Actress and environmental advocate Dia Mirza has called for stronger action against air pollution, stressing that access to clean air should be treated as a human right rather than a privilege.
Marking the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies on Monday, Mirza used social media to highlight the public health consequences of deteriorating air quality, particularly for children and people whose work requires them to remain outdoors.
In a video shared on Instagram, she said children running on football fields, training for races, cycling, playing cricket or simply spending time outdoors breathe more deeply as they become physically active. In many parts of India, she noted, this also means inhaling polluted air into developing lungs and bodies.
Mirza cited figures for 2021 indicating that air pollution was linked to around 2.1 million deaths in India. She also pointed to the global impact on children, saying more than 700,000 children under the age of five died due to polluted air worldwide.
She said the burden of poor air quality is not distributed equally. Communities living near highways, landfills, construction sites, factories and power plants face greater exposure, while street vendors, traffic police, sanitation workers and construction workers are particularly vulnerable because they work outdoors and cannot simply move indoors when pollution levels become dangerous.
Calling cleaner air part of broader environmental action, Mirza advocated cleaner energy, reliable and affordable public transport, cleaner industries, an end to open waste burning, improved construction practices, greater use of walking and cycling, and more green open spaces. She also stressed the need for strong air-quality monitoring and accountability when prescribed standards are violated.
“Clean air is a high return investment. Clean air is climate action. Clean air is public health. Clean air is a human right,” Mirza said, adding that every child should be able to run, play, learn and grow without their next breath causing harm.
