Letters to The Editor -- October 22, 2025

letters to the editor

Toxic air

It is intriguing to note that Delhi, of all the cities in India, is always in the news on account of severe air pollution after Deepavali. A friend of mine living in Delhi begs to disagree with this oft-repeated notion about the poor Air Quality Index (AQI) in Delhi. According to him, every other month, farmers in Punjab and Haryana burn agricultural waste leading to smog ever so frequently in Delhi. This friend also disagrees with the contention that vehicular traffic is a major contributing factor. I think the authorities should mull over the ground-level situation by inviting people's opinions on how best AQI levels be controlled and only then decide on long-term measures to control air pollution in Delhi and other cities.

Govardhana Myneedu,

Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

The policy of permitting so-called "green crackers" while banning regular ones is akin to banning beedis but allowing filtered cigarettes -- cosmetically progressive but substantively hollow. In a city that is already gasping, this is a distinction without a difference. If cultural pressure and economic stakes could be overridden earlier, they can be overridden now, especially when the winter inversion is already trapping India's air under a toxic lid.

The so-called "middle path" merely licenses a controlled deterioration.

Harsh Pawaria,

Rohtak, Haryana

Escalatory

The Defence Minister of India recently issued a veiled threat to Pakistan, which sparked a counter from the Pakistan Army chief. This exchange of rhetoric is perhaps reckless and endangers south Asia's fragile peace. Already scarred by conflict in Afghanistan, our region cannot afford this sort of escalatory brinkmanship. There ought to be diplomacy and dialogue.

P.H. Hema Sagar,

Secunderabad