Severe and “Hazardous” two words that flashed across everyone’s thoughts, in conversations about North India’s air quality. November 2024 was another year where Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) reached alarming levels, surging past 400 and even touching hazardous readings above 1,000 at some monitoring stations. Delhi NCR’s air pollution crisis has become a perennial issue, particularly during winter months when a combination of seasonal human activities is exacerbated by the meteorological conditions. The blame every year shifts to attributing the pollution levels to the stubble burning and the firecrackers, with governments swinging into action, sometimes suo motu or sometimes directed by the apex court to activate the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) to mitigate the crisis. While this step was necessary, it only scratches the surface of a much larger, systemic problem that continues to plague the city—Delhi’s air pollution crisis requires more than just episodic emergency measures. The crisis requires a shift toward data-driven, technology-enabled solutions, moving beyond temporary fixes and embracing long-term systemic change. While stubble burning in neighboring states continues to contribute to Delhi’s poor air quality, this is not the singular cause. The bigger problem lies in how dispersed sources of pollution—such as vehicular emissions, dust from construction activities, and industrial discharges—interact with meteorological conditions to exacerbate the crisis.
While the MC Mehta vs Union of India established the right to a clean environment as fundamental to human life, and did catalyse efforts to combat the pollution, these efforts have been piecemeal and their effectiveness has been fleeting. The role of National Green Tribunal (NGT) and Commission for Air Quality Management – NCR (CAQM) has been commendable in ensuring enforcement of the regulatory measures but this has also reduced the respective state governments and pollution control boards to tick mark the enforcement actions, rather than addressing the problem systemically. The National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), launched in 2019, aimed to enable urban bodies to tackle air pollution in a participatory and collaborative manner. It sought to empower local authorities, who control sectors like transport, waste management, and road development, by providing them with the necessary funds to address air quality issues based on each city’s unique needs. However, since its launch, the program has faced challenges in terms of consistent implementation, and there has been limited progress in improving air quality. Delhi and Faridabad, two of the non-attainment cities under NCAP have achieved meagre 32% and 36% fund utilization respectively.
The biomass burning (stubble burning) and secondary aerosols emitting from far distances does contribute from ~23% to PM2.5 and PM10 levels in Delhi, as per the source apportionment study conducted by Delhi Government in November 2023. The report does also identify vehicular emissions, construction and demolition activities, open waste burning and road dust cumulatively contributing 35-58% and 51-65% to PM2.5 and PM10 levels. Hence, it is imperative to control these sources strategically. The first step for the same would be to conduct source apportionment studies periodically to guide the pollution control measures. The challans issued under the PUC have increased by 30% but there are no PUC checks on key pollutants like PM2.5, NOx. As per a report by Centre for Science and Environment, “New data from the Delhi Transport Department shows that failure rate is as dismal as five per cent — nearly all vehicles pass the test. There is no data, however, on how many vehicles show up for test”. While the updating of PUC technology will require a Government of India level intervention, the respective state governments can explore integrating PUC certificates with the Vahan Database to enforce real-time verification of PUC and challaning. As per government mandate, every construction site above 500 square metres are required to conduct their self assessment and record the same on the dust portal, but the system enforcement of the same and randomised inspection of such sites is not yet in place. While as per the CPCB guidelines, every hazardous category industry is mandated to install a Continuous emission monitoring system (CEMS) to monitor the emissions at source level, but as per the CPCB portal, of the 277 installed CEMS in Delhi, only 96, roughly 30% are operational. There is no penalisation in terms of non-operational and non-compliant units, there are no provisions to penalise, as the availability of real time data with state pollution control boards becomes an issue. With the spikes in the pollution level, the authorities seem to deploy anti-smog guns as a mitigation measure, but the anti-smog guns are not a sustainable pollution control measure. They also cannot reduce exposure to fine or ultra-fine particles unless the nozzle size is finer.
The need of the hour is to learn from the model cities across the globe such as Beijing, Bogota or Seoul, comparable to Delhi, which have achieved substantial reductions in the air pollution levels by adopting a three step approach – identification of the major air pollutants, laying out a strategic plan (short term and long term) to control these sources and setting in place right “plumbing” to enable the strategy implementation. The “plumbing” here refers to the mechanisms built to enforce the regulations, citizen awareness and system capacity building. These international examples have shown how AI can be leveraged to forecast the air quality/emission levels, traffic peak periods and low cost sensors to identify pollutants at local level, rather than the AQMSs which create a time lag in identification of pollution sources and respective action to be taken. Learning from Beijing and Bangkok, the governments can explore how offering financial incentives and education to citizens to adopt cleaner alternatives can catalyse efforts to tackle air pollution.
While the state governments take actions to tackle air pollution within their jurisprudence, it is the need of hour to understand and assimilate the fact that Air and Air Pollution is a state or a city problem, the judicial boundaries don’t apply to this menace. Hence, it is the need of the hour to move from a city and state based approach to an air shed approach to address the issue in the Indo Gangetic Plain (IGP). A body with dedicated financial support and representatives from all the IGP states to ensure coordination in air quality management measures needs to be setup. This effort needs to be augmented by also expanding the geographical reach of CAQM beyond NCR, as the CAQM regulations particularly wrt industrial (use of clean fuels), and vehicular emissions don’t apply beyond these areas. Delhi’s air quality crisis requires a shift in mindset—from reactive, piecemeal interventions to a proactive, long-term strategy that harnesses the power of technology, data, and regional coordination. While GRAP and the CAQM have played an important role in managing pollution during critical times, they cannot provide the lasting solutions Indo-Gangetic plains desperately need. It is time for a more integrated, scientific, and collaborative approach —one that prioritizes long-term health and sustainability over short-term political fixes. Only then we hope to breathe easy again.
Ankur Bansal is Founder and CEO of GDi Partners