Delhi world’s ‘most polluted’ capital

INDIA’S Delhi was the most polluted capital city in the world in 2023, a Swissbased air-quality monitoring group has found.

India, of which Delhi is the capital, was also ranked as the world’s third- most polluted country after neighbours Bangladesh and Pakistan, IQAir said.

The country’s air has worsened since 2022, when i t was t he eighth most polluted country, it added.

Air pollution is a serious problem in several Indian cities.

Experts say that rapid industrialization coupled with weak enforcement of environmental laws have played a role in increasing pollution in the country.

India has seen a lot of development i n the past f ew decades, but poor industrial regulation means that factories do not follow pollution-control measures. Rapid construction has also contributed to rising levels of pollution.

The report by IQAir said that India’s average level of PM2.5 - fine particulate matter that can clog lungs and cause a host of diseases - was 54.4 micrograms per cubic meter.

Globally, air that has 12 to 15 micrograms per cubic meter of PM2.5 is considered safe to breathe, while air with values above 35 micrograms per cubic meter is considered unhealthy.

Delhi’s air quality was worse than India’s overall air quality with the city having a PM2.5 reading of 92.7 micrograms per cubic meter.

Delhi struggles with bad air around the year, but the air gets particularly toxic during winter.

This happens due t o various factors, including burning of crop remains by farmers in nearby states, i ndustrial and vehicular emissions, low wind speeds and bursting of firecrackers during festivals.(