A policewoman wears a mask to protect herself from air pollution at a junction during restrictions on private vehicles based on registration plates on a smoggy morning in New Delhi. November 4, 2019.
The air pollution in New Delhi has always been bad, but it has never been this bad that the government was forced to declare a public health emergency. Now, planes were rerouted, school classes are suspended, constructions are halted, and vehicles on the road are strictly controlled.
The demand for air purifiers has also increased significantly over the past years because the air was so toxic that people are forced to buy one. And it is especially tough for less fortunate Delhiites who cannot afford it. Some of them even venture outside without masks.
But what exactly turned this city into a gas chamber?
Carbon Emission
According to Santosh Harish, a fellow at the Center for Policy Research, the main contributor to this crisis are the carbon emissions coming from vehicles, factories and power plants. Dust from construction and road is also mentioned.
Because of this, the local government implemented the "odd-even scheme" in traffic roads, where cars with odd numbers can only be driven on the road in New Delhi on odd dates. This is out of the hope to take at least four million cars off the roads.
Crop Burning
Some farmers are burning their crops to clear the land and allow it to be planted with a new set of harvests. This practice is called "stubble burning", and is also contributing a lot to the soaring pollution in the capital, according to Siddharth Singh, a climate policy researcher who wrote "The Great Smog of India".
Crop burning has been illegal since December 2015, but it is still widely practiced all-over India. For instance, Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of New Delhi, previously criticized Punjab and Haryana, nearby states from New Delhi, for burning leftover crops.
Aside from banning it, the government had subsidized equipment that turns the leftover crops to something more useful like bio-energy pellets. Unfortunately, due to the production cost, it became unsuccessful.
Singh suggested that the government buy the crops instead and burns it cleanly since it is cheaper and easier for the farmers to pour kerosene on it and set it on fire.
The Pollution is Trapped
Unfortunately, it is usually cold in New Delhi around this time due to winter weather from nearby countries. This resulted in wind speed slowing down, which explains why the pollution is not dispersing.
Combining this and crop burning is a "perfect storm" for pollution, according to a study by Cornell University published in July.
Moreover, the geographic location is also a factor, according to Apostolos Voulgarakis from Imperial College London's Department of Physics.
Voulgarakis compared New Delhi to a bowl with the Himalayas as its wall. The mountain range is what traps the pollution inside. He warned that if nothing radical changes would happen, the city will experience the problem yearly.
New Delhi is currently ranked as the most polluted city in the world, with an air quality that is considered as "hazardous".
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