No one anticipated that an initiative to save groundwater by delaying the annual rice season would aggravate northern India’s already miserable air pollution.

Hundreds of millions of Indians breathe some of the world’s most toxic air all year round. Air pollution in the capital area that’s home to about 30 million people is especially stubborn. In winter, the cold weather actually makes the smog even worse — and potent.

Whatever the causes of the smog, by one ranking Delhi was not just the most polluted city in the world, but “nearly five times as bad as the second most polluted city, Dhaka,” in Bangladesh next door, as Shashi Tharoor, a leader of the opposition in Parliament and best-selling author, posted on X.

India's capital city of Delhi has virtually shut down as air pollution hit "severe plus" levels, according to Indian government officials in its pollution control authority.

Authorities in India’s capital have shut schools, halted construction and banned non-essential trucks from entering the city after air pollution shot up to its worst level this season.

Several major Indian cities, including New Delhi, are engulfed in a dense blanket of smog, significantly compromising the air quality and posing substantial health risks to residents. Reports suggest that in some areas,