Each winter, Delhi transforms into a city under siege. The crisp October air quickly turns into a suffocating haze, and the world’s attention shifts once again to a familiar headline: Delhi – the most polluted city on Earth. Schools shut, outdoor life collapses, and the simple act of breathing becomes hazardous. Every year, the blame game begins. And almost predictably, Diwali firecrackers are declared the primary offender.

But this is a convenient fiction. Even a cursory look at data reveals that the true causes of Delhi’s smog are far more structural, far more chronic, and far more ignored. Fireworks may dominate narrative battles, but five real pollution giants determine whether Delhi breathes clean or chokes: road dust, vehicular emissions, biomass burning, diesel generators, and seasonal farm fires.

The below analysis is a shorter version of a detailed paper published by me.

On the streets of Delhi, the biggest polluter does not come from a tailpipe. It lies beneath our feet.

Almost every road edge is an open dust bank-unpaved soil, broken pavements, leftover construction material. Vehicles churn this reservoir into the air every second. Scientific studies have consistently shown that road dust contributes around 40% – sometimes even more – to Delhi’s PM pollution levels. By comparison, vehicles typically contribute about half that share. This means that if Delhi simply ensured no roadside had exposed soil – if every shoulder were paved or greened – the city could reduce particulate matter significantly in a single year.

The consequences of........

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