News: 0180804602

  ARM Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)

India's Toxic Air Crisis Is Reaching a Breaking Point (bloomberg.com)

(Monday February 16, 2026 @05:01PM (msmash) from the grave-concerns dept.)


New Delhi's air quality index [1]averaged 349 in December and 307 in January -- levels the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classifies as hazardous -- and the months-long smog season that forces more than 30 million residents to endure respiratory illness has this year sparked something new: public protest. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at India Gate on November 9 to demand government action; police detained more than a dozen people, and a follow-up protest later that month turned violent.

The government's response has been largely cosmetic. Authorities deployed truck-mounted "smog guns" and "smog towers" that scientists widely regard as ineffective, and a cloud seeding trial in October failed outright. A senior environment minister told Parliament in December that no conclusive data linked pollution to lung disease -- a claim doctors sharply disputed. The government cut pollution control spending by 16% in the latest federal budget. Almost 1.7 million deaths were attributable to air pollution in India in 2019, according to the Lancet. A 2023 World Bank report estimated the crisis shaves 0.56 percentage point off annual GDP growth.



[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2026-02-13/india-s-toxic-air-pollution-spurs-public-anger-in-new-delhi


levels the U.S. EPA classifies as hazardous (Score:1)

by Anonymous Coward

Not to worry, problem solved. We're shutting down the EPA. You won't be hearing from them anymore.

Until the goal posts move (Score:1)

by Reckoning ( 10502566 )

As the current administration has demonstrated repeatedly, when a metric shows negative, just change the metric (or remove it)!

Re: (Score:2)

by GoTeam ( 5042081 )

> As the current administration has demonstrated repeatedly, when a metric shows negative, just change the metric (or remove it)!

Are you talking about the administration running India?

Re: (Score:1)

by kenh ( 9056 )

> As the current administration has demonstrated repeatedly, when a metric shows negative, just change the metric (or remove it)!

I remember a recent administration that redefined "recession" - is that what you're talking about?

They also redefined "women's sports" to include anyone that wants to compete as a woman - is that what you're talking about?

A previous administration invented a new metric "jobs created or saved" - is that what you are talking about?

Just curious, you need to be more specific...

Re: (Score:3)

by ArchieBunker ( 132337 )

> I remember a recent administration that redefined "recession" - is that what you're talking about?

I'm going to need some citations for this.

> They also redefined "women's sports" to include anyone that wants to compete as a woman - is that what you're talking about?

You know this deals with literally 10 people nationwide? Why is this the biggest problem facing the nation?

> A previous administration invented a new metric "jobs created or saved" - is that what you are talking about?

> Just curious, you need to be more specific...

Going to need some citations for this as well there, chief.

There's no simple answer (Score:3)

by HotNeedleOfInquiry ( 598897 )

Air pollution control is incredibly expensive and I'm pretty sure nobody will pay for it given the cheapness of life in India.

Re: (Score:2)

by kenh ( 9056 )

Conspicuous by its absence, what are all the experts suggesting to remedy the situation?

What I got from this summary is that in the coming year (which hasn't fully happened yet, as we are 6 weeks into 2026) India will 16% of its's spending on measures scientists regard as mainly ineffective... should they spend more on the ineffective measures, or, perhaps, suggest something else? Why not roll out solar, I hear it's the bestest, cheapest way to generate electricity?

> Authorities deployed truck-mounted "smog guns" and "smog towers" that scientists widely regard as ineffective, and a cloud seeding trial in October failed outright.

And

> The government cut pollution control spending by 16% in the latest federal budget.

What should India do to improve air qu

Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

by Anonymous Coward

> What should India do to improve air quality?

Stop the farmers from burning the crop waste? They can till it back into the soil

Re:There's no simple answer (Score:4, Informative)

by Jeremi ( 14640 )

> Why not roll out solar, I hear it's the bestest, cheapest way to generate electricity?

I didn't read the article (it's paywalled and I don't want to have Yet Another Account Somewhere just to read it), but according to a [1]Wikipedia article on air pollution in Delhi [wikipedia.org], the main sources of air pollution there are:

motor vehicles

wood-burning fires

cow-dung cake combustion

agricultural fires (crop burning)

diesel generator exhaust

construction site dust

burning garbage

illegal industrial activities

thermal power plants

cooling tower mist emissions

landfill files

road dust

concrete batching

... so replacing their fossil-fuel power plants with solar would help and should be done, but I think they'll need to do quite a bit more than that to really solve their problem.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution_in_Delhi

Re: (Score:2)

by markdavis ( 642305 )

Unfortunately, there is no ranking or estimates of which ones are the worst. I suspect vehicles are up there in the list. And also suspect they have TONS of extremely-polluting, old, 2-cycle engines being used in 2 wheeled mopeds/cycles/scooters/generators/etc and micro cars. Just one such engine could produce the pollution of up to 125 4-cycle modern mopeds/scooters, or dozens and dozens of modern cars.

[1]https://rd350.info/blog/post/t... [rd350.info]

I also doubt most of the 4-cycle gas cars are using anywhere near mod

[1] https://rd350.info/blog/post/two-stroke-moped-125x-pollution-health

Re: (Score:3)

by unixisc ( 2429386 )

IIT Delhi did a study on this, and they found out that 25-40% of the air pollution is due to construction waste & dust, and publicly dumped garbage. Indian pollution controls focus on industrial waste and vehicular pollution, which come a distant second and third.

So they need to regulate the construction industry, and improve sanitation service, while also cracking down hard on garbage dumping. Oh, and also crack down on farmers who burn crop waste - in Delhi, that exceeds even the construction wast

Re: (Score:2)

by MtViewGuy ( 197597 )

India needs to start phasing out its coal-fired power plants. That's why China is trying to do, but there are so many coal-fire power plants built in the last 30 years shutting them all down will take many years to complete.

Off the Chart (Score:3)

by Kunedog ( 1033226 )

[1]https://www.airnow.gov/aqi/aqi... [airnow.gov]

Looks like 349 is about as high as you can get, but when I checked minutes ago, Dakar was at 580+ (Dakar sandstorm, I assume).:

[2]https://www.iqair.com/world-ai... [iqair.com]

[1] https://www.airnow.gov/aqi/aqi-basics/

[2] https://www.iqair.com/world-air-quality-ranking

Re: (Score:2)

by Pinky's Brain ( 1158667 )

Better educational system, lower levels of consanguineous marriages, centrally planned neomercantilism, less disruptive forms of corruption and nepotism, one child policy.

Or just blame the English.

Great video made by Indian YouTuber on this (Score:2)

by shilly ( 142940 )

it compares Indian’s response to China’s. China is not good, but is miles better

[1]https://youtu.be/-VPYbJxPvzY?s... [youtu.be]

[1] https://youtu.be/-VPYbJxPvzY?si=B9ZseiQwMQ7o2DSS

Life is a yo-yo, and mankind ties knots in the string.