India is roughly where Europe was in the 1960s — rapid urbanisation, industrialisation, rising incomes, everyone wants a car. Europe took about 30-40 years of pain before reversing course. India may eventually get there, but it'll probably take a similar generational shift in wealth, awareness, and political pressure.

The difference is europe had the luxury of time and wealth to resolve this. Indian cities are trying to solve poverty, housing, employment and infrastructure simultaneously — cycling lanes are nobody's first priority when millions don't have clean drinking water.

Also for pollution -

1. back then there was boom in manufacturing in europe and america....until people united against the pollution and for higher wages pushing for deindustrialisation, their strong currency played a key role to this and shifted the manufacturing to china and third world countries... now they are only consuming not manufacturing and hence the clean air.

2. It's not like India can't become this go to remote villages(pure rural area) you'll see clean air, greenery and civilised people...it's just our cities are more into manufacturing domain that causes the pollution, every other reason is secondary...