Air Quality Management in Delhi: Policy and Politics

Air quality management refers to all the activities that are undertaken to protect human health and the environment from the harmful effects of air pollution. The process of managing air quality can be represented as a series of interconnected elements. All levels of government, private players, civil society actors, environmental organizations, and the public all play critical roles in this process. Air pollution in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) has been in the public eye since the mid-2010s. It was in 2015–2016 that the various stakeholders, such as the media, civil society, and citizen’s groups, started taking serious note of the poor air quality in the region. This was spurred by the increase in the particulate matter (PM) concentration. But it was in the 1990s that the Indian cities started turning into a toxic hell. This deterioration took place despite a spate of strong legislation on pollution control during the 1980s. This chapter deals with air quality management in Delhi and the politics around it.