Hello,
In the final months of every year, inevitably, Delhi's air quality plummets to dangerously poor levels and its air pollution frequently makes national headlines.

Also a frequent subject of discussion in the media are the various measures that authorities take to try and tackle the problem. Chief among these authorities is the Commission for Air Quality Management, vested with the power to issue directions to manage the air quality of the National Capital Region.

Vaishnavi Rathore accessed the minutes of the commission's meetings between 2021 and 2025 to understand the extent to which it had focused on different aspects of the problem. The data revealed an unusual pattern – the commission had paid relatively little attention to the problem of vehicular pollution, though it is the most significant source of the region's air pollution.

Further, policy measures over the years have overwhelmingly tended to favour private cars over public transport vehicles. In effect, the commission, and authorities more broadly, have done too little to curb a key source of the toxic air choking the capital.

"To dissect the pollution problem by looking specifically at the transport sector was an eye opening experience," Rathore said. "It showed that the answers lied in holding institutions accountable but also in science, political will, the court, and people's preferences of travel."

You can read the story here.

And you can support more such in-depth reporting and analysis by signing up as a member of Scroll.

Ajay Krishnan
Senior Editor

Follow the Scroll channel on WhatsApp for a curated selection of the news that matters throughout the day, and a round-up of major developments in India and around the world every evening. What you won’t get: Spam.

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Delhi’s failure to act against the biggest source of its air pollution – vehicles

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