{"id":3970,"date":"2026-11-07T12:03:43","date_gmt":"2026-11-07T07:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3970"},"modified":"2026-11-07T12:03:43","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T07:03:43","slug":"delhi-tops-worlds-most-polluted-cities-list-ahead-of-diwali","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3970","title":{"rendered":"Delhi tops world’s most polluted cities list ahead of Diwali"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Delhi was the world\u2019s most polluted major city on Saturday morning, according to Swiss \u200bgroup IQAir\u2019s live ranking, as the Indian \u200ccapital faced severe pollution forecasts a day before Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights.<\/strong><\/p>\n

India has ordered<\/a> schools in and \u200baround Delhi to offer online classes, and \u200bencouraged people to work from home ahead of \u2060Diwali on Sunday, which is usually marked \u200bby the widespread use of firecrackers that further worsen<\/a> \u200bthe air quality.<\/p>\n

IQAir ranked Delhi first among the world\u2019s major cities at 10:35am, with a US air quality \u200bindex reading of 581, double that of \u200bLahore in neighbouring Pakistan, at 285.<\/p>\n

IQAir\u2019s reading, based on concentrations \u200cof \u2060air pollutants, is not directly comparable to India\u2019s official index, which uses a different scale and methodology.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s Central Pollution Control Board put Delhi\u2019s air quality \u200bindex at \u200b363 at \u206010 a.m., in the \u201cvery poor\u201d category.<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s air quality in Delhi was the \u200bworst pre-Diwali air in eight years, local \u200bmedia \u2060said, citing official data.<\/p>\n

Pollution is an annual problem in many parts of northern India from the onset \u2060of \u200bwinter, as cold, heavy air \u200btraps vehicle emissions, construction dust and smoke from crop-waste burning.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Delhi was the world\u2019s most polluted major city on Saturday morning, according to Swiss \u200bgroup IQAir\u2019s live ranking, as the Indian \u200ccapital faced severe pollution forecasts a day before Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. India has ordered schools in and \u200baround Delhi to offer online classes, and \u200bencouraged people to work from home ahead of \u2060Diwali on Sunday, which is usually marked \u200bby the widespread use of firecrackers that further worsen \u200bthe air quality. IQAir ranked Delhi first among the world\u2019s major cities at 10:35am, with a US air…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3970\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}