Zürcher Nachrichten - India's capital shuts all primary schools due to smog

EUR -
AED 3.878381
AFN 70.7463
ALL 97.61914
AMD 408.610835
ANG 1.902881
AOA 962.990181
ARS 1056.133675
AUD 1.629831
AWG 1.903279
AZN 1.782367
BAM 1.961169
BBD 2.131736
BDT 126.165379
BGN 1.956257
BHD 0.39792
BIF 3059.500854
BMD 1.055911
BND 1.420876
BOB 7.295109
BRL 6.101267
BSD 1.05579
BTN 89.111243
BWP 14.492536
BYN 3.455159
BYR 20695.847018
BZD 2.128166
CAD 1.481395
CDF 3026.239678
CHF 0.937438
CLF 0.037319
CLP 1029.755569
CNY 7.634553
CNH 7.648657
COP 4732.327162
CRC 539.276272
CUC 1.055911
CUP 27.98163
CVE 110.765732
CZK 25.288741
DJF 187.656729
DKK 7.458477
DOP 63.830097
DZD 141.090833
EGP 52.228289
ERN 15.838658
ETB 128.873835
FJD 2.402218
FKP 0.833448
GBP 0.831266
GEL 2.877311
GGP 0.833448
GHS 16.947137
GIP 0.833448
GMD 74.96988
GNF 9113.563672
GTQ 8.153629
GYD 220.880478
HKD 8.217001
HNL 26.461494
HRK 7.532084
HTG 138.728456
HUF 406.280067
IDR 16819.863322
ILS 3.949333
IMP 0.833448
INR 89.184477
IQD 1383.770792
IRR 44459.114242
ISK 145.704916
JEP 0.833448
JMD 167.13754
JOD 0.74875
JPY 164.483941
KES 136.746848
KGS 91.20586
KHR 4277.493968
KMF 492.577276
KPW 950.319106
KRW 1481.96991
KWD 0.324608
KYD 0.879792
KZT 523.432901
LAK 23171.957081
LBP 94609.586688
LKR 308.454396
LRD 194.389971
LSL 19.270249
LTL 3.117829
LVL 0.63871
LYD 5.142547
MAD 10.51481
MDL 19.124993
MGA 4915.2638
MKD 61.493876
MMK 3429.556317
MNT 3587.984033
MOP 8.463609
MRU 42.104426
MUR 49.828585
MVR 16.313496
MWK 1833.060651
MXN 21.60902
MYR 4.731009
MZN 67.474328
NAD 19.270822
NGN 1773.781857
NIO 38.836002
NOK 11.721563
NPR 142.583725
NZD 1.797172
OMR 0.406548
PAB 1.05581
PEN 4.017209
PGK 4.154744
PHP 62.147202
PKR 293.595921
PLN 4.324907
PYG 8245.572309
QAR 3.844095
RON 4.976081
RSD 116.819612
RUB 104.856145
RWF 1441.317917
SAR 3.96598
SBD 8.852284
SCR 14.358481
SDG 635.128609
SEK 11.567089
SGD 1.418188
SHP 0.833448
SLE 23.948042
SLL 22141.921534
SOS 603.457557
SRD 37.333301
STD 21855.216762
SVC 9.23829
SYP 2653.006815
SZL 19.270107
THB 36.819919
TJS 11.254396
TMT 3.706246
TND 3.328196
TOP 2.473047
TRY 36.246349
TTD 7.168624
TWD 34.401037
TZS 2808.722543
UAH 43.524448
UGX 3874.606762
USD 1.055911
UYU 44.852785
UZS 13542.052761
VES 47.509864
VND 26820.128279
VUV 125.359824
WST 2.94767
XAF 657.745123
XAG 0.034607
XAU 0.00041
XCD 2.853651
XDR 0.79537
XOF 650.970195
XPF 119.331742
YER 263.819195
ZAR 19.211538
ZMK 9504.459219
ZMW 28.954812
ZWL 340.00277
  • RBGPF

    -0.9400

    59.25

    -1.59%

  • CMSC

    -0.0600

    24.55

    -0.24%

  • RYCEF

    -0.3200

    6.79

    -4.71%

  • BCC

    -2.2000

    140.35

    -1.57%

  • NGG

    0.2500

    62.37

    +0.4%

  • AZN

    -0.2500

    65.04

    -0.38%

  • GSK

    -0.7200

    34.39

    -2.09%

  • RELX

    -0.1700

    45.95

    -0.37%

  • VOD

    -0.0700

    8.68

    -0.81%

  • RIO

    -0.1900

    60.43

    -0.31%

  • SCS

    -0.1000

    13.27

    -0.75%

  • CMSD

    -0.0050

    24.725

    -0.02%

  • BCE

    -0.3700

    26.84

    -1.38%

  • JRI

    -0.0300

    13.21

    -0.23%

  • BTI

    0.0700

    35.49

    +0.2%

  • BP

    0.4800

    29.05

    +1.65%

India's capital shuts all primary schools due to smog
India's capital shuts all primary schools due to smog / Photo: Arun SANKAR - AFP

India's capital shuts all primary schools due to smog

India's capital New Delhi ordered all primary schools to cease in-person classes until further notice on Thursday night due to worsening smog in the sprawling megacity.

Text size:

New Delhi and the surrounding metropolitan area, home to more than 30 million people, consistently tops world rankings for air pollution in winter.

The smog is blamed for thousands of premature deaths each year and is an annual source of misery for the capital's residents, with various piecemeal government initiatives failing to measurably address the problem.

"Due to rising pollution levels, all primary schools in Delhi will be shifting to online classes, until further directions," chief minister Atishi, who goes by one name, announced on social media platform X.

Schools are often shut during the worst weeks of the annual smog crisis, which also prompts numerous other disruptions across the city.

Authorities also regularly impose bans on construction activity and restrict diesel-powered goods trucks from other parts of the country in an effort to alleviate the toxic clouds blanketing the capital.

Grey skies and acrid fumes have made life a misery for New Delhi's inhabitants this week.

Levels of PM2.5 pollutants -- dangerous cancer-causing microparticles that enter the bloodstream through the lungs -- were recorded more than 50 times above the World Health Organization's recommended daily maximum on Wednesday.

New Delhi is covered in acrid smog each year, primarily blamed on stubble burning by farmers elsewhere in India to clear their fields for ploughing, as well as factories and traffic fumes.

Cooler temperatures and slow-moving winds worsen the situation by trapping deadly pollutants each winter, stretching from mid-October until at least January.

India's Supreme Court last month ruled that clean air was a fundamental human right, ordering both the central government and state-level authorities to take action.

But critics say arguments between rival politicians heading neighbouring states -- as well as between central and state-level authorities -- have compounded the problem.

Politicians are accused of not wanting to anger key figures in their constituencies, particularly powerful farming groups.

New Delhi authorities have launched several initiatives to tackle pollution, which have done little in practice.

Government trucks are regularly used to spray water to briefly dampen the pollution.

A new scheme unveiled this month to use three small drones to spray water mist was derided by critics as another "band-aid" solution to a public health crisis.

A study in The Lancet medical journal attributed 1.67 million premature deaths to air pollution in the world's most populous country in 2019.

The choking carbon smog across New Delhi came as researchers warned that planet-warming fossil fuel emissions would hit a record high this year, according to new findings from an international network of scientists at the Global Carbon Project.

R.Bernasconi--NZN