印度首都霧霾引發中產出走

After another night of illness and lack of sleep last winter, Sangita Vyas had reached her limit.

去年冬天，在又度過一個生病加上睡眠不足的夜晚後，桑吉塔.維亞斯(Sangita Vyas)到了極限，決定遠離新德里及其空氣中的有毒污染物。

Ms Vyas, who runs an economic research institute, decided to abandon Delhi and its cloud of toxic pollution.

維亞斯管理着一家經濟研究所。

Ms Vyas is at the forefront of a movement away from India’s smog-bound capital by an increasing number of middle-class professionals and expatriates.

越來越多的中產專業人士和外派員工選擇離開被霧霾籠罩的印度首都，維亞斯是最早行動的人之一。

And after the most polluted Diwali holiday of the past five years, experts are warning that the outward migration could soon start causing serious damage to the economy of the world’s third-largest city.

在最近5年裏空氣污染最嚴重的排燈節(Diwali)假期過後，專家們警告稱，人口外遷可能很快開始給這個全球第三大城市的經濟帶來嚴重損害。

I was sick all the time and I wasn’t able to sleep for the constant coughing, Ms Vyas told the Financial Times from her new base in the southern coastal state of Goa.

我那時一直生着病，夜裏咳個不停，無法入睡，維亞斯告訴英國《金融時報》，她搬到了印度南部沿海的果阿邦。

All five of her colleagues also decided to quit the city this year.

她在研究所裏有5名同事，也都決定今年離開德里。

The pollution was hurting our productivity and our happiness, she said.

她表示：空氣污染正在損害我們的工作效率和幸福感。

Delhi, India’s political hub, has boomed along with the rest of the country in the past few years, with the capital region’s economy growing more than 8 per cent in real terms during 2014-15, the most recent year for which figures are available.

作爲印度的政治中心，德里近些年來與國內其他地區一樣蓬勃發展，2014-2015年度（這是有此項數據的最近年度），首都地區的經濟按實際值計算增長逾8%。

But economists warn growth will start to slow if the city does not sort out its persistent pollution problem,

但經濟學家警告稱，如果不解決持續存在的空氣污染問題，德里地區的經濟增長將開始放緩。

which last week led to particulate levels more than 30 times the safe limit recommended by the World Health Organisation.

上週，德里的顆粒物含量達到世界衛生組織(WHO)建議的安全閾值的30倍以上。

Over the weekend, pollution in Delhi spiked again, causing Anil Madhav Dave, the country’s environment minister, to warn of an emergency situation, and Arvind Kejriwal, the city’s chief minister, to call Delhi a gas chamber.

上週末，德里的空氣污染水平再次飆升，印度環境部長阿尼爾.馬達夫.戴夫(Anil Madhav Dave)爲此宣佈首都進入緊急狀態，該市首席部長阿爾溫德.凱傑裏瓦爾(Arvind Kejriwal)則稱德里成了毒氣室。

Mr Kejriwal on Sunday afternoon announced new measures to combat the pollution.

上週日下午，凱傑裏瓦爾宣佈了新的污染治理措施。

Construction sites would be shut for the next five days, diesel generators would be banned for 10 days except in hospitals and in emergencies, the Badarpur coal-fired power plant would be closed for 10 days, schools would be shut for three days, and some roads would be vacuum cleaned.

建築工地將停工5天，除醫院和緊急機構外柴油發電機將被禁用10天，巴達爾普爾(Badarpur)燃煤發電站將關閉10天，學校停課3天，一些道路將利用吸塵器清掃。

He also said he was considering bringing back a scheme restricting the use of private cars.

他還表示，他正考慮再次出臺限制私家車上路的措施。

On Saturday night, the normally bustling cafés and bars of south Delhi’s Khan Market were unusually quiet.

上週六晚，德里南部Khan市場通常熙熙攘攘的咖啡館和酒吧不同尋常的安靜。

One bar owner said: No one wants to go out in this smog.

一位酒吧老闆表示：沒有人願意在這種霧霾天出門。

On Sunday several hundred people gathered in the city centre to protest about the government’s lack of action to improve the air quality.

上週日，數百人聚集在德里市中心，抗議政府在改善空氣質量方面缺乏行動。

Samar Shivdasani, one of the protesters, said he was in there in part because of the damage it was going to his outdoor sports business.

抗議者薩馬爾.希夫達薩尼(Samar Shivdasani)表示，他參加抗議的部分原因是空氣污染影響他的戶外運動生意。

This is the worst I have ever seen it.

這是我看到過的最糟糕的天氣。

It is murder for business, he said.

這是對企業的謀殺，他表示，

I’m seriously thinking of leaving the city — not for me, but for the kids.

我正認真考慮離開這座城市——不爲我自己，而是爲了孩子們。

Pravakar Sahoo, associate professor at the Institute of Economic Growth, said that many of the better-off are suffering and deciding to leave Delhi.

經濟增長研究所(Institute of Economic Growth)副教授普拉瓦卡.薩胡(Pravakar Sahoo)表示，許多富人感到苦惱，決定離開德里。

And for those that stay, productivity levels will be going down.

對於那些留下來的人而言，生產率水平將下滑。

This is not good news for the Delhi economy.

這對於德里經濟而言不是個好消息。

A World Bank report in 2013 estimated that the annual cost of air pollution in India amounted to more than $40bn — equivalent to 3 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product.

世界銀行(World Bank)2013年的一份報告估計，印度空氣污染造成的年度成本超過400億美元，相當於該國國內生產總值(GDP)的3%。

The economic consequences of Delhi’s pollution are already being seen in the property market — often a leading indicator of what will happen to the rest of the economy.

在德里地區，空氣污染對經濟的影響已經體現在了房地產市場上，該行業通常是預示其他經濟領域未來表現的一個領先指標。

In the past three years, property prices in Delhi have fallen 21.7 per cent, according to the MagicBricks property index.

根據房價指數MagicBricks，過去3年，德里房價下跌21.7%。

And estate agents say the decline is accelerating.

房地產中介機構表示，下跌趨勢還在加快。

Rents have really fallen in the last year — on average by more than 30 per cent, said Kajal Makhijani of Mak Realtors, a broker who works in particular with the expatriate community.

去年，房租實際上在下跌，平均跌幅達30%以上，專門爲外派員工服務的房地產經紀公司Mak Realtors的卡亞爾.馬克哈尼(Kajal Makhijani)表示，

Expats are getting really worried about the pollution and deciding not to come, or to work outside the city.

外派員工確實對污染狀況感到擔心，他們決定不到這裏來，或者在德里以外工作。

Recently we have seen those concerns start to be shared by Indians as well.

最近，我們看到一些印度人也開始產生了這種擔憂。

Local government officials are aware that the smog which descends each winter could become an economic problem as well as a health hazard.

地方政府官員意識到，每年冬天出現的霧霾既是一個經濟問題，也危害居民健康。

If this continues people are going to be off sick and away from their jobs, said TK Joshi, director of the Delhi government’s Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health.

如果污染狀況持續下去，人們會因生病請假或離職，德里政府職業和環境健康中心(Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health)主任TK.喬希(TK Joshi)表示，

That will be significant across the whole population.

這將對所有人產生重大影響。

This year Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi’s chief minister, temporarily imposed a scheme that banned cars from the roads on alternate days depending on their number plates, but this was a rare example of political action to tackle the problem.

今年，德里首席部長阿爾溫德.凱傑裏瓦爾曾暫時性實施私家車單雙號限行措施，不過，爲應對空氣污染問題而採取政治行動是很少見的做法。

A US study found Mr Kejriwal’s experiment reduced pollution from what it would otherwise have been, but it did not solve the overall problem.

美國一項研究發現，凱傑裏瓦爾的試驗性措施減少了污染，但沒有觸及整體問題。

That is in part because cars make up only a quarter of the emissions of small particles.

一個原因是，空氣中的細顆粒物只有四分之一是汽車排放造成的。

Another quarter is the result of farmers burning crops in other states such as Punjab — an illegal practice that local and national governments seem powerless or reluctant to curb.

還有四分之一是旁遮普等邦的農民焚燒農作物所致，印度中央及地方政府似乎沒有能力或者不願採取措施遏制這種非法行爲。

But while air pollution is taking its toll on parts of Delhi’s economy, one area of business is thriving: air purification.

在空氣污染對德里部分經濟領域造成損害之際，有一門生意卻很是興隆：空氣淨化行業。

Ms Vyas has moved away from Delhi, but her husband Jay Kannaiyan has stayed behind to run the Indian office of Smart Air, a rapidly growing start-up that sells relatively cheap purifiers.

維亞斯已搬離德里，但她的丈夫傑伊.坎內安(Jay Kannaiyan)卻留在德里，經營Smart Air的印度辦事處，這是一家發展迅速的初創企業，主要銷售相對廉價的淨化器。

Speaking from his small workshop in South Delhi, Mr Kannaiyan explained he had been deluged with interest in the past week.

坎內安在他位於德里南部的小工廠裏解釋稱，過去一週，人們的購買興趣非常濃厚。

Last year during the three-month winter season we sold 1,000 units.

去年冬季3個月裏我們銷售了1000臺，

In the first week of this season we have already sold 300.

而今年冬季的頭一週，我們就已銷售了300臺。

This morning alone we have received 150 calls — so many that our main mobile phone died.

光是今天上午我們就接到了150通電話，電話太多了，我們最常用的一部手機都沒電了。

Last year we saw a real change in Delhi in terms of awareness of the problem.

去年我們在德里看到人們對這個問題的意識確確實實發生了變化，

This year that has gone up even further.

今年，人們的環境意識更強了。