Air pollution lessons from Beijing, Delhi

The air pollution crisis in Delhi took a serious turn in early December when an international cricket match between India and Sri Lanka had to be suspended due to poor air quality. This happened after schools were ordered to close and many flights were cancelled amid a spate of highway accidents caused by the low visibility. Such was the condition in India's National Capital Region, which covers Delhi, and parts of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana provinces, that Delhi's chief minister described the beleaguered city as a "gas chamber".

Delhi's air pollution is getting worse by the year and yet there are no signs that either the central or Delhi government has any policy that could ameliorate the problem.

India's National Capital Region with more than 20 million residents is overpowered by industrial emissions and fumes from over 10 million vehicles. Thirteen coal-fired power plants operate within a 300-kilometer radius of Delhi. The number of new vehicles registered in 2015-16 was 877,000, an astronomical increase of 64 percent over the 2014-15 figures.