New Delhi: “I went for a walk for an hour. I was not feeling well,” Chief Justice of India Surya Kant remarked this week. This was not an ordinary citizen describing Delhi’s air; it was the country’s highest judicial authority, someone constitutionally insulated from everyday political noise.

His comment is itself a signal of how severe the pollution crisis in Delhi-NCR – and across India – has become. The AQI has ranged from 400 to 500 or worse for weeks, affecting all, but the elderly, frail and children the most.

The AQI was 326 at 12 pm on November 29, then lowered to around 159 at around 3:30 pm. In other words, it went from poor to unhealthy, on already-relaxed standards that India follows.

But it is not only the CJI who has raised an alarm over the pollutants impacting everyday life and health.

Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi met a group of mothers in Delhi who spoke of their children growing up “breathing toxic air”. He echoed their concerns in a video and note released on X, saying they were “exhausted, scared and angry”, and backed their call for an immediate and detailed debate on air pollution in Parliament. The winter session begins on Tuesday, December 1, 2025, and will be preceded by an all-party meeting.

The reason the public is unable to push the government into taking action against widespread, dangerous air pollution, Gandhi told the group of women protesters, is that they are “if I can say it bluntly – not as powerful as those who are causing the pollution”, be it polluting industries or others.

Ever since Diwali, celebrated in the week of October 19, media reports, health experts and Delhi-NCR residents have warned of the expected peaks in pollutant levels in the air of the region. The Delhi government backed so-called green crackers – and the Supreme Court had agreed – and soon, government-run pollution monitoring stations began to record just how bad the crisis was.

The stark numbers, the recurring “severe” AQI levels, the schools forced to suspend activities (following citizens' demands) and hospitals reporting surges in respiratory cases, however, have not translated into visible change on the ground.

Increasingly, the perception is that the inaction on pollution comes from one section that is rather silent on the crisis – Delhi's own government – which alone has the executive power to control the sources of pollution.

There is a stark contrast between the constitutional urgency expressed by the CJI, the political urgency voiced by the Congress leader, the public concern of citizens and medical professionals – and the relatively quiet government.

On November 9, a protest was held at India Gate, by residents – especially mothers and children – supported by environmental activists. They demanded urgent government action on the severe air crisis. They carried placards and masks and described Delhi as a “gas chamber”.

All they wanted was for the government to set in motion measures: transparent pollution data, stricter enforcement and a reliable long-term plan to reduce toxic air – especially to protect the health of children.

“Every third child has damaged lungs; they will live nearly 10 years less than those growing up in cleaner air,” one protester said.

It was public frustration spilling onto the streets. And instead of reassurance, the police detained several participants. They were told they did not have the prior permission required to stage a protest at India Gate. They were released later the same day.

Citizens – this time mostly university students – staged a second protest on November 23 and 24, at the same venue. But this one took a dramatically different turn. This time, police said officers were “attacked” with pepper spray at the protest site, and that traffic was disrupted.

The protesters were also accused of carrying posters of a Maoist leader recently killed in an operation by security forces. It was claimed that this protest against pollution had been hijacked by radical forces – two FIRs were filed, and around two dozen protesters were detained.

Some were given over to police custody through court proceedings, in which the police claimed they had indulged in actions “prejudicial to national integration” under the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita.

It is against this backdrop that Gandhi met some of the women who had participated in the November 9 protest. “Every mother I meet tells me the same thing: her child is growing up breathing toxic air. They are exhausted, scared and angry,” Gandhi posted on X after the meeting.

He supported a strict, enforceable national action plan to combat pollution, arguing that India’s children “deserve clean air – not excuses and distractions”.

Media coverage, government monitoring stations and voices from the judiciary and opposition have all underscored the severity of the crisis. The only notable silence, critics argue, comes from those with the executive power to combat the crisis.

To be fair, there is a plan – the Air Pollution Mitigation Plan 2025 – announced in June 2025. It begins with announcing a project in collaboration with IIT-Kanpur to seed rainclouds and was attempted in late October, but it didn't work.

Another proposal in the plan is to sprinkle water on dust pollutants, but while this was attempted, it ran into controversy after media recorded water tankers spraying water close to pollution monitoring stations – an apparent attempt to fudge data.

Many other proposed measures are long-term steps worth adopting, but it is unclear whether efforts have been stepped up or remain as they were. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said on Friday that dust control, sanitation and waste management are being pursued by ground teams “at every level”.

According to the New Indian Express, Gupta also said that ministers and MLAs are personally inspecting field operations to review cleanliness work and issue immediate instructions wherever required.

There is also a plan to upgrade to a new fleet of DTC and cluster buses in Delhi-NCR, but that has a dual timeline of completion by 2026 and then 2031, so it is another longterm measure. Delhi has close to 1,000 CNG-run buses that are older than 10 years.

However, bus ridership has been declining, with the Delhi State Framework Indicator report on the status of sustainable development goals, released by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, showing that the fleet of DTC and cluster buses grew from 5,842 in 2015-16 to 7,485 in 2023-24, but the average daily ridership fell from 45.9 lakh to 42.4 lakh, the Economic Times reported in late September.

The average per-day passenger traffic on the Delhi Metro has also had a difficult time in recent years. Fare hikes in 2017 led to a big drop in appeal of the metro system, as was then reported.

There was a significant drop in overall commuter numbers when you compare 2018-19 ridereship with that of June 2022 (around 45 lakh to 41 lakh a day), when the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was in power and highly critical of the hike in fares.

Price-sensitive commuters were then seen to move away or chose more convenient means to travel, such as autos and personal vehicles, which are naturally more polluting. In August this year, the metro hiked fares again, during the Rekha Gupta-led Bharatiya Janata Party government's term in power.

Seeing the overall chaos and confusion in policy and unclear implementation, it is not very surprising that the government is facing severe criticism from Opposition parties and citizens for the high pollution levels.

The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.