INDIA - World’s Most Polluted Air

Around 20 million people in India’s capital woke up breathing the most polluted air of any major city in the world, a day after celebrations for the Diwali festival, during which revelers typically set off fireworks and firecrackers.

New Delhi’s PM 2.5 concentration—a measure of pollutants in the air—was more than 40 times the World Health Organization’s annualized guideline level, according to Swiss air quality monitoring company IQAir.

In 2020, authorities enacted a complete ban on making, selling or using firecrackers in New Delhi, citing hazardous pollution levels.

Despite the city being the political heart of the country, officials have had little success in cleaning up Delhi’s toxic air.

Previous attempts to curb pollution have included sprinkling water on the roads, restricting traffic by requiring vehicles with odd or even license plates to travel on alternating days, and constructing in 2018 two smog towers worth 200 million rupees ($2.4 million), intended to act as giant air purifiers.

India is also desperate to fuel its booming economy and meet the energy needs of its 1.4 billion people.

-www.cnn.com, 22 October 2025

Commentary: The headline of this CNN article declares: “After festival of lights, New Delhi plunged into toxic darkness and world’s most polluted air.”

India, with its 1.4 billion population, is destined to become one of the world’s leading industrial powers. India’s annual GDP growth rate is 7.2% per year, compared with China’s 3% and the USA’s 2.1%.

Doubtless, India will find remedies to at least alleviate the air pollution experienced during this economic growth.

Religiously, the country is divided into Hindu 79.8%, Muslim 14.2%, Christians 2.3% (that’s 32.2 million Christians). Officially, it is difficult to define Christians in India since it is a minority religion. Much of its growth is unofficial and goes unreported, due to the strong anti-conversion sentiment.

A Google search give three points revealing the increasing hostility by Hindu groups against Christians:

1) Anti-conversion laws

2) Escalating violence

3) Social and legal discrimination

Yet Jesus said, “I will build my church,” and no opposition, restriction, or persecution will hinder the ongoing work. The nation of India will be a great contributor toward the fulfillment of the words we read in Romans 11:25b: “blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.” For more information about Christianity in India, write to our Brother Ishmael for his newsletter: ishmael.john@gmail.com