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  "path": "/story/26/02/16/1745219/indias-toxic-air-crisis-is-reaching-a-breaking-point?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-16T20:46:44.264Z",
  "site": "https://news.slashdot.org",
  "tags": [
    "earth",
    "Read more of this story"
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  "textContent": "New Delhi's air quality index averaged 349 in December and 307 in January -- levels the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classifies as hazardous -- and the months-long smog season that forces more than 30 million residents to endure respiratory illness has this year sparked something new: public protest. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at India Gate on November 9 to demand government action; police detained more than a dozen people, and a follow-up protest later that month turned violent. The government's response has been largely cosmetic. Authorities deployed truck-mounted \"smog guns\" and \"smog towers\" that scientists widely regard as ineffective, and a cloud seeding trial in October failed outright. A senior environment minister told Parliament in December that no conclusive data linked pollution to lung disease -- a claim doctors sharply disputed. The government cut pollution control spending by 16% in the latest federal budget. Almost 1.7 million deaths were attributable to air pollution in India in 2019, according to the Lancet. A 2023 World Bank report estimated the crisis shaves 0.56 percentage point off annual GDP growth.\n\n \n\nRead more of this story at Slashdot.",
  "title": "India's Toxic Air Crisis Is Reaching a Breaking Point",
  "updatedAt": "2026-02-16T20:00:00.000Z"
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