As the air quality index in Delhi-NCR deteriorates, the Delhi government and Centre have decided to jointly combat it from November 1st. Teams will be mandated to take action against garbage burning, stubble burning, vehicular emission/traffic choke points/measures to ease congestion, dug up and dusty roads, industrial emission, construction and demolition waste and use of power generators/DG sets.

As winter slowly sets in in North India, so is the toxic smog. The air quality in Delhi has fallen so badly already that the government's graded response action plan came into effect this week. But will this be enough? Clearly not. And what of the farm fire in Punjab and Haryana which are still a major concern. On Left, Right and Centre tonight, we have Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh answering some tough questions.

On today's Prime Time, a discussion about the deteriorating air quality in NCR. We ask whether the Centre and the state governments of Delhi, UP and Haryana are doing enough to control pollution.
With Delhi's air quality levels deteriorating day by day, the Supreme Court directed the transport department of Delhi to impound diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years.

The National Capital these days is in the grip of an emergency. An emergency triggered by air pollution. Delhi's air quality has begun to show a trend towards the 'very poor' category... forcing authorities to kick in an emergency plan that will see the implementation of several measures to improve the city's air quality. All this air pollution besides being a health hazard also impacts climate change in a big way.

Supreme Court has restricted the use of firecrackers across India saying that only green crackers will be allowed. To avoid increasing air pollution, inducing fire accidents, health problems like shortness of breath, eyes burning and respiratory problems, the Supreme Court came up with this judgment. Air quality in Delhi is also gradually inching towards the "severe" category largely due to stubble-burning in neighbouring states Punjab and Haryana. Today, on We The People we debate from reasons to ignorance and to delayed solution is our #RightToBreathe still at risk?

The government has sought stakeholders' comments on a draft National Auto Policy, which seeks to promote clean and safe mobility and adopt a long-term roadmap to harmonise emission standards with global benchmarks by 2028. The policy also envisages propelling India’s automotive industry amongst the top three nations in the world in engineering, manufacturing and export of automotive vehicles and components.

Transportation is a major source of air pollution in many countries around the world due to the high number of vehicles on the roads. Vehicles introduce toxic materials into the atmosphere that have several bad effects on human health and the ecosystem. Examples of such pollutants include Carbon monoxide, Hydrogen, Nitrogen Oxide, particulate matter, Ammonia and Sulphur Dioxide.

The Sri Lankan players had to wear pollution masks on day 2 of the third Test against India at Feroz Shah Kotla due to increased level of smog. However, this is not the first time a cricket match has been held up due to inclement weather conditions but it is the first time that a match has been halted due to increased level of pollution as the Lankan players complained about the poor air quality. Should Sri Lankans have continued to play or is it too much to ask international athletes to expose themselves to hazardous levels of pollution to play?

NGT slammed Delhi government for not taking effective steps to curb pollution. The green tribunal pulled up Kejriwal government and instructed it to come up with action plan within 48 hours.

Public Forum : Delhi's Pollution Crisis