city was saturated with metro, rapid rail and other transport options. A culture of cycling was reintroduced. The paper mills and other polluting factories were removed from the urban areas. Governors and city mayors were given pollution targets, tightening the administration, making them more proactive. Today, unlike India, China doesn't just stop at measures like the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap). Pollution control and management is a year-round operation. A strong regulator acts as a watchdog. And the results are visible. Last Monday, my phone was showing Noida's AQI at 460 while, at the same time, Beijing's was 73. That same evening, the Chinese embassy spokesperson in New Delhi wrote on X, "India and China are struggling with air pollution amidst rapid urbanisation. Though the challenges are complex, in the last decade, China has registered great improvement." No doubt, there's a world of difference between China and India in terms of governance and governance systems. But that can't be used to excuse inaction. If we don't take urgent steps to tackle the pollution right away, we will pay a heavy price for it in the near future....