Not Diwali or Stubble, This is the Real Cause of Delhi Pollution

It’s not stubble burning, Diwali fireworks or vehicles alone causing pollution, it’s a combination of many factors

Is Delhi’s air pollution, which crossed ten times the safe limit over the past two weeks caused by industrial emissions, stubble burning, fireworks, vehicular emissions or something more sinister?

(Image: Altered by The Quint)

Why has Delhi turned into a gas chamber? We are not talking about the abstract, conceptual why, but rather literally. Why has Delhi turned into a cocktail of poisonous fumes that threatens to kill people with every breath they take?

Is Delhi’s air pollution, which crossed ten times the safe limit over the past two weeks, caused by industrial emissions, stubble burning, fireworks, vehicular emissions or something more sinister?

We are joined in this episode by Dr Anumita Roychowdhury, the Executive Director for Research and Advocacy at the Center for Science and Environment, Dr Santosh Harish, who works with the Centre for Policy Research, and Agriculture Expert Devinder Sharma.

This is the second of a two-part podcast on Delhi’s pollution crisis.

In the first part, we took a brief look at what’s causing the dangerous levels of pollution in the capital, what harm it can do, what steps have been taken to check it and, most importantly, how we can protect ourselves from the pollution.

In this second part, we explore the causes further – is stubble burning the real cause? Is it fireworks? Industrial emissions? And what can we do, if anything, to reduce pollution?