Crowds have demonstrated in New Delhi as the Indian capital faces another winter engulfed in smog. Pollution levels surged again on Monday morning, with the city immersed in a thick blanket of smog.
The annual degradation of air quality in the capital to harmful levels has led to rare protests. On Sunday, demonstrators gathered at the city’s India Gate monument to demand action over the lethal pollution that envelops the area each year. Crowds held up banners and chanted slogans, while some disrupted traffic. Police officers detained some protesters by putting them on buses and dispersed others.
By Monday morning, New Delhi’s air pollution index had surpassed 350, placing it firmly in the “very poor” category according to India’s Central Pollution Control Board. Anything below 100 is considered good or satisfactory, while an index above 400 is classified as “severe.” Some areas of the capital even experienced an index higher than 400 early Monday as smog became trapped over the city amid falling temperatures.
India is home to six of the ten most polluted cities globally and 13 of the top 20. New Delhi is ranked as the most polluted capital city in the world, according to the Switzerland-based air quality monitor IQAir.
Every year, air quality dramatically deteriorates in New Delhi as the cold season approaches. The smoke created by farmers burning crop residue in nearby states blows into the capital and becomes trapped by cooler temperatures. This mixes with vehicle and industrial emissions, creating smog that causes respiratory illnesses and contributes to thousands of deaths annually.
Efforts to prevent this annual smog envelopment have struggled to achieve significant results. Authorities have launched a tiered emergency system that restricts construction, bans diesel generators, and limits vehicle entry when pollution reaches severe levels. The government has also introduced crop-burning control subsidies, but with limited success. A cloud-seeding effort last month failed to trigger artificial rain and reduce pollution levels.
Rahul Gandhi, leader of the opposition Congress party, criticised the treatment of protesters in a post on X, stating, “The right to clean air is a basic human right.”
Meanwhile, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, environment minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party, said the government “will continue every possible effort” to prevent pollution in the capital.
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