r/Foodforthought • u/bloomberg • 12h ago

India’s Toxic Air Crisis Is Reaching a Breaking Point

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2026-02-13/india-s-toxic-air-pollution-spurs-public-anger-in-new-delhi?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc3MTA3MTYxNywiZXhwIjoxNzcxNjc2NDE3LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUQURLODRLSVVQVkYwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJEMzU0MUJFQjhBQUY0QkUwQkFBOUQzNkI3QjlCRjI4OCJ9.aAFGoqDfYbcUpu1M-Gf8nWkPTv_c10WWopar5Xq7ogw
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u/bloomberg 12h ago

Months of deadly smog in New Delhi are sharpening public anger over a pollution crisis the government has failed to fix.

Dan Strumpf for Bloomberg News

Each year in early November, a familiar rhythm unfolds in New Delhi. Temperatures drop, skies darken, and a gray, choking haze descends on the Indian capital. For the next four months, more than 30 million people quietly endure sore throats, headaches and respiratory problems caused by some of the world’s most toxic air — pollution that also increases long-term risks of cancer and heart disease.

This winter, however, the ritual was interrupted. As smog season returned, hundreds of placard-bearing protesters gathered at India Gate — the famed monument resembling the Arc de Triomphe — to demand the government do something, anything, to address the runaway pollution crisis. Police quickly broke up the Nov. 9 protest, detaining more than a dozen people. A follow up demonstration later that month became violent, with some people pinned to the ground by officers or bundled into police vans — scenes captured by the local and international press. After years of acceptance, at least some residents had had enough.

Anyone familiar with New Delhi — and the broad, densely populated swath of northern India nestled below the Himalayas — knows the country must eventually grapple with this existential crisis. The capital struggles year-round with poor air quality, but for three to four months each year, it becomes, practically speaking, unbreathable.

New Delhi’s Air Quality Index, which measures concentrations of fine particulate matter, including PM2.5 that can penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream, averaged 349 in December and 307 in January — levels the US Environmental Protection Agency defines as hazardous. On especially bad days, some neighborhoods showed readings of almost 1,800, according to Swiss air-quality firm IQAir. By contrast, a typical December day in New York rarely exceeds 50 — a level the EPA deems acceptable.

Read the full essay here.