On Thursday 13 November, the New Dehli air quality index stood at 437 at the monitoring station closest to the Supreme Court, according to India’s Central Pollution Control Board. The board rates readings between zero and 50 in the “good” category.

Also on Thursday, India’s Supreme Court asked lawyers to stay away and argue cases on a virtual platform instead, amid worsening air quality in the capital.

This news appears in an article published by the South China Morning Post on 14 November, alongside reporting that a choking winter smog is currently blanketing the Indian capital in toxic haze, “driving residents to the streets in protest as doctors warn of a worsening public health emergency.”

CCN has also reported that authorities have urged local elementary schools to hold classes online, banned construction, and advised people to work from home as the annual plague of air pollution hit the “severe” category for the first time this season.

Quoting from the new Countdown on Health and Climate Change 2025 report issued by the Lancet medical journal, CNN writes that India recorded around 1.72 million deaths from outdoor air pollution in 2022, a staggering 38 percent rise since 2010. Figures reported in the dedicated Indian datasheet included in the Lancet report indicate that fossil fuels (coal and liquid gas) contributed to 752,000 (44%) of these deaths in 2022, while coal accounted for 394,000 deaths, primarily from its use in power plants. The use of petrol for road transportation contributed to 269,000 deaths. Moreover, the monetised value of premature mortality due to outdoor air pollution in India during 2022 amounted to US$ 339.4 billion, the equivalent of 9.5% of gross domestic product.

Writing from Dehli three days ago, BBC journalist Nikita Yadav attributed the crisis to “a mix of factors like low wind speeds, industrial emissions, vehicle exhaust, dropping temperatures and the seasonal burning of crop stubble in neighbouring states.”

Read more.