Why Delhi air turns poisonous every winter

为什么一到冬天，德里的空气污染就如此严重？

NEW DELHI: Smog ... Dust ... Soot ... Smoke. As the winter season sets in, Delhi has yet again turned into a "gas chamber". There's a thick envelope of smog descending on the national capital, triggering health concerns among citizens and blame-game between governments.

On Thursday, smog in New Delhi hit "hazardous" levels as smoke from thousands of crop fires in northern India combined with other pollutants to create a noxous grey cocktail envelo the megacity.

As the air quality deteriorated, Delhi has banned construction works in public projects such as highways, flyovers, power transmission, pipelines.

雾霾……扬尘……烟灰……浓烟。随着冬季的来临，德里又一次变成了“毒气室”。浓厚的雾霾笼罩着印度的首都，引发了市民对健康的担忧，也引发了政府内部之间的相互指责。

周四，新德里的雾霾指数达到了“危险”水平，印度北部数千起农作物焚烧产生的烟尘与其他污染物混合，形成了有毒的灰色烟雾，笼罩着这座大城市。

随着空气质量的恶化，德里叫停了高速公路、立交桥、电力传输和管道等公共项目的建设。

Just to understand how bad the situation really is, levels of the most dangerous particles — PM2.5, which are so tiny that they can enter our bloodstream, reached 588 per cubic metre early on Thursday morning, according to monitoring firm IQAir. This is almost 40 times the daily maxmum recommended by the World Health Organization.

According to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), it's not just Delhi that's breathing the toxc cocktail of pollutants but several other northern cities.

The alarming figures are now stoking concerns among the people but the story of Delhi's toxc air is not new. In fact, it has been quite the same for several years now.

实际情况有多糟糕呢，根据监测公司IQAir的数据，周四凌晨空气中危害性最大的颗粒物——PM2.5（PM2.5非常微小，可以进入我们的血液）的水平达到了每立方米588微克。这几乎是世界卫生组织规定的每日最大摄入量的40倍。

根据中央污染控制委员会(CPCB)的数据，不仅是德里，其他几个北方城市也在呼吸着有毒的污染物混合物。

这些令人震惊的数据引起了人们的极大担忧，但德里毒空气的故事并非新鲜事。事实上，近几年来污染一直如此严重。

Why does Delhi turn into 'gas chamber' each year?

Environment minister Bhupender Yadav recently took a dig at AAP, blaming the governments in Punjab and Delhi for turning the national capital into a "gas chamber".

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, whose party also rules Punjab where crop burning is rampant, said on Twitter that the "people of Punjab and Delhi are taking all steps at their level" to tackle pollution.

Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai has also suggested a 5-point plan to reduce pollution.

But politics aside, the fact that Delhi faces a similar situation each year is now turning into an issue of national concern.

为什么德里每年都会变成“毒气室”？

环境部长布彭德·亚达夫最近讽刺印度平民党，指责旁遮普和德里政府把国家首都变成了“毒气室”。

德里首席部长阿尔温德·凯杰里瓦尔在推特上表示，“旁遮普人和德里人正竭尽所能”解决污染问题。他所在的政党还辖领着焚烧作物行为猖獗的旁遮普邦。

德里环境部长戈帕尔·拉伊也提出了治理污染的五点计划。

但抛开党派纷争不谈，德里每年都面临着同样的污染，已经变成了一个举国关注的问题。

Stubble burning

秸秆燃烧

Crop fires are undoubtedly the biggest contributor towards air pollution in Delhi.

The burning of rice paddies after harvests across Punjab and other states persists every year despite efforts to persuade farmers to use different methods.

Like every year, data shows that stubble burning has gone up considerably in the last 30 days.

This is because farmers have to clear their fields ahead of the rabi season and burning of stubble is an efficient - and quickest - way to do it.

Typically, the farmers only have a short one-week window to clear the land.

农作物燃烧无疑是造成德里空气污染的最大原因。

在旁遮普和其他邦，尽管政府努力说服农民采取其他方法，但每年都有农民在收成后焚烧稻田。

数据显示，与往年一样，在过去30天内，秸秆焚烧的案例大幅上升。

这是因为农民必须在旱季之前清理田地，而焚烧秸秆是一种有效且最快的方法。

通常情况下，农民只有短短一周的时间来清理土地。

Punjab's groundwater issue

旁遮普的地下水问题

The widespread stubble burning in Punjab is actually a groundwater issue.

In Punjab, farmers are prohibited from planting paddy in May in order to prevent groundwater levels from going low before the monsoons. Groundwater depleting is turning into a big problem in Punjab and paddy is a water-intensive crop.

旁遮普普遍的秸秆焚烧问题归根结底是地下水的问题。

在旁遮普省，农民5月份不能种植水稻，以免雨季到来前地下水的水位下降。地下水枯竭现已成为旁遮普的一个严重问题，而水稻是耗水量很大的农作物。

Thus, farmers in Punjab can only plant paddy from mid-June onwards. This has a cascading effect.

Due to the late sowing, the crops are harvested only in late October/early November. This coincides with the onset of winter season in north India when wind speeds slow down and temperatures drop.

If the sowing happened in May, the crops would harvest in September, which is windier and warmer in comparison.

Plus, it also means that farmers don't get much time to plant rabi crops before the winter season so the window for paddy stubble burning is rather narrow.

因此，旁遮普的农民只有从6月中旬才能开始种植水稻，这也带来了联动反应。

由于播种时间晚，水稻要等到10月底/ 11月初才能收获。这个时间正是和印度北部冬季的时间相吻合，那时风速会减缓，气温会下降。

如果在5月播种，9月就能收获，那时风更大，也更温暖。

此外，这也意味着农民在冬季来临之前没有太多时间种植旱季作物，因此焚烧秸秆的时间窗口相当狭窄。

Lack of machinery and knowledge

农业机械和农业知识缺乏

Most farmers in Punjab are poor and cannot afford machinery for clearing out stubble in the ground. They are left with no option but to resort to the cheaper solution of stubble burning.

Punjab had on Wednesday reported 3,634 farm fires, the highest this season so far, though their share in Delhi PM2.5 pollution stood at just 12 per cent due to unfavourable transport-level wind speed.

旁遮普省的大多数农民都很穷，买不起清理秸秆的农机。他们别无选择，只能靠焚烧秸秆这种便宜的解决方案。

旁遮普省周三报告了3634起农田火情，为本季度迄今最高记录，但由于风速不利于传播，旁遮普在德里PM2.5污染中所占的比例仅为12%。

The number of farm fires stood at 1,842 on Tuesday, 2,131 on Monday, 1,761 on Sunday, 1,898 on Saturday and 2,067 on Friday.

Last year, the share of farm fires in Delhi's PM 2.5 pollution peaked to 48 per cent on November 7.

Around 53 per cent of the Delhi-NCR residents identify stubble burning in neighbouring states as the "primary cause" of rising levels of air pollution, according to a Local Circles survey.

周二的农场火情为1842起，周一为2131起，周日为1761起，周六为1898起，周五为2067起。

去年，在德里的PM2.5污染中，农场火情所占的比例在11月7日达到了峰值—48%。

根据Local Circles的一项调查，德里首都辖区约有53%的居民认为，邻近各邦焚烧秸秆是空气污染水平上升的“主要原因”。

以下是印度时报读者的评论：

User Bisht

Delhi politicians need to concentrate on this issue seriously. Every year same issue and then same statement by environment minister. Pollution affecting kids health in Delhi .

德里的政客们必须认真严肃地关注这个问题。每年都会发生同样的问题，环境部长每年都会出面发表同样的声明。污染影响着德里儿童的健康。

DevN

Instead of yearly spending 600 crores on electricity subsidies in Delhi, if the govt purchased machinery every year for that value and found a way to lease them to the farmers for a very low rent, it could slowly solve the pollution issue i believe.

与其每年为德里的电力补贴耗资60亿卢比，不如让政府每年拿这笔钱购买农机，低价出租给农民，我相信这么做可以慢慢解决污染问题。

• 21 hours ago

Delhi should stop purchasing / ban rice grown in crop burning states. They will have to shift to alternatives when they will find no buyer.

德里应该停止购买或禁售产自焚烧秸秆地区的大米。如果粮食卖不出去，农民就不得不做出改变。

B D Sharma

Now Whom will Kejriwal blame now ?

猜猜这次凯杰里瓦尔又要怪谁了呢？

Chill Pill

Indians FULLY DESERVE their politicians, police and judiciary. What use of IITs, IIMs, RECs etc. when simple, day-to-day problems cannot be solved? The country has it's highest priorities fixed on Religion, Caste and Regional Ethnicity. EVERYTHING in the lives of the majority revolves around these three things ONLY..! Nothing else matters here.

印度人活该有这群政客、警察和法官。如果连简单的日常问题都无法解决，那么印度理工学院、印度管理学院等机构还有什么用？对这个国家而言，最要紧的是宗教、种姓和地区族群。大多数印度人的生活中只有这三件事！别的都不重要。

• 21 hours ago

Shan Modi bhakt are dividing India. This pollution is responsibly of center government. Modi has ignored this huge issue. He received 10 billions from Germany for environment. Where is that money ?

莫迪正在分裂印度。这种污染是印度政府的责任。莫迪对这个严重问题视而不见。他从德国拿到了100亿美元的环境补贴。但钱花在哪里了?

• 21 hours ago

Stop this blame game. Clean Air is responsibility of Center Government. Ever since Modi became PM he has done nothing about pollution.

别再搞这套推卸责任的把戏了。空气治理就是印度政府的责任。自从莫迪就任总理以来，他对污染问题没有采取过任何措施。

• 21 hours ago

Because Modi and BJP is slee. Pollution is killing Indians. Average age has gone down 2.6 years. 17 out of 19 most polluted cities in the world are in India..

因为莫迪和人民党在装睡呢。污染正在谋害印度人的生命。印度人民的平均年龄下降了2.6岁。在全球19个污染最严重的城市中印度就占了17个。

• 22 hours ago

Delhi Voters like to have anything at FREE which may be Poison also. They SELL their VOTES against FREE GIFTS only.

德里选民喜欢免费的东西，可能也喜欢污染。他们可以用选票来换取一切免费之物。

• Avijit Hi • 22 hours ago

Dehli is in India. Clean air is every Indian's right and federal government must provide clean air to everyone.

德里就在印度。洁净的空气是每个印度人都享有的权利，联邦政府必须为每个人提供洁净的空气。

• 23 hours ago

Delhi public is responsible who has chosen a CM who only tells a lie always.He don't do anything but is master in blaming others every time.

德里公众对此都有责任，是他们选出了这位谎话连篇的首席部长。他自己什么都不干，只会责怪别人。

Patriot

Burning dead crop by farmers is the reason behind this and it is hard to control until new laws come to find guilty and sent to prison.

造成空气污染的原因是农民焚烧秸秆，这种事很难禁，除非制订新的法律，可以给这种行为定罪并将肇事者监禁。

D_Kmar

Why complain when you voted for your representative who does not do any work. Please bear with it.

既然选择投票给不作为的领导，那还有什么好抱怨的。忍耐忍耐吧。

Guest

A few days back an article was published over farm fires in Haryana. Now it turns out farm fires in Punjab are 12 times that of Haryana.

前几天我看到一篇关于哈里亚纳邦农场火情的文章。现在我才知道，原来旁遮普的农场火情居然是哈里亚纳邦的12倍之多。

• 1 day ago

Now government can start focussing on bigger issues such as giving sustainable solutions to farmers for the disposal of parali. Still the goverment will focus on low hanging fruits such as Banning crackers, reducing vehicle registration life etc

现在政府应该关注更大的问题，比如向农民传授不破坏环境的解决方案来处理秸秆。但我们的政府更关心那些容易实现的目标，比如禁放鞭炮，缩短车辆登记寿命等。

Anurag Aggarwal•1272• Kavs S•Delhi, India

previous years were better when there were other govts in punjab ? karma is that we are all happy politicizing and all govts get away doing nothing. The rule to not sow paddy till july is probably central rule.

旁遮普省在前几年上届政府治理期间，情况有好一些吗？这就是报应，我们都喜欢谈论政治，但历届政府都不作为。七月前不许种植水稻的规定可能是中央制订的。

vinay sharma•36596• vinay sharma•1 day ago

People suffering because of the dastards who vote for this anarchist, subversive Kejriwal, really wonder how he managed to get IIT seat. If something serious isn't done about him there is danger of total anarchy in the country.

所有人都因为那些给无政府主义者、危险分子凯杰里瓦尔投票的卑劣小人而吃尽苦头，我真的很好奇他是怎么获得印度理工学院职位的。如果不对他严肃处理，这个国家就将面临陷入完全无政府状态的危险。

G A•3066•1 day ago

AAP has only one solution for all issues it is a center issue. Don't know why delhi people choose this guy. I know few people who is giving vote for couple 100 rupees a month. Shame on those people who are selling Delhi and India for 200 unit of electricity bill. They rather die of other things but can't afford RS 200 a month of electricity

平民党对于所有问题都只有一个解决方案：这是中央政府的事。天知道为什么德里人会投票给这个人。我知道有些人会拿选票换几百卢比。那些为了200卢比电费而出卖德里和印度的人太可耻了。他们可以为其他事拼命，却不愿负担每月200卢比的电费。

Indiyaan•1 day ago

5 days of Diwali firecrackers ban of the SC has solved all the problems of whole season. You people are just seeing things. There is no pollution, no smog. This is anti-SC propaganda. Few eight year kids who ignited firecrackers despite the ban will be shot dead next year.

印度最高法院针对排灯节的5日鞭炮禁令解决了所有问题。你们这些人只知道看表面。事实上并没有污染，也不存在雾霾，这只是针对最高法院的污蔑造谣。有几个不把禁令当回事，燃放鞭炮的八岁小孩明年会被枪毙。

Indiyaan•1 day ago•Follow

AAP government in Punjab burning stubble to pollute AAP voters in Delhi.

旁遮普的平民党政府焚烧秸秆，污染他们的德里选民。

Pranav Aggarwal•675• Abhishek Gera•1 hour ago

Idiot people want solution of a problem created over a decade in just 6 months

First ask Dear Modi ji for ache din, cheap fuel and LPG prices.

只有蠢货才会指望能在短短6个月内解决这个10多年来的积弊问题。

记得先找你们亲爱的莫迪要求好日子，要求便宜的燃料和液化石油气。

Pramod Deshpande•40243•Thane•1 day ago

Because too many pseudo seculars are there and this happened despite having banned People from bursting the crackers. Throw out the AAP Joker. He has done nothing in 8 years. He knows only one thing, passing the buck

因为那里有太多伪世俗主义者了，虽然人们不得燃放鞭炮，但这种事还是无法避免。把平民党的傻子赶下台吧。8年来他一事无成，只懂一件事，那就是推卸责任。

Umesh Kumar•82074• Umesh Kumar•1 day ago

Delhi turns poisonous because of dirty politics in our system.

德里的空气有毒，是因为我们的政治体制太脏了。

Kaushikk D. Vyas•9245• Kaushikk D. Vyas•BARODA•1 day ago

Where are those Air purifiers which were installed spending lakhs of rupees?

花费数十万卢比安装的空气净化器在哪里呢？

Wise Desi•7739• Wise Desi•earth•1 day ago

Poisonous AAP government and dumb Supreme Court blaming firecrackers of Diwali and Hindu festivals for pollution. Until these dumb and ati Hindu co unist don’t realize the root cause there will not be any solution to Delhi pollution. Only Modi with long term vision can fix Delhi but Delhi elected Kejri to keep suffering.

恶心的平民政府和愚蠢的最高法院把空气污染问题归咎于排灯节和印度教徒燃放鞭炮。除非这些蠢家伙意识到德里污染的根本原因，否则他们找不到任何解决办法的。只有具有长远眼光的莫迪才能解决德里的问题，但德里选择了凯杰里瓦尔，所以只能继续忍受苦果。

Anurag Aggarwal•1272• Wise Desi•Delhi, India•1 day ago

Modiji is still blaming Nehru after 8 years, AAP govt in punjab is just few months old

莫迪执政8年后还指责尼赫鲁呢，旁遮普的平民党政府这才上台几个月。

Sanjeev•1 day ago

Simply put “too many cooks spoil the dish” too many caretakers for Delhi…starting from CM, Centre, Mayor(s), NGT….and some I might be forgetting…everbody cares but does nothing at all….

要我说很简单，就是“三个和尚没水喝”，德里的“婆婆”太多了，首席部长、印度政府、市长、国家绿色法庭....还有一些我也忘了，每个“婆婆”都要口头关心关心，但实际却什么也不做....

Mallikarjun Nidoni•28279• Sanjeev•1 day ago

Both Delhi n Punjab AAP govt. They should have fixed it but cannot coz don't know how to solve it.

德里和旁遮普人民党政府应该联手解决这个问题的，但他们做不到，因为他们不知道该如何解决这个问题。

Msh•9359•1 day ago

Delhi is the most polluted capital city in the world. Thanks to citizens of Delhi for this achievement. Cut more trees to build fancy malls, apartments, villas for show off later blame farmers, goverment.

德里是世界上污染最严重的首都城市。感谢德里市民取得的伟大“成就”。继续砍树，建造豪华的购物中心、公寓、别墅来显摆吧，然后再反过头来责备农民和政府。

Ramesh•64332• Abhishek Gera•India•1 day ago

BUT, Kejriwal and Mann are saying that Parali burnibg does not cause pollution. They are the worst criminals of pollution.

但是，凯杰里瓦尔和曼恩都表示，焚烧秸秆是不会造成污染的。说到底他们自己才是污染的罪魁祸首。