Despite decades of interventions—from massive funding for pollution reduction technologies to judicial activism and technocratic plans—Delhi continues to grapple with hazardous air pollution levels. Reliance on episodic interventions and fragmented governance has weakened local accountability and suppressed systemic innovation. As health emergencies worsen each winter, the case for locally led air quality autonomy has never been more transparent.
Response Paradigm Limitation
Delhi’s air pollution governance resembles a patchwork of crisis-driven responses. Each year, smog triggers emergency measures such as school closures, road rationing, and bans on construction or crop residue burning. These actions, while necessary in the short term, mask persistent governance failures and resource fragmentation.
Centralized acts or technocratic solutions imported from other regions often ignore Delhi’s specific socioeconomic and geographic contexts. For example, the “odd-even” traffic scheme is repeatedly imposed without sufficient local adaptation. Reliance on judicial directives, as with the Supreme Court-mandated Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA), discourages local governance innovation while fostering dependency on episodic judicial or technical intervention. However, in 2021, the Commission for Air Quality Management (a statutory body) was specifically created to address air pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR) and adjoining areas.
Additionally, public narratives about Delhi’s pollution frequently reinforce a “helpless victim” image. Media cycles and international coverage highlight high-profile episodes—like Diwali smog or crop burning —but often miss the city’s historic capacity for urban resilience, local knowledge, and environmental stewardship. This framing deepens perceptions of a crisis.
Reclaiming Local Agency
Delhi must plot a new path, grounded in its own institutional capacity and public engagement. The roots of Indian environmental movements—including the Chipko Chipko , Narmada movement , and Delhi Ridge campaigns —demonstrate that locally led activism and community-driven solutions have long delivered results.
Recent municipal-led initiatives, such as large-scale urban afforestation (Aravalli Biodiversity Park), the deployment of air quality sensors, and grassroots citizen monitoring platforms, demonstrate how Delhi’s communities can lead adaptation efforts. Some Resident Welfare Associations have piloted hyperlocal air quality actions —installing green barriers, improving solid waste management, and enforcing local combustion restrictions—that have led to measurable reductions in pollution in hyperlocal areas.
Expanding such an agency requires investment in local government capacity. For example, district-level air quality plans tailored to local vulnerabilities can complement citywide mandates. Partnerships with local businesses, schools, and health clinics create community-owned solutions.
Sovereign Supply Chain for Clean Air
Delhi is dependent on fragmented, externally sourced abatement technologies. To build resilience, the city must localize supply chains for clean technologies, fuel alternatives, and urban green infrastructure. Initiatives such as supporting Delhi-based innovation hubs for air-quality sensors, retrofitting autorickshaws, and fuel transition pilots demonstrate strategic self-reliance.
Public-private partnerships could support local manufacturing and the scalable deployment of clean energy, real-time monitoring, and emission-control technologies. Developing a resilient supply ecosystem ensures enduring capacity.
Research, Science, and Health Systems
Evidence-based action rests on systems research and data-informed policy. Delhi’s air pollution response should tap into its extensive network of academic and health institutions—such as AIIMS, IIT Delhi, and the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute—to generate actionable, localized evidence on pollution sources, exposure risks, and the effectiveness of interventions.
Building surveillance systems to track pollution-linked ailments will guide targeted health system adaptation. Local research-driven technical agendas must underpin Delhi’s clean air roadmap.
Regional Collaboration and Urban Leadership
Delhi’s air quality is deeply intertwined with pollution- transport, industrial corridors, and agricultural practices across North India. Institutionalized collaboration within the National Capital Region (NCR)—among Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh—is critical to addressing cross-boundary pollution. The formation of commissions like the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) must prioritize regional engagement founded on equity, information sharing, and shared accountability—not just top-down regulation.
Delhi should lead in convening regional innovation networks, knowledge-sharing platforms, and common procurement frameworks to scale effective interventions. Empowering city-level leadership, learning from global urban experiences (such as Beijing and Tokyo), and investing in NCR-wide transport and clean energy transitions will unlock collaborative solutions.
Decolonizing Environmental Policy
Control over Delhi’s environmental future must move beyond knee-jerk solutions and be dominated by external experts or agencies. During COVID-19, global air quality improvements highlighted the complex interplay among the economy, the environment, and equity. Surface-level crisis responses will not fix structural challenges or rebalance power dynamics.
True progress needs knowledge transfer, capacity building, and local leadership—ensuring that clean air gains are rooted in Delhi’s own institutional systems.
A Call to Action
Delhi’s future as a liveable city demands systemic action:
- Set legislative targets for aligning investments with local planning, resource mobilization, and innovation hubs.
- Invest in municipal air quality cells, health linkage programs, and participatory planning mechanisms.
- Leverage public budgets and local philanthropy to long-term clean air efforts beyond donor or crisis-based funding.
- Promote transparent public reporting and governance reforms so that Delhi’s clean air journey is accountable to its people.
Delhi has the societal, scientific, and policy resources to build a future where clean air and health are realities for all. The question is: will systems allow Delhi’s clean air autonomy to flourish?
Author: Sanjeev Kumar is currently serving at the Mamta-Health Institute for Mother and Child Health, based in New Delhi, in the capacity of Senior Assistant Director, Climate Change and Health System.
Competing interest: None
Handling Editor: Neha Faruqui