Delhi’s morning after Diwali has become a ritual of irony. The festival that celebrates the triumph of light over darkness now ends in a haze so thick that dawn itself seems extinguished. This year was no exception. Despite judicial restraint, official advisories, and the promise of “green crackers,” the capital awoke to the familiar sting of smoke and the taste of ash. The city’s Air Quality Index hovered around 360, several times higher than what any health standard would consider tolerable.

It is easy to attribute the smog to the bursting of firecrackers, but the truth is deeper and more uncomfortable. Delhi’s air crisis is cumulative, not episodic. Vehicular emissions, industrial pollutants, and stubble burning in neighbouring states already create a toxic baseline. In that setting, e

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