Delhi Defines AQ Levels Of 0-50 As "Good"; Today's Air Pollution Reading 484 As Choking Smog Descends On Metropolis

Pollution levels in India’s capital, Delhi, have soared to their highest levels this year, forcing schools and offices to close and cloaking the city in thick brown smog. In some parts of the city, a live air quality ranking by IQAir put pollution levels at more than 30 times the maximum level deemed healthy.

India’s pollution control authority said its own reading of Delhi’s 24-hour air quality index (AQI) was 484, classified as “severe plus”, the highest so far this year. India’s Central Pollution Control Board defines an AQI reading of 0-50 as “good”. The catastrophic levels of pollution led to numerous emergency measures, including most schools being closed and lessons moved online. All non-essential construction was stopped and heavy vehicles were prevented from entering the city.

The pollution has become an annual blight on the lives of the more than 30 million people who live in Delhi and surrounding areas. Experts say the toxic air quality is reducing life expectancy in the city by an average of seven years.

The smog arrives annually as the weather in the north of India gets colder, trapping toxic pollutants from the tens of millions of cars on the road, as well as from rubbish fires, construction and factory emissions. The problem is further compounded by stubble fires, when farmers burn their field after harvesting rice to clear them for new crops. The practice is illegal in India and comes with a heavy fine, but according to Safar, a weather forecasting agency under the ministry of earth sciences, these fires have contributed as much as 40% of the pollution suffocating Delhi in recent days. On Sunday, satellites detected 1,334 such events in six Indian states.

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/18/pollution-in-delhi-hits-record-high-cloaking-city-in-hazardous-smog