Delhi's Air Quality Troubles

Auto rickshaws driving into the haze in the morning hours in New Delhi.

Unique identifier: GP0STPKC6

Type: Image

Shoot date: 12/01/2016

Locations: Asia, India, New Delhi

Credit line: © Subrata Biswas / Greenpeace

Ranking: ★★★★ (E)

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Clean Air Nation: Delhi Chokes in the Winter Smog

Clean Air Nation is a campaign aiming at curbing pollution levels across Indian cities. India is home to 13 out of 20 of the most polluted cities in the world.
As the political capital - and indeed, the most polluted of all cities - the bad air in Delhi gets the most attention. But, scratch below the murky surface, and you will find concentrations of PM2.5 in several other cities - Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Muzzafarpur and Faridabad, amongst others - that would justify the triggering of a ‘Red Alert.’ Even the government’s own, largely inadequate NAQI data reveals that 23 of the 32 stations across India are showing more than 70% exceedance of the national standards. The pollution levels in a few Indian cities have the embarrassing distinction of having exceeded the toxic levels of Beijing and other Chinese cities, demonstrating levels at least ten times higher than the WHO standards, making air pollution truly a national emergency.

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