Polluted City In India
The thick cover of smog that covers Delhi during the winter months is back — only much sooner this time. The Indian capital, which was ranked as the world’s most polluted city by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2014, has seen a sharp drop in its air quality over the last few days. The culprit is the annual burning of crop residues by farmers in the neighbouring state of Punjab.
A recent satellite image from NASA’s Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) showed fire spots, which denote blazes on the ground, all across Punjab and northern Haryana. The smoke in Delhi has been attributed to these agricultural fires, which are lit by farmers to clear their fields before the farming season in November. The practice is illegal, but persists despite efforts by the state governments to stop crop burning. However, environmental experts also say that Delhi’s toxic air is caused by growing vehicular emissions.
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