Delhi NCR continues to record severe and hazarduous levels of air quality comparable to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.While stubble burning conitnues, thick smog engulfs Delhi.

Policy Concerns

With GRAP-III now in force, and pollution data itself under question, the yearly ritual-almost a yearly humiliation-returns once again in Delhi. The air we breathe is toxic, and with it rise concerns not just about health and the environment, but about livelihoods, finances, and most importantly, governance. The questions are inevitable: what happens to those at the bottom of the class ladder, or to those burdened with multiple marginalities?

At the policy level, the same uncomfortable doubts resurface. Does the executive truly think about the common citizen? Can the air we breathe not serve as a measure of the quality of life India aspires to? Air purifiers, once a luxury, have now become a necessity in Delhi-but can everyone afford one? What about those who simply cannot?

The Right to a clean environment and the Right to Life, which includes the right to live with dignity, are being violated in real time—every breath a reminder of that infringement. Who, then, is to be held accountable? Will the residents of Delhi continue to suffer and pay the price, year after year?

Even as COP30 unfolds on the global stage, here in Delhi the air is enough to make one severely ill. And with GRAP-III now implemented, one cannot help but wonder-is it enough? When will we actually see and feel a change in the quality of the air, instead of being handed the same statements, promises, and reports every year?

There is frustration, yes-but also a faint, stubborn hope that someday, breathing clean air in the nation’s capital won’t feel like a privilege.