Topline
New Delhi was engulfed by hazardous smog as air quality levels plummeted after India’s national capital celebrated the festival of Diwali without a blanket ban on firecrackers for the first time in five years.
Commuters make their way past India Gate amid smoggy conditions in New Delhi, India.
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Key Facts
Delhi ranked as the world’s most polluted city on IQ Air’s tracker Wednesday, with the city’s Air Quality Index breaching 400, which is well above the “hazardous” benchmark at which even healthy individuals experience adverse effects.
A day earlier, some parts of Delhi reported AQI above 2,000—which is more than six times higher than the “hazardous” level—as India’s national capital celebrated the Hindu festival of lights with fewer restrictions on firecrackers following a Supreme Court ruling.
The Indian government’s Central Pollution Control Board reported less severe pollution numbers, but the Times of India reported that this was a result of the agency’s AQI readings being capped at 500, as an AQI above 301 is already classified as hazardous and with severe health impacts and “higher values are seen to be of limited practical use.”
As with every year, the spike in pollution has triggered a blame game between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)—which ran the city-state’s government from 2015 to 2025—and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)—which won Delhi’s election this year.
AAP’s leaders accused the BJP of pushing people to burst crackers and worsen air pollution, while the BJP’s blamed the city’s pollution on the burning of crop residues in the AAP-ruled neighboring state of Punjab.
Why Did Delhi Ban Firecrackers?
In 2020, India’s National Green Tribunal imposed a total ban on the sale and lighting of firecrackers across most of Delhi due to concerns about worsening air quality. The ban remained in effect for the next four years as well, but it became a major political lightning rod with the right-wing BJP decrying the move as an attack on Hindu religious sentiments. BJP’s leaders attempted to get India’s Supreme Court to overturn the ban several times, but the top court pushed back, saying: “let people breathe,” and said the plaintiffs should spend their money “on sweets”—also a popular Diwali tradition.
What Do We Know About The Ban Reversal?
Earlier this year, the BJP, which leads both Delhi’s government and the federal government, urged the Supreme Court to revisit the blanket ban, arguing people should be allowed to use “green crackers” to celebrate important festivals. In a ruling issued earlier this month, the court sided with the government, noting that the ban hadn’t effectively curbed pollution and a “balanced approach” was needed “permitting the bursting of green firecrackers in moderation while not compromising the environment.”
What Are ‘green’ Firecrackers?
Firecrackers, which are labeled “green” by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, are supposed to emit 30-40% less gas pollutants and particulate matter. The court also mandated that these crackers could only be burst in the Delhi National Capital Region between 6 and 7 a.m. local time and 8 and 10 p.m. on Diwali and a day before the festival. But the rules were openly flouted with crackers being burst as late as midnight on Diwali day.
Key Background
Severe pollution levels have become a recurring problem for India’s capital and several other cities in northern India during the winter. This is usually the result of a perfect storm of multiple conditions, including slow-moving fog-laden air, which mixes with smoke and other pollutants to create a cloud of toxic smog. Sources of pollution include construction dust, vehicle emissions, factories and the burning of crop residues in nearby states. Crop stubble burning is a politically sensitive issue, but farmers see it as a quicker and cheaper alternative to clearing their farmland for replantation after harvests compared to manual or machine removal.
Residents light firecrackers on the occasion of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, in New Delhi, India.
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A view of dense pollution in the Hindon area of Ghaziabad, part of the Delhi-NCR region, following excessive bursting of firecrackers on Diwali night.
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Roads littered with the remains of firecrackers burst last night during Diwali in the Delhi suburb Noida.
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People walk in the morning near the India Gate monument amidst morning smog a day after Diwali festival in New Delhi, India.
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Commuters make their way past Rastrapati Bhawan, the presidential residence, amid smoggy conditions in New Delhi.
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