India’s largest cities are fast becoming symbols of urban distress, where toxic air, broken roads, traffic gridlock and overflowing garbage dominate daily life. This decline comes despite unprecedented government spending on highways, airports and metro systems, raising uncomfortable questions about how India governs its cities. From Jaipur’s fading heritage to…
Tag: #AirPollution
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CAQM Issues Biomass Violation Notices to 6 TPPs
The Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) has issued show cause notices to six coal-based thermal power plants located within a 300-kilometre radius of Delhi for failing to comply with mandatory biomass co-firing norms. The Commission has proposed environmental compensation amounting to approximately…
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CAQM Reviews Pollution Measures, Ratifies Revised GRAP
New Delhi: The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has reviewed a wide range of air pollution control measures and ratified the revised Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) during its 26th meeting, chaired by CAQM Chairman Shri Rajesh Verma. The full Commission met on December 22 to assess ongoing mitigation…
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Supreme Court Lifts Ban Relief on Old BS-III Cars
New Delhi, December 17: In a significant move aimed at curbing worsening air pollution, the Supreme Court on Wednesday withdrew the protection earlier granted to owners of BS-III and older end-of-life vehicles in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR), allowing authorities to resume coercive action against such vehicles. The order modifies…
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Messi’s India Tour Ends in Smog-Hit Delhi AQI Crisis
Football legend Lionel Messi arrived in New Delhi on December 15 for the final leg of the GOAT India Tour 2025, but the celebratory mood was tempered by a grim environmental reality. The national capital was engulfed in dense toxic smog, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) remaining well above…
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Stage-III GRAP Enforced in Delhi-NCR as AQI Worsens
The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on Saturday invoked Stage-III of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) across the entire Delhi-NCR with immediate effect after Delhi’s average Air Quality Index (AQI) surged to 401, entering the ‘Severe’ category. The decision follows a sharp deterioration in air quality driven primarily…
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Supreme Court: Perennial GRAP Not Solution for Delhi Air
New Delhi, November 17, 2025: The Supreme Court on Monday warned that imposing the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) throughout the year is neither practical nor desirable as a long-term remedy for Delhi’s crippling air pollution. The bench asked the Centre to convene stakeholders and states to design a durable…
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Supreme Court PIL Seeks Air Pollution Emergency
A public interest litigation filed by wellness advocate Luke Coutinho (styled in court papers as Luke Christopher Countinho) asks the Supreme Court to declare air pollution a national public-health emergency and direct immediate, time-bound action against toxic air across India. The petition contends that sustained breaches of national and global…
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Delhi Begins Cloud-Seeding Trials to Tackle Smog
The national capital is attempting an innovative measure to battle its persistent winter smog. On Tuesday, the New Delhi government carried out the city’s first full-scale cloud-seeding trial in coordination with the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT Kanpur). A specially equipped aircraft released salt-based and silver-iodide flares into moisture-laden…