New Delhi: The Capital city, New Delhi witnessed rare public demonstrations as residents gathered at the iconic India Gate, demanding immediate government action to combat the city’s worsening air pollution crisis.
The Indian capital once again found itself blanketed in a dense layer of smog on November 110, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) soaring beyond 350, classified as ‘very poor’ by India’s Central Pollution Control Board, while several areas crossed the 400 mark, entering the ‘severe’ category.
Police detained several protesters who carried banners reading ‘Clean air is our right’ and ‘Breathing is killing us,’ as they chanted slogans and briefly disrupted traffic.
The right to clean air is a basic human right.
The right to peaceful protest is guaranteed by our Constitution.
Why are citizens who have been peacefully demanding clean air being treated like criminals?
Air pollution is affecting crores of Indians, harming our children and… https://t.co/ViPZiO16lT
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) November 9, 2025
The demonstration comes during annual air quality deterioration that grips New Delhi each winter, caused by a combination of vehicle emissions, industrial pollutants, and smoke from nearby states where farmers burn crop residue. According to Switzerland-based air quality monitor IQAir, India is home to six of the world’s ten most polluted cities, with New Delhi ranking as the most polluted capital globally.
Despite recurring measures such as construction bans, diesel generator restrictions, and vehicle entry limits during high pollution periods, efforts have yielded little improvement. A recent cloud seeding operation also failed to trigger rainfall to disperse pollutants.
Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi denounced the detentions, asserting that “the right to clean air is a basic human right.” Meanwhile, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, environment minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, stated that the government “will continue every possible effort” to curb pollution.
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