Comment It happens every winter in India’s vast capital: cold air arrives, trapping dust and other pollutants emitted by its 20 million residents. The result? A dirty, suffocating fog that engulfs the city and stops everyday life. For the third day this week, air quality in the city exceeded the “severe” limit, reaching 445 on Friday, India’s Ministry of Earth Sciences said. The number is 10 times higher than the target level set in the World Health Organization’s 2021 air quality guidelines, which are a 45-hour 24-hour average. As smog descended on Delhi and surrounding areas, officials on Friday ordered the closure of schools, factories and construction sites and banned diesel trucks from bringing non-essential goods into the capital. About half of the city’s government employees have been asked to work from home. The WHO estimates that millions die annually due to air pollution and recognizes it as the world’s greatest environmental health threat. IQAir, a Swiss air quality company, has ranked New Delhi as the most polluted capital in 2021. Air pollution has been linked to heart disease, a higher risk of stroke and lung cancer and in 2019 was the leading cause of death in India, according to government data. Siddharth Singh, author of “The Great Smog of India,” tweeted that, unlike immunity developed by a virus or a vaccine, “the human body cannot get used to air pollution,” as “particles they enter your lungs, your bloodstream. , and then it sticks to your organs.” Both the state and federal governments of India have faced criticism for their failure to address the problem of air pollution. And as the crisis worsened this week, regional politicians tried to blame each other for the health risk. At a press conference on Friday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said Delhi and Punjab should not be held responsible for the smog, which he called “a north Indian issue”. He said there would be no solution without joint state and federal action, adding that the six months since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) formed the government in Punjab was “not enough” for the government to implement solutions. India’s environment minister Bhupender Yadav, however, accused the northern state of Punjab of failing to stop farmers from burning crop residues, tweeting that “there is no doubt who turned Delhi into a gas chamber”. In a Twitter thread in October, Vimlendu Jha, an environmentalist and founder of youth organization Swechha, said the Delhi government lacked “political will and urgency”. Central and state governments “FAIL to find a medium to long-term solution to this problem,” Jha wrote, “often stopping short of simply blaming farmers and handing over the money, instead of farm reforms, crop rotation incentives, technological assistance, etc. .etc “ The crisis comes as India’s government on Friday called on rich countries to meet their pledge to provide $100 billion in annual climate finance to developing countries – and to increase the amount at next week’s UN climate conference. Masih reported from New Delhi.
