The Delhi regional government has initiated a cloud-seeding experiment to induce artificial rain in an effort to combat the city's severe air pollution. The first test flight, conducted on Thursday, saw flares containing silver iodide launched into the sky, according to environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which came to power this year, has long proposed cloud seeding as a solution to Delhi's hazardous air quality. The plan had been delayed due to unpredictable weather but was rolled out after Diwali celebrations left the city blanketed in a thick brown haze, with air quality falling into the hazardous range.
Chief minister Rekha Gupta stated that if conditions remain favourable, Delhi could experience its first artificial rain on 29 October. Cloud seeding involves dispersing particles like silver iodide into clouds to encourage water droplet clustering and precipitation.
However, experts have criticised the move as a 'gimmick'. Professors Shahzad Gani and Krishna AchutaRao from Delhi's Centre for Atmospheric Sciences described it as 'a textbook case of science misapplied and ethics ignored'. They compared the scheme to previous ineffective 'smog towers' and warned of unknown long-term health and environmental effects from chemicals used in seeding.
Delhi has been ranked the world's most polluted city for over a decade. In 2024, pollution levels rose by 6%, driven by crop burning, industrial emissions, and traffic, exacerbated by cold winter air trapping pollutants. During winter, PM2.5 and PM10 levels often surpass those recorded during Beijing's 2013 'airpocalypse'.
