Jauhn Etienne Villaruel

India Gate, New Delhi, Delhi, India on October 15, 2020. Ravi Sharma, Unsplash

Article (news)

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1762736575653ravi-sharma-K0Qo3qQDQpM-unsplash.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">India Gate, New Delhi, Delhi, India on October 15, 2020. Ravi Sharma, Unsplash</span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><p>NEW DELHI, India — Dozens of protesters rallied in New Delhi on Sunday to demand government action on toxic air, as a thick haze containing dangerous microparticles shrouded the Indian capital.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/health-science/2025/8/6/air-pollution-among-leading-contributors-to-premature-mortality-expert-1753">Air pollution among leading contributors to premature mortality — expert</a></div><p>Parents in the crowd brought their children, who wore masks and waved placards, with one reading: &quot;I miss breathing&quot;.</p><p>New Delhi with its sprawling metropolitan region of 30 million residents is regularly ranked among the world&#x27;s most polluted capitals.</p><p>Acrid smog blankets the skyline each winter, when cooler air traps pollutants close to the ground, creating a deadly mix of emissions from crop burning, factories and heavy traffic.</p><p>Levels of PM2.5 -- cancer-causing microparticles small enough to enter the bloodstream -- sometimes rise to as much as 60 times the UN&#x27;s daily health limits.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/overseas/11/02/21/air-quality-set-to-plummet-anew-in-indias-capital">Air quality set to plummet in India&#x27;s capital after clean spell</a></div><p>&quot;Today I am here just as a mother,&quot; said protester Namrata Yadav, who came with her son.</p><p>&quot;I am here because I don&#x27;t want to become a climate refugee.&quot;</p><p>On Sunday, PM2.5 levels around India Gate, the iconic war memorial where protesters had assembled, were more than 13 times the World Health Organization’s recommended daily maximum.</p><p>&quot;Year after year, it is the same story but there is no solution,&quot; said Tanvi Kusum, a lawyer who said she had come because she was &quot;frustrated.&quot;</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/world/2024/11/13/toxic-smog-smothering-india-s-capital-smashes-who-limit-1736">Toxic smog smothering India&#x27;s capital smashes WHO limit</a></div><p>&quot;We have to build pressure so that the government at least takes up the issue seriously.&quot;</p><p>Piecemeal government initiatives have failed to make a noticeable impact.</p><p>These included partial restrictions on fossil fuel-powered transport and water trucks spraying mist to clear particulate matter from the air.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/health-science/2025/2/4/air-pollution-fuels-lung-cancer-among-non-smokers-study-1710">Air pollution fuels lung cancer among non-smokers: study</a></div><p>&quot;Pollution is cutting our lives,&quot; said a young woman who claimed to be &quot;speaking for Delhi&quot; and refused to share her name.</p><p>A study in The Lancet Planetary Health last year estimated that 3.8 million deaths in India between 2009 and 2019 were linked to air pollution.</p><p>The United Nations children&#x27;s agency warns that polluted air puts children at heightened risk of acute respiratory infections.</p><p>As the sun set into the smog-covered skyline, the crowd of protesters appeared to swell before police bundled several activists into a bus, seizing their placards and banners, arguing they did not have a permission to protest there.</p><p>One of them, half-torn, read: &quot;I just want to breathe&quot;.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEOS</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/90SRLs2dST4?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/71nY9GOFegA?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6QXgdLLseig?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>New Delhi with its sprawling metropolitan region of 30 million residents is regularly ranked among the world's most polluted capitals.</p>

New Delhi with its sprawling metropolitan region of 30 million residents is regularly ranked among the world's most polluted capitals.

'I miss breathing': Delhi protesters demand action on pollution

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'I miss breathing': Delhi protesters demand action on pollution

Arunabh Saikia,

Agence France-Presse

Published Nov 10, 2025 09:07 AM PHT

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New Delhi

India

environment

pollution

health

protest

air pollution

clean air

Agence France-Presse

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