Delhi’s air emergency: What’s causing the annual smog spiral?

Every winter, Delhi retreats behind a suffocating shroud of toxic smog. Schools close, masks reappear, and the Air Quality Index routinely slips into hazardous territory. But the real question is not what is happening; it’s why it keeps happening every single year.

Delhi’s annual air crisis is no mystery. It is the result of a series of interconnected failures: seasonal stubble burning across the northern plains, unchecked construction dust, ever-growing traffic emissions, and enforcement mechanisms that simply do not hold. Year after year, the same factors collide, and the capital is once again left gasping for breath.

Yet this raises a sharper, more uncomfortable comparison. Beijing, once known for its oppressive smog, managed to dramatically improve its air quality through sustained political will, robust funding, scientific planning and uncompromising coordination across agencies. If one of the world’s most polluted megacities could achieve cleaner skies, why does Delhi continue to fall short?