Is it possible that the present persistent epidemic-like debilitating flu is a result of high pollution levels or exacerbated by pollution even in the Northeast?
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For a lot of people in Nagaland, it is unlikely that the festive season was merry and joyous and cooler temperature after the harsh summer was enjoyable. Since November last, a persistent epidemic-like debilitating flu afflicted a good number of people. This flu doesn’t discriminate age, sex, race, creed, health and economic status and all such markers of human diversity. Neither did it care a hoot for immunity status, personal habits and hazardous exposures. Medicines failed us though Grandmother’s home remedies did provide some relief. Cold, cough and low-grade fever but sometimes high fever enervated the body and the mind surrendered to the flu’s incapacitating schemes. Consequently, Christmas and New Year celebrations were rather muted ~ the only positive aspect was an equally muted bursting of fire crackers. However, that could be because of the district administration’s strict guidelines and vigil.
Citizens of all Northeastern States may have also suffered from the same infernal flu. Per reports, people across the globe too have been afflicted by some form of flu and lives were lost in some countries. While this is not COVID, it is frightening that a flue incapacitates so many in this day and age. The times of the Spanish Flu were different and medical advances were limited. Today, with ground breaking medical advances, certainly a cure for flu should have been available but alas, some mysteries are perhaps not meant to be solved.
One is unsure whether all flues are the same, nonetheless there has to be some curiosity on the cause(s) of the present flu, especially because so many ailments and diseases including cancers are attributed to pollution. Is it possible that the present flu is a result of high pollution levels or exacerbated by pollution even in the Northeast? We will leave that to specialists and experts to enlighten us and the Government to strategize and implement preventive and curative measures. Meanwhile, we in the Northeast mustn’t delude ourselves that pollution is something only Delhi and other heavily human and vehicular populated cities experience. Pollution also isn’t confined to only regions with polluting heavy industries. All industries cause pollution and the Northeast is betting on industries such as mining, road and other constructions, etc. because we want to be developed and enhance our revenue base.
But industrialiaation and development also extract their pound of flesh and as we are discovering, the pound of flesh translates to environmental and ecological destruction causing rampant, contagious and uncontainable pollution that knows and respects no borders and boundaries, histories, politics, ideologies, economics, cultures, creed, wealth, fame and status. “The wind cannot read”, goes an old saying; the air, flu bugs, viruses and pollution also cannot read. This underscores that we need to read Mother Nature and her ways and not the other way round. So far, irrefutably human beings have done everything to bend and break Mother Nature to our will but she fights back and inflicts humanly impossible insuperable challenges every time. The results are thorny and tragic.
Besides health, the other related aspect that Mother Nature takes a toll on in the form of pollution is the economy. On January 22, 2026, The Telegraph had a very disturbing report titled: ‘Pollution poses greater threat to India’s economy than tariffs’ quoting Gita Gopinath, Harvard University Professor and former IMF Chief Economist. This, reportedly, she warned at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. On January 21, Gopinath is quoted saying, “Pollution is a challenge in India, and its impact on the economy is far more consequential than any impact of tariffs imposed so far,” emphasizing that environmental damage creates deeper and longer-lasting economic problems than trade barriers, which are often temporary and negotiable.
She reportedly highlighted the human cost of pollution, citing a 2022 World Bank study showing that nearly 1.7 million people die in India each year due to pollution, accounting for roughly 18% of all deaths. “The real costs of pollution are not merely environmental... They are deeply intertwined with economic growth, productivity and the health of citizens,” she said and noted that pollution reduces labor productivity, raises healthcare costs and slows overall economic activity, creating a long-term drag on growth. Gopinath further added pollution is not only an environmental imperative but also a matter of economic strategy saying, “From an international investor’s point of view, if you are thinking of setting up operations in India and living there, the environment matters,” while calling for urgent action. “Tackling pollution must become a top national priority. It needs to be treated as a mission for India,” Gopinath said, placing pollution control alongside deregulation as critical areas for policy focus. Gopinath also stressed that pollution affects the long-term benefits of India’s projected growth. “India is expected to become the world’s third-largest economy by 2028,” she said. “The challenge is raising per capita income to higher levels. Pollution makes this task harder by reducing the long-term gains from growth and increasing inequality, as poorer households suffer more from environmental damage.”
This must surely provoke some thought and spur some action in our policy makers and the nation’s movers and shakers in politics, governance, corporates, educators, as also other people who matter and the voters at large? As is well known, the environment and the human being cannot be separated as a corollary the destruction of the environment is the destruction of the human being. Because the economy is primary in the mind of Governments therefore their priority, surely all challenges to the economy must be fought on all frontiers? It would be ironic if we built fabulously humongous infrastructures and superstructures but none to man them and even none to accrue the benefits thereof, wouldn’t it? History is replete with numerous abandoned projects spanning across economic and developmental spectrums due to various reasons and even downfall of civilizations owing to environmental degradation. Who is to say that in our times or the times to come, it wouldn’t happen again? Maybe it will start or is starting, with merciless pollution and an accompanying persistent epidemic-like debilitating flu, for both of which none cares to find a remedy.
Monalisa Changkija
(The Columnist is a Dimapur-based veteran journalist, poet and former Editor of Nagaland Page. Published in the January 28, 2025 issue of Assam Tribune)