Air quality in India’s capital Delhi has deteriorated to severe and extremely poor levels in the past few days, data shows.
Pollution levels crossed 25-30 times the World Health Organization (WHO)’s recommended safe limit at several locations in the city last week.
Experts have warned that the situation will worsen in the coming days due to weather conditions, use of firecrackers during the festival of Diwali on Thursday and burning of crop remains in neighbouring states.
Delhi and several northern Indian cities report extreme levels of air pollution between October and January every year, causing disruption to businesses, shutting down of schools and offices.
Both China and North America weaned themselves from coal mostly due to urban pollution concerns. India has the advantage of going straight to renewables instead of the intermediate NG route. One of the most successful EV promoting policies, that happens to be free, is cities restricting ICE license plates to certain days of the week.
EV models now cheaper than ICE vehicles even in the west is the best incentive of all. India foreign policy shifting towards closer tie to China and away from US is certain to accelerate Indian manufacturing sector/investment: https://asiatimes.com/2024/10/why-modis-shifting-away-from-us-toward-china/