Another smog season looms: India must act soon to keep Delhi from gasping

Highest pollution levels in Delhi coincided with residue crop-burning to the city's northwest

“Smog chokes Delhi”, declared the the New York Times on November 7 2016, informing readers around the world that contaminating particulates in the air in the Indian capital had “soared in some places to…more than 16 times the limit India’s government considers safe.”

I was in Delhi at the time for my niece’s wedding. Visibility was virtually nil – 100 metres at best – and, devastatingly, winds were calm. Schools were closed for three days.

Experts said that crop burning in neighbouring Haryana and Punjab states, car emissions, construction and the use of fireworks during