Mothers For Clean Air Network:
General Election 2024
Citizen Agenda
Use your voice to make clean air a priority in the upcoming elections, 2024.
Despite what you may have read and heard, this is not a single-issue Election. This means that leading up to the upcoming elections in India, you have a powerful opportunity to ensure that clean air becomes a key electoral issue in your region. In as many places as possible, we want to make sure that candidates from each of the political parties know how crucial it is for the next government to take urgent action at both a local and national level to improve air quality and safeguard children’s health. Regardless of where you reside and who might be your next representative, we want to work together in making our voices heard. From actions to protect children from polluted air where they live, learn, and play, to Clean Air Zones and ambitious new clean air laws, we need as many of us possible to advocate for these essential changes to address the public health crisis of air pollution.
This simple guide provides us with all the help and advice we might need to get going, so that together we can make clean air a priority in this election. If you have any questions or need extra support, you can find our contact details at the end of the guide.
Candidates
You can find out who the candidates for each political party in various constituencies here.
If you cannot find the relevant information about your candidates, please contact your local election commission.
Manifestos
Political parties are expected to publish their manifestos soon. We will add/send a summary of their commitments on clean air once published.
Congress Manifesto English Final.pdfModi-Ki-Guarantee-Sankalp-Patra-English_2.pdfCommunist Party of India_Election Manifesto.pdfIGP MANIFESTO.pdf
Give a Missed Call To
Demand Clean Air
Give a missed call to demand Clean Air from all leaders and politicians in the upcoming general elections 2024!
Demanding candidates to PLEDGE!
In this election, Mothers For Clean Air Network has a clean air pledge that we are urging candidates to commit to.
The pledge is:
If elected, I pledge to push for urgent and ambitious action to protect young lungs from illegal and harmful air pollution. This needs to happen through:
Urgent action to protect our children's health by tackling dirty air where they live, learn, and play.
Expanding renewable energy
Promoting and enhancing public transport and providing practical help and support for people and businesses to move on to cleaner forms of transport.
Introducing Clean Air Zones/Low Emission Zones (LEZ) in the most polluted towns and cities to tackle the high levels of emissions from road transport especially outside schools and hospitals.
Supplying subsidised clean cooking fuel, also ensuring Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana to reach every under privileged household.
Preparing city-specific clean air action plans (CAPs).
Implementing CAPs by Urban Local Bodies in letter and spirit.
Targeting specific air polluting sources like soil and road dust, vehicles, domestic fuel, MSW burning, construction material, and industries.
Protecting the existing trees and biodiversity.
Updating and adopting ambitious new clean air laws that include a binding commitment to meet
Ask your candidates to pledge to fight for #CleanAirElections / #SwachhHawaChunav.
We have developed a pledge for all candidates fighting this election, so they can show their support for tackling air pollution. You can find the pledge card HERE(download), where you can download it and print it off for use as a campaigning tool.
If you meet candidates standing in your constituency, you can ask them to have their photo taken with the pledge card. The photo will be great to use on social media.
Urgent action to protect our children's health by tackling dirty air where they live, learn, and play.
Getting the most polluting vehicles out of our towns and cities quickly through Clean Air/Low Emission Zones and providing practical help and support for people and businesses to move on to cleaner forms of transport.
Support Clean Cooking, also ensuring Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana to reach every under privileged household.
Adopting ambitious new clean air laws that include a binding commitment to meet World Health Organization guideline levels for particulate matter pollution by 2030.
Air pollution-Facts:
If you get the chance to talk to any of the candidates in your area, the most powerful thing you can do is talk about why this issue matters to you personally and how it affects you, your family, and friends. You do not need to be an expert to talk to candidates about air pollution, but in case it is useful, we have provided some of the key facts about air pollution below:
Globally, air pollution is a silent killer. The air pollution levels in India are among the highest in the world, posing a heavy threat to the country's health and economy. All of India's 1.4 billion people are exposed to unhealthy levels of ambient PM 2.5 – the most harmful pollutant - emanating from multiple sources. The government has been grappling with this issue for years, prompting public demand for urgent action.
Many towns and cities also have levels of harmful particulate matter pollution much much over the recommended level set by the World Health Organization.
Air pollution harms everyone's health, but it is particularly dangerous for children, older people, and those living with pre-existing health conditions like asthma and COPD.
People living in the most disadvantaged areas of our towns and cities are often those exposed to the highest levels of air pollution. The main source of illegal and harmful levels of air pollution in our towns and cities is road transport, particularly diesel vehicles. Road transport emits nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter, both of which are very harmful to human health.
We are calling on the government to introduce Clean Air Zones/Low Emission Zones in the most polluted towns and cities to tackle the high levels of emissions from road transport especially outside schools and hospitals.
It is clear that our current levels of air pollution constitute a public health crisis that must be acted upon urgently by all levels of government.
How we can make sure young lungs are a priority for our local candidates?
This election provides members of the Mothers For Clean Air Network with a powerful opportunity to ensure that all the candidates in their constituency commit to tackling this public health crisis if they are elected. There are lots of ways we can get involved with campaigning in our respective constituency to make sure that air pollution is on the agenda and that your local candidates understand what an urgent issue this is.
Ground rules for campaigners:
Before you get started, please have a read of our ground rules for campaigners👇
The Mothers For Clean Air Network is a non-partisan network, whose aim is to campaign for urgent action to tackle the air pollution crisis. The network is independent of any political party, and we ask our members to bear this in mind when campaigning for clean air. Here are some tips on how to be an independent campaigner:
Our messaging and our aims are not party political.
Make sure you stick to the facts about air pollution and the measures needed to tackle this crisis.
Regardless of the politics where you live, try and make sure that you are reaching all the candidates when calling for action on this issue.
Don't wear party-political clothing or mix Mothers Network campaign materials with party-political campaign materials when you are representing the Mothers For Clean Air Network.
Email your candidates
You may want to email all the candidates in your constituency and ask them to take the clean air pledge set out above and find out what else they plan to do about air pollution if and when they are elected. You can find a template email to candidates here👇
Candidates will receive thousands of emails from voters during the election, so the more of your friends and family you can get to send the template email, the more impact it will have, and the more likely it is that you will get a response.
If you don't get the opportunity to meet any of the candidates in your constituency, you can still ask them to support our clean air pledge on social media and ask them what they will do to tackle air pollution at a local and national level if they are elected. You could also use these templates to print/write chart papers and use these to add all the citizen messages demanding clean air with the names and share with the candidates or on social media tagging them.
Canvassing
Throughout the campaign, candidates will be out speaking to voters, whether they're knocking on doors, attending local community events, or running road shows.
If you get the chance to speak to any candidates on the doorstep, at an event, or at a political event, then this is a great opportunity to explain how important this issue is and to find out how the candidate will tackle this problem if elected.
You might want to ask some of the questions listed above and explain why this issue is so important to you. This is also a great opportunity to get candidates to support the clean air pledge and ask them to have their photo taken with our pledge card.
Events
Candidates will be keen to speak to as many voters as possible during the election campaign. If you run or attend a community event on a regular basis, you could ask the candidates in your constituency to attend so that members of your group can speak to them about air pollution and find out their plans for tackling this public health crisis.
Raising awareness
Raising awareness and getting people calling for action in your community is a really powerful thing to do. If the candidates in your constituency know that lots of voters want their next representative to tackle air pollution, then it is more likely they will commit to taking action. So do share this guide as well as our emails and tools with your family, friends💙