To what extent does government regulation and new laws solve problem of pollution? Discuss one example each of the success and failure of legislation to change the quality of:

(a) Public Life

(b) Private Life

A variety of steps were taken to clean up London. Attempts were made to decongest localities, green the open spaces, reduce pollution and landscape the city. Large blocks of apartments were built, akin to those in Berlin and New York – cities which had similar housing problems. Rent control was introduced in Britain during the First World War to ease the impact of a severe housing shortage. The congestion in the nineteenth-century industrial city also led to a yearning for clean country air.

(a) Public Life: The widespread use of coal in homes and industries in nineteenthcentury England raised serious problems. In industrial cities such as Leeds, Bradford and Manchester, hundreds of factory chimneys spewed black smoke into the skies. People joked that most inhabitants of these cities grew up believing that the skies were grey and all vegetation was black! Shopkeepers, homeowners and others complained about the black fog that descended on their towns, causing bad tempers, smoke-related illnesses, and dirty clothes. By the 1840s, a few towns such as Derby, Leeds and Manchester had laws to control smoke in the city. Moreover, the Smoke Abatement Acts of 1847 and 1853, as they were called, did not always work to clear the air.

(b) Private Life: Calcutta too had a long history of air pollution. Its inhabitants inhaled grey smoke, particularly in the winter. Since the city was built on marshy land, the resulting fog combined with smoke to generate thick black smog. High levels of pollution were a consequence of the huge population that depended on dung and wood as fuel in their daily life. But the main polluters were the industries and establishments that used steam engines run on coal. Many pleas were made to banish the dirty mills from the city, with no effect. However, in 1863, Calcutta became the first Indian city to get smoke nuisance legislation.