The Indian capital closes all primary schools due to smog

Levels of PM2.5 pollutants – dangerous cancer-causing microparticles that enter the bloodstream through the lungs – were recorded more than 50 times above the World Health Organization’s recommended daily maximum on Wednesday.

Every year, New Delhi is shrouded in acrid smog, attributed mainly to the burning of stubble by farmers elsewhere in India to clear their fields for ploughing, but also to factories and traffic fumes.

Lower temperatures and slow-moving winds worsen the situation by trapping deadly pollutants each winter, stretching from mid-October to at least January.

India’s Supreme Court ruled last month that clean air is a basic human right and ordered both the central government and state-level authorities to take action.

But critics say arguments between rival politicians heading neighboring states – and between central and state-level authorities – have exacerbated the problem.

Politicians are accused of not wanting to anger key figures in their constituencies, especially powerful farmers’ groups.

New Delhi authorities have launched several initiatives to tackle pollution, but these have yielded little in practice.

Government vehicles are regularly used to spray water to temporarily dampen the pollution.

A new plan unveiled this month to use three small drones to spray water mist was derided by critics as yet another “Band-Aid” solution to a public health crisis.

A study in the medical journal The Lancet attributed 1.67 million premature deaths to air pollution in the world’s most populous country in 2019.

New Delhi’s choking carbon smog came as researchers warned that fossil fuel emissions would reach a record high this year, according to new findings from an international network of scientists from the Global Carbon Project.