-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Anti-cracker campaigns by the central and Delhi governments appeared to have made no significant impact as the capital celebrated another dirty Diwali, with fireworks well into the night, leaving the city's air choked with alarmingly high levels of pollution. Real time data showed levels of coarse pollution particles (PM 10) peak up to 19 times the national safe standard for 24 hours and levels of fine,...

-BBC Pollution soared to hazardous levels in Delhi on the night of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, reaching 40 times the limit recommended by the World Health Organisation, reports say. Massive quantities of fireworks go up in smoke during the festival. On Wednesday night, the levels of PM10 particulates, which are very hazardous to health, rose to 2,000 micrograms per cubic metre, reports said. The WHO recommends a maximum of 50 micrograms per...

-The Hindu Chennai had the highest proportion of ‘severe’ days based on AQI Official air quality data for the first half of this year shows that while Delhi does indeed face high levels of air pollution, Kanpur, Varanasi and Chennai are worse off. Averaging across the ten pollution monitoring stations in the city, a little over a quarter of the days from January to June this year in Delhi had an Air Quality...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Under watch across the world over the alarming quality of air in its national capital, are Indian authorities trying to shoot the messenger? The Delhi Pollution Control Committee, which runs a real-time air pollution monitoring system, has been rapped for releasing "raw" or "unedited" air quality data on its website. In a meeting last week, the Union environment ministry has decided that DPCC's data will be...

-The Hindustan Times New Delhi: A grey smog cover descended on Delhi, with residents of the Capital complaining of breathing problems on Tuesday. Experts said this was the season’s first severe smog spell, which may recur with the onset of winter. While a section of scientists blamed the gloom on pollution triggered by Diwali crackers, Delhi Pollution Control Committee chief Sandeep Mishra took a different stand. “Diwali pollution got cleared by Monday noon. We...