Responding to the Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose's questions about the action that the Union government has taken to address the worsening air quality in the national capital, they claimed that "Delhi has observed the lowest average AQI in the past 8 years, i.e., from 2018 to 2025 (barring 2020 - COVID lockdown)."
This claim comes amid a Press Trust of India (PTI) report yesterday stating that India sets its own air quality standards, and that air quality guidelines set by the World Health Organization (WHO) "serve only as advisory values, not binding standards". The government also dismissed global indices such as IQAir's World Air Quality Ranking, the WHO Global Air Quality Database, and the Environmental Performance Index (EPI).
The government also told the Rajya Sabha: “With coordinated efforts, the number of good days (AQI<200) in Delhi has increased to 200 days in 2025 from 110 days in 2016. While there is an overall improvement in the AQI this year, very poor days (AQI: 301-400) and severe days (AQI more than 401) have reduced from 71 days in 2024 to 50 days in 2025.”
But questions remain about gaps in the government’s air-quality data collection. In early November, reports indicated that only 9 of Delhi’s 37 air quality monitoring stations were operational on Diwali. Moreover, Newslaundry had earlier reported how several of Delhi’s air quality monitoring stations were in violation of basic norms, placed behind trees, beside walls, or hemmed in by buildings that obstruct airflow within the mandatory 20-metre radius.
Making matters worse, as the city’s air quality worsened, reports and on-the-ground findings suggested that the government went a step further, spraying water around an air quality monitoring station. This amounts to fudging the data. The matter was presented before the Supreme Court, which directed the Delhi government to submit an affidavit explaining the type of devices used to measure AQI and their effectiveness in recording pollution levels.
Even though Parliament has been in session for the past 12 days, the government has not tabled any special discussion on the growing air pollution levels in the national capital, despite repeated demands from the Opposition. Today, the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, called for a detailed discussion in Parliament on air pollution and requested that Prime Minister Narendra Modi present a detailed plan to mitigate it.
Claims made, but roadblocks apparent
In their response to Ghose, the government also claimed: “So far, 95 Statutory Directions have been issued through the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to specifically guide and direct various actions towards abatement of air pollution in the region. A monitoring mechanism to oversee the implementation of these directions has been put in place.”
But, according to a recent report in The Hindu, one of these key directions has been thwarted by a Supreme Court order and a lack of strict action by authorities, which has resulted in end-of-life vehicles still plying on Delhi’s roads. According to the commission, more than 63 lakh such vehicles still ply in the capital, polluting the air. Meanwhile, The Indian Express reported earlier this week that the CAQM “sought a review of the Supreme Court’s August 12 order, which paused coercive action against end-of-life vehicles”.
In August, the court effectively stayed its 2018 order upholding an NGT directive to keep end-of-life, BS-III-and-below vehicles off the roads. But in its latest submission, the CAQM has recommended that the court exclude BS-III and other older vehicles from that relief.
According to a recent analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), despite a decrease in stubble burning this year, air pollution levels remained high in Delhi in October and November “primarily because of vehicular pollution”. Meanwhile, an IIT-Delhi study published last year showed that paving unpaved roads, repairing potholes, and fixing broken footpaths/dividers can reduce PM2.5 levels by a significant 15 percent to 26 percent.
In its response to the MP, the government also mentions the implementation of the Supreme Court-mandated (and implemented by the CAQM) Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), especially during peak winter months. In late November, the CAQM revoked the restrictions under Stage 3 of the GRAP in Delhi-NCR, which mandate a ban on non-essential construction and shifting primary schools to hybrid/online, among other measures. But the commission reiterated that construction and demolition sites previously ordered to shut down for violations will not be allowed to resume work unless they receive specific permission.
In their response yesterday, the government also described measures taken to address the “transportation of construction materials and demolition waste, covering of construction materials and demolition waste”.
However, according to a Times of India report on Wednesday, "garbage burning and open storage of construction and demolition waste continued unabated across the city." Moreover, the report found that staffers at the National Capital Region Transport Corporation station in Sarai Kale Khan were “unaware of multiple anti-pollution directions” issued by the Delhi government.
Despite the government’s claims, even the Chief Justice of India, on December 1, raised doubts about whether the government's action plan had brought about any effective changes. "Why don't you revisit your action plan to see for yourself whether you have brought any effective changes? And if you have, then are they less than what is needed? We think it's important to evaluate whether any of your action plans have proved to be effective, ineffective, or less effective. Despite your hesitance or confidence about whether you would be able to achieve effective change, is it not right to revisit the action plan? Evaluate the steps you have taken so far.”
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