印度首都雾霾引发中产出走

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

去年冬天，在又度过一个生病加上睡眠不足的夜晚后，桑吉塔.维亚斯(Sangita Vyas)到了极限，决定远离新德里及其空气中的有毒污染物。

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

维亚斯管理着一家经济研究所。

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.

越来越多的中产专业人士和外派员工选择离开被雾霾笼罩的印度首都，维亚斯是最早行动的人之一。

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年里空气污染最严重的排灯节(Diwali)假期过后，专家们警告称，人口外迁可能很快开始给这个全球第三大城市的经济带来严重损害。

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.

我那时一直生着病，夜里咳个不停，无法入睡，维亚斯告诉英国《金融时报》，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.

她在研究所里有5名同事，也都决定今年离开德里。

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

她表示：空气污染正在损害我们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.

作为印度的政治中心，德里近些年来与国内其他地区一样蓬勃发展，2014-2015年度（这是有此项数据的最近年度），首都地区的经济按实际值计算增长逾8%。

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

但经济学家警告称，如果不解决持续存在的空气污染问题，德里地区的经济增长将开始放缓。

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

上周，德里的颗粒物含量达到世界卫生组织(WHO)建议的安全阈值的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.

上周末，德里的空气污染水平再次飙升，印度环境部长阿尼尔.马达夫.戴夫(Anil Madhav Dave)为此宣布首都进入紧急状态，该市首席部长阿尔温德.凯杰里瓦尔(Arvind Kejriwal)则称德里成了毒气室。

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

上周日下午，凯杰里瓦尔宣布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.

建筑工地将停工5天，除医院和紧急机构外柴油发电机将被禁用10天，巴达尔普尔(Badarpur)燃煤发电站将关闭10天，学校停课3天，一些道路将利用吸尘器清扫。

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

他还表示，他正考虑再次出台限制私家车上路的措施。

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

上周六晚，德里南部Khan市场通常熙熙攘攘的咖啡馆和酒吧不同寻常的安静。

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

一位酒吧老板表示：没有人愿意在这种雾霾天出门。

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

上周日，数百人聚集在德里市中心，抗议政府在改善空气质量方面缺乏行动。

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.

抗议者萨马尔.希夫达萨尼(Samar Shivdasani)表示，他参加抗议的部分原因是空气污染影响他的户外运动生意。

This is the worst I have ever seen it.

这是我看到过的最糟糕的天气。

It is murder for business, he said.

这是对企业的谋杀，他表示，

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

我正认真考虑离开这座城市——不为我自己，而是为了孩子们。

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

经济增长研究所(Institute of Economic Growth)副教授普拉瓦卡.萨胡(Pravakar Sahoo)表示，许多富人感到苦恼，决定离开德里。

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

对于那些留下来的人而言，生产率水平将下滑。

This is not good news for the Delhi economy.

这对于德里经济而言不是个好消息。

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.

世界银行(World Bank)2013年的一份报告估计，印度空气污染造成的年度成本超过400亿美元，相当于该国国内生产总值(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.

在德里地区，空气污染对经济的影响已经体现在了房地产市场上，该行业通常是预示其他经济领域未来表现的一个领先指标。

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

根据房价指数MagicBricks，过去3年，德里房价下跌21.7%。

And estate agents say the decline is accelerating.

房地产中介机构表示，下跌趋势还在加快。

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，房租实际上在下跌，平均跌幅达30%以上，专门为外派员工服务的房地产经纪公司Mak Realtors的卡亚尔.马克哈尼(Kajal Makhijani)表示，

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

外派员工确实对污染状况感到担心，他们决定不到这里来，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，我们看到一些印度人也开始产生了这种担忧。

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

地方政府官员意识到，每年冬天出现的雾霾既是一个经济问题，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.

如果污染状况持续下去，人们会因生病请假或离职，德里政府职业和环境健康中心(Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health)主任TK.乔希(TK Joshi)表示，

That will be significant across the whole population.

这将对所有人产生重大影响。

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，德里首席部长阿尔温德.凯杰里瓦尔曾暂时性实施私家车单双号限行措施，不过，为应对空气污染问题而采取政治行动是很少见的做法。

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.

美国一项研究发现，凯杰里瓦尔的试验性措施减少了污染，但没有触及整体问题。

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

一个原因是，空气中的细颗粒物只有四分之一是汽车排放造成的。

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.

还有四分之一是旁遮普等邦的农民焚烧农作物所致，印度中央及地方政府似乎没有能力或者不愿采取措施遏制这种非法行为。

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

在空气污染对德里部分经济领域造成损害之际，有一门生意却很是兴隆：空气净化行业。

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.

维亚斯已搬离德里，但她的丈夫杰伊.坎内安(Jay Kannaiyan)却留在德里，经营Smart Air的印度办事处，这是一家发展迅速的初创企业，主要销售相对廉价的净化器。

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

坎内安在他位于德里南部的小工厂里解释称，过去一周，人们的购买兴趣非常浓厚。

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

去年冬季3个月里我们销售了1000台，

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

而今年冬季的头一周，我们就已销售了300台。

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

光是今天上午我们就接到了150通电话，电话太多了，我们最常用的一部手机都没电了。

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

去年我们在德里看到人们对这个问题的意识确确实实发生了变化，

This year that has gone up even further.

今年，人们的环境意识更强了。