Delhi’s AQI in ‘poor’ category just days before Diwali

Like every year, Delhi’s air quality is taking a hit. As monsoon withdraws and winter chill sets over India’s national capital, the Air Quality Index has registered its worst reading of the season. In the early hours of October 14, Delhi’s AQI crossed the 200 mark.

This puts the city’s air quality in the ‘poor’ category. The last time this happened was in June of this year. AQIs of more than 300 put air quality in ‘very poor’ category and reading of more than 400 are considered ‘severe.’ Reports say Delhi’s Anand Vihar was the worst with the AQI shooting up to 374 on Tuesday.

But this isn’t news for residents of Delhi. Like last year, an upward trend in the AQI has been noted. A score of 167 was recorded over the weekend, with the maximum touching 191 on Saturday morning. Such air pollution trends have been observed over the last decade or so.

Despite an improvement in 2024, India again dominated global rankings for the cities with the most dangerous particle smog this year. The Indian capital New Delhi was the world's most polluted capital, closely followed by Chad's N'Djamena. The Bangladesh capital Dhaka came third, ahead of Kinshasa and Islambad.

Air pollution -- atmospheric and domestic -- was the main environmental risk to health in 2021, responsible for 8.1 million premature deaths worldwide, according to estimates in the "State of Global Air 2024" report carried out by the Health Effects Institute and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

The traffic-clogged megacity of more than 30 million people has been wreathed in poisonous smog during the winter months, with pollution levels surging more than 60 times the World Health Organization's recommended daily limit earlier this week.

New Delhi is regularly ranked as one of the most polluted cities in the world and is blanketed in acrid smog each year.

The pollution is primarily blamed on agricultural burning by nearby farmers to clear their fields for ploughing, as well as factories and traffic fumes. Cooler temperatures and slow-moving winds worsen the situation by trapping deadly pollutants each winter.

Over the past few years, the government has rolled out several measures to curb pollution, including the deployment of anti-smog guns, bio-mining of legacy waste dumps, large-scale Yamuna cleaning drives, and the use of advanced waste treatment facilities.