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Agence France-Presse

India’s capital New Delhi was shrouded in a thick, toxic haze on Monday as air pollution levels soared to more than 16 times the World Health Organization’s recommended daily maximum.
New Delhi and its sprawling metropolitan region – home to more than 30 million people – is regularly ranked among the world’s most polluted capitals, with acrid smog blanketing the skyline each winter.
Cooler air traps pollutants close to the ground, creating a deadly mix of emissions from crop burning, factories and heavy traffic.
But pollution has also spiked due to days of fireworks set off to mark Diwali, the major Hindu festival of lights, which culminates on Monday night.

The Supreme Court relaxed this month a blanket ban on fireworks over Diwali to allow the use of the less-polluting “green firecrackers” – designed to emit fewer particulates. The ban was widely ignored in past years.
On Monday, levels of PM2.5 – cancer-causing microparticles small enough to enter the bloodstream – hit 248 micrograms per cubic metre in parts of the city, according to monitoring organisation IQAir.
The government’s Commission of Air Quality Management said air quality was expected to further deteriorate in the coming days.
It also implemented a set of measures to curb pollution levels, including asking authorities to ensure an uninterrupted power supply to reduce the use of diesel generators.

City authorities have also said they will trial cloud seeding by aeroplanes – the practice of firing salt or other chemicals into clouds to induce rain to clear the air – for the first time over Delhi this month.
“We’ve already got everything we need to do the cloud seeding”, Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa told reporters this month, saying flight trials and pilot training had been completed.
A study in The Lancet Planetary Health last year estimated 3.8 million deaths in India between 2009 and 2019 were linked to air pollution.
The United Nations’ agency for children warns that polluted air puts children at heightened risk of acute respiratory infections.


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India

India’s capital celebrates Diwali cloaked in acrid smog – despite ‘green firecrackers’

People walk through smog in New Delhi, India, on Monday morning. Photo: Reuters

A street vendor sells fireworks last week near Jama Masjid mosque in the old quarter of Delhi. Photo: EPA

A boy looks for reusable waste as smoke billows from burning garbage at the Ghazipur landfill in Delhi last winter. Photo: AFP

Price surge weighs on gold, silver sales in India’s Diwali market

People buy gold and silver ornaments at a jewellery shop in Bengaluru, India, on Monday. Photo: EPA

An Indian woman tries on gold ornaments at a jewellery shop in Bengaluru, India, on Monday. Photo: EPA

People shop for silver and jewellery inside a shop in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, in August. Photo: EPA

A bar of silver. Physical demand for silver appears to be exceeding that of gold, observers say. Photo: May Tse

‘Suffering is happening now’: the fight to cool India’s sweltering streets

A worker quenches his thirst amid a heatwave in New Delhi, India, in 2022. Photo: AP

People in the old quarter of Delhi cover themselves with fabric to avoid the sun during a hot day in June. Photo: EPA-EFE

South Asia has long enjoyed natural cooling courtesy of the snow and ice in the Himalayan mountain range, but this is now itself under threat. Photo: Alex Treadway/ICIMOD/EPA-EFE

A man applies reflective paint to the roof of a shanty home in Ahmedabad, India, to reduce indoor heat. Photo: AP

Commuters drive through thick smog in Delhi last November. The Indian capital’s air pollution routinely shoots up in winter. Photo: AP

A farmer burns crop residue after a harvest in a paddy field on the outskirts of Amritsar, India, last month. Photo: AFP

Clean air on hold? India’s capital slams brakes on vehicle ban plan amid public backlash

Traffic moves on a road enveloped by fog and smog in New Delhi. India’s capital ranks as one of the most polluted cities globally. Photo: AP

Vehicles stuck in traffic on a highway in New Delhi. Analysts say vehicular pollution contributes more than 20 per cent of pollution problems in the Indian capital and needs to be addressed. Photo: AP

A notice announcing the ban on refuelling petrol cars older than 15 years and diesel vehicles older than 10 years, is displayed at a gas station in New Delhi on July 1. Photo: AFP

Traffic moves on a road enveloped by fog and smog in New Delhi, India. Delhi ranks as one of the most polluted cities globally, where the air quality frequently reaches hazardous levels. Photo: AP

Commuters ride on a bus in New Delhi. Observers say the public transport system is not well integrated between different modes of transport. Photo: AFP

News

Asia

South Asia

Levels of cancer-causing PM2.5 microparticles have soared to more than 16 times the WHO’s recommended safe limit


Levels of cancer-causing PM2.5 microparticles have soared to more than 16 times the WHO’s recommended safe limit.


India’s capital celebrates Diwali cloaked in acrid smog – despite ‘green firecrackers’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Levels of cancer-causing PM2.5 microparticles have soared to more than 16 times the WHO’s recommended safe limit

Levels of cancer-causing PM2.5 microparticles have soared to more than 16 times the WHO’s recommended safe limit