Is Delhi's toxic smog making the city unlivable?
The Take
Al Jazeera
4.7 • 748 Ratings
🗓️ 9 December 2025
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Each winter, Delhi is smothered in a toxic smog that chokes its residents, sending many to hospitals for acute respiratory ailments. The government has pledged to tackle the air pollution crisis, but the reality remains difficult. Amid fears that India’s capital is becoming unlivable, residents are now demanding real action after a decade of breathing the world’s dirtiest air.
In this episode:
- Yashraj Sharma (@yashjournals), independent journalist
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Tamara Khandaker and Haleema Shah, with Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Fatima Shafiq, Farhan Rafid, and our guest host Kevin Hirten. It was edited by Kylene Kiang.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. This episode was mixed by Rick Rush. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad Al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Al Jazeera Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | Today is toxic air making Delhi unlivable. |
| 0:15.0 | Year after year, Delhi's winter pollution has been described with metaphors, blanket of smog, breath of death, toxic haze, even |
| 0:21.6 | air apocalypse. As the city chokes through yet another smog season, residents are demanding |
| 0:27.1 | real action after a decade of breathing the world's dirtiest air. I'm Kevin Hurtin, and this is the take. |
| 0:40.2 | Hi, before we continue with today's show, remember to leave us a comment telling us what you think about this episode and what stories you want us to do next. |
| 0:49.3 | And if you're on your favorite podcast app, leave us a review telling us where you're listening from, |
| 0:59.0 | and you might as well give us a five-star rating while you're there. It really does help the show. |
| 1:05.0 | I'm Yasha Sharma, and I'm a reporter based in New Delhi. |
| 1:10.4 | Yash, welcome to the take. So, yeah, as you said, you're in Delhi where air quality has been sitting in the |
| 1:11.2 | poor to severe range on the air quality index since about early November. It's not good. |
| 1:18.8 | Yes. So let's start with the visceral. Can you describe what that toxic smog looks like and |
| 1:25.4 | especially feels like when you're out on the street. |
| 1:30.8 | You know, visually, it's a flat, gray, brown haze just over your head. |
| 1:36.6 | Just right in front of your eyes, you can feel it sometimes. |
| 1:39.7 | Landmarks and high-rasses just can't see. |
| 1:42.4 | They are ghosted out. |
| 1:43.7 | You can't look at the sky. You can't look at the buildings at times right across the street. The visibility on some days are really poor. You can't feel the sun. Like the sun doesn't come on, you know? I think that's perhaps one of the most weird things about it. That you just don't see the sun. It's just like a very pale yellow disc in the sky. |
| 2:02.4 | Do you feel it on your body, in your eyes? Yes. You can taste it. You know, it's like, it's a taste of |
| 2:08.7 | ash. And that's the worst. You know, you can feel it in your eyes. Your eyes are itchy. |
| 2:13.8 | Your eyes are watery sometimes. Some people are more sort of vulnerable to it, you know, because of their own conditions. |
| 2:20.6 | But even a normal, like normally I feel there's itching in my eyes. |
... |
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