Grey skies and dirty air
Every Indian lives where fine-particle pollution is above the WHO guideline. The same haze turns the sky white or grey instead of blue, and it takes an estimated 3.5 years off the average Indian life.
Open for ideas, evidence and questions.
What we know
Fine particles in the air (PM2.5) scatter sunlight of every colour, so a polluted sky looks washed out, white or grey rather than blue. Dust adds a brown tint.
The Air Quality Life Index put India's average PM2.5 level at 41 µg/m³ in 2023, eight times the WHO guideline of 5 and above India's own standard of 40. It estimates that Delhi residents lose 8.2 years of life. IQAir's 2025 report ranked India the sixth most polluted country and Loni, in Ghaziabad, the most polluted city in the world.
India's air pollution law dates from 1981. The National Clean Air Programme began in 2019 and covers 130 cities, with a revised target of a 40% cut in PM10 by 2025-26. In January 2026, CREA found that 23 cities had met the target and 23 had become more polluted. Of ₹9,929 crore spent, 68% went to road dust and less than 1% each to industry and household fuels. By satellite data, 1,787 of 4,041 towns broke the national PM2.5 standard every year from 2019 to 2024 (leaving out 2020), and only 67 of them are in the programme.
Open questions
- What are the main sources of pollution in your city, by its latest source study, and is the money going to the biggest ones?
- How many air-quality monitors does your district have, and where are they placed?
- Which power plants and factories near you have missed emission deadlines, and what happened to them?
- How many days a year can you see a clear blue sky where you live?
- What did cities that cleaned their air, such as Beijing, do first, and what would the same steps cost here?
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