As winter descends upon Delhi, so does the all-too-familiar cloud of smog, blanketing the city in a heavy, grey haze. The chill in the air comes with a palpable gloom, and for anyone brave enough to step outside, the experience is nothing short of dystopian. The thick smog hangs low, and within minutes of exposure, the acrid taste of ash clings to the tongue. Breathing becomes labored, and even a brisk walk feels impossible.
Schools have closed their doors, and citizens are urged to stay indoors to avoid the dangerous air. Yet, for those whose livelihoods depend on being outdoors, this advice is a luxury they simply cannot afford.
The air quality index in Delhi has reached alarming levels, fluctuating between 1,200 and 1,500 on Monday and Tuesday, far beyond the acceptable threshold of 100. These numbers reflect the concentration of harmful particulate matter—PM2.5 and PM10—that can infiltrate the lungs, leading to serious health issues.
Across social media platforms, residents are expressing their shock, frustration, and sense of helplessness. Many wonder why this problem seems to resurface year after year, despite decades of warnings and reports. For many, the feeling is one of déjà vu, a relentless repetition of a grim scenario that has played out countless times in the last 15 years.
In 2017, a video captured the chaos of a drive through smog so thick that visibility was reduced to mere meters. That same journey, taken just this week, felt even worse.
This cycle of pollution and inaction has been exhaustively reported: the health toll of smog, the long-term consequences for children, and the disproportionate impact on the poor who must endure the smog to earn their living. Every winter, the same cycle of finger-pointing unfolds, with politicians blaming one another while doing little to address the root causes. And every year, we cover the same failed solutions, highlighting how little progress has been made in combating this crisis.
The smog has emptied out parks, with families kept indoors for their safety. Vulnerable populations, like the elderly and children, are particularly at risk. Meanwhile, those who must work—daily-wage laborers, rickshaw pullers, delivery riders—are seen coughing as they continue their daily routines, undeterred by the toxic air. Hospitals, too, are seeing a surge in respiratory problems, a direct consequence of the pollution.
And once again, we find ourselves asking the same question: why does nothing ever change?
The answer is not simple. Tackling Delhi’s air quality crisis demands monumental coordination across multiple fronts. A key factor in the pollution is the practice of crop burning in neighboring states like Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh. Farmers, faced with the urgent need to clear fields, resort to burning crop residue—a practice that, while cost-effective, contributes significantly to the smog that chokes Delhi each winter. Efforts to curb this practice, such as offering financial incentives and machinery to farmers, have largely fallen short.
In addition, Delhi itself is a major contributor to the pollution, with emissions from vehicles, construction activities, and factories adding to the toxic mix in the air. This vicious cycle continues year after year, with no real change.
This ongoing public health emergency might be enough to spark mass protests in other democracies, but in Delhi, the anger remains largely confined to social media. Activists argue that the delayed effects of pollution—its gradual toll on health—mean that many people only start feeling its consequences after years of exposure. A study from The Lancet revealed that pollution contributed to more than 2.3 million premature deaths in India in 2019.
There is also a clear class divide in the response to this crisis. Wealthier residents can afford to flee the city or invest in air purifiers, while those who cannot, like migrant workers and the urban poor, have little choice but to endure. The collective frustration of Delhi’s residents has yet to spark large-scale protests, and as the Supreme Court has observed, politicians tend to “pass the buck,” hoping the season will pass without any substantial action.
Experts argue that the key to solving Delhi’s pollution lies in collaboration between federal and state governments. Politicians must rise above partisan politics to implement long-term solutions. Moreover, citizens must hold their leaders accountable, and the courts should issue decisive orders months before the pollution peaks.
As we find ourselves once again in the midst of the smog season, temporary measures, like banning construction work, have been put in place. But with no concrete solutions in sight, the hope for the return of Delhi’s blue skies seems as distant as ever. The grim reality is that this dystopian cycle will likely continue, year after year, unless meaningful change finally takes root.
