Indian authorities begin controversial cloud-seeding experiment over New Delhi

It is hoped that cloud-seeding over New Delhi will clear the city's toxic air Indian authorities have initiated a cloud-seeding experiment over New Delhi in a bid to combat the city's severe air pollution,. The move that has already ignited public anger. A specialised aircraft dispersed chemicals into clouds above parts of the Indian capital, aiming to trigger rainfall and cleanse the 'very poor' quality air, as reported by environmental monitors. This intervention seeks to alleviate the persistent toxic smog plaguing residents. Cloud seeding -- a weather modification method that releases chemicals into clouds to trigger rain -- has been used in drought-prone regions, such as the western United States and the United Arab Emirates, though experts say its effectiveness remains uncertain. Delhi Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said that the trial was done in collaboration with the government's Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, with more planned in the coming days. He said that authorities were expecting a brief spell of rainfall in some parts of the city in the following hours. New Delhi and its surrounding region, home to more than 30 million people, routinely rank among the world's most polluted. India has six of the 10 most polluted cities globally, and New Delhi is the most polluted capital, according to a report from Switzerland-based air quality monitoring database IQAir earlier this year. Air quality worsens in New Delhi every winter as farmers burn crop residue in nearby states and cooler temperatures trap the smoke, which mixes with vehicle and industrial emissions. Pollution levels often reach 20 times higher than the World Health Organization's safe limit. Authorities have imposed construction bans, restricted diesel generators and deployed water sprinklers and anti-smog guns to control the haze. However, critics say there needs to be a long-term solution that drastically reduces pollution itself, instead of actions that aim to mitigate the effects after it has already plagued the region. Krishna Achuta Rao, professor at the center for atmospheric sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, said that seeding clouds to reduce air pollution is ineffective, because it can dissipate pollution only for a few days after which the air quality returns to the state that it was before. Instead, Rao said, implementing strong laws that can result in reducing emissions from all sources, including industries, vehicular pollution and construction, is the only way to clean India's air. "Cloud seeding is not really a cure (for pollution). The main purpose appears to be to show people that something is being done," he said. Experts have repeatedly argued that cloud-seeding is not guaranteed to work in Delhi and offers, at best, short-lived respite from a chronic pollution crisis where the root causes remain unaddressed. Delhi's plan for cloud seeding "in reality is a textbook case of science misapplied and ethics ignored", Shahzad Gani, an assistant professor at the Centre for Atmospheric Sciences at IIT Delhi, said. "Snake-oil solutions will not clear the air in Delhi or the rest of North India," he wrote in an article for The Hindu paper. "Instead, courage is required on the ground: to reduce the sources of pollution and pursue equitable, evidence-based action. Anything less is not just misplaced science - it is an ethical failure, a diversion from the patient, unglamorous work needed to ensure clean air throughout the year."