Capping Delhi’s AQI: A Dangerous Illusion of Control

Capping Delhi’s AQI: A Dangerous Illusion of Control

Delhi’s officially reported Air Quality Index (AQI) has become less a measure of public health risk and more a tool of convenient understatement. By design, the AQI ceases to meaningfully differentiate pollution levels once they cross the “severe” threshold. Air that is catastrophically toxic is reduced to a single number, offering little sense of the escalating harm residents are forced to inhale each day.

While agencies such as the Delhi Pollution Control Committee continue to release real-time data on pollutants like PM2.5 and PM10, the translation of this data into public warning remains deliberately restrained. The AQI, rather than reflecting the true intensity of exposure, merely signals that the air is “hazardous”, without communicating how much worse it is becoming. In effect, capping the AQI dulls public perception of risk.

This numerical ceiling has provided the government a convenient shield. Officials often argue that the “official AQI has not crossed a certain limit,” that World Health Organization standards are only advisory, or that definitive links between pollution and disease are still being debated. Such claims ignore a vast body of global medical evidence and, more importantly, shift focus away from accountability and urgent action.

The result is widespread public confusion. A well-informed minority continues to raise alarms, citing medical research and lived experience. Meanwhile, many citizens move about unprotected, even as doctors and health experts issue repeated warnings. Mixed messaging and the absence of a clear emergency declaration have diluted the seriousness of the crisis in the public mind.

Behind this statistical calm, hospitals reveal the reality. Emergency rooms are witnessing a surge in respiratory and cardiac cases, particularly among children, the elderly, and those with pre-existing conditions. Yet, despite these warning signs, the government has stopped short of declaring a public health emergency or unveiling comprehensive mitigation and protection strategies.

Delhi’s air pollution crisis is no longer episodic, it is systemic. By capping the AQI, authorities risk normalizing an abnormal condition and postponing difficult policy decisions. Numbers that fail to reflect reality do not protect citizens; they endanger them. Transparency, truthful risk communication, and decisive intervention are no longer optional, they are overdue.

B S Vohra, Environment Activist President, East Delhi RWAs Joint Front, Delhi, India