It’s been almost a month, India’s capital Delhi and neighbouring areas, including Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurugram, have been breathing toxic air. Almost every day post Diwali, people in Delhi-NCR have been witnessing thick smog — a toxic blend of smoke and fog — and pollution blanket, exposing them to a host of respiratory issues.
With improvement in air quality not in sight, there has been a debate going around on whether India should shift its capital out of Delhi.
Last week, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor triggered the debate with a social media post, saying that Delhi ranked on top among the most polluted cities along with those in neighbouring Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Tharoor wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “This city (Delhi) is essentially uninhabitable from November to January inclusive and barely livable the rest of the year. Should it even remain the nation’s capital?”
In the social media post, Tharoor said, “Delhi is officially the most polluted city in the world, 4x Hazardous levels and nearly five times as bad as the second most polluted city, Dhaka. It is unconscionable that our government has been witnessing this nightmare for years and does nothing about it. I have run an Air Quality Round Table for experts and stakeholders, including MPs, since 2015 but gave up last year because nothing seemed to change and no one seemed to care.”
By the mid of November this year, the Indian capital’s worsening toxic smog surged past 60 times the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recommended daily maximum.
Millions living in Delhi and the NCR breathe dirty air, with air quality index showing alarming situations at several places. Air quality worsens every winter with cold air trapping construction dust, emissions and smoke factories, vehicles and stubble burning in farms in and around Delhi.
Delhi’s AQI on Wednesday (November 27) is 225, which is considered unhealthy. The capital city recorded its cleanest air of this year in August with an average Air Quality Index (AQI) of 52. Despite this, it did not qualify for a ‘good’ air day as for that, the AQI has to be below 50.
For the first time since 2018, Delhi has failed to record a single ‘good’ air day this year. A similar situation occurred in 2016. During the nationwide Covid induced lockdown in 2020 there was a brief respite with five ‘good’ air days.
In the following years, the number of clean-air days has decreased: only one was recorded in October 2021, and three between September and October in 2022.
In 2023, just one ‘good’ air day was recorded in September.
Delhi generally experiences its best air quality during the monsoon months of August to October, when meteorological conditions help disperse pollutants. However, this improvement is often short-lived as winter sets in, bringing stagnant air and escalating pollution levels.
India did not choose its national capital based on its air quality index. Air pollution was anyway not a prime concern during those years. A number of factors, however, influence a country’s decision on choosing the capital. This includes strategic location, infrastructure, connectivity and law-and-order situation with the rest of the country.
But if India decides to make AQI a criterion for shifting its capital, as argued by Tharoor and backed by several others, which cities may qualify to have that honour?
The pollution crisis has not just hit Delhi, but has affected several tier-II and tier-III cities in the Indo-Gangetic plain.
The geography and anthropogenic factors are behind the toxic haze that has been claiming lives of thousands of people every year.
Tharoor has, in a way, sparked the debate of moving out the capital outside Delhi and a number of people came up with suggestions and recommendations of their choice for the national capital.
There are a few cities which qualify, but do these cities have the infrastructure and support base to host India’s national capital?
According to the latest data by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi AQI on Wednesday (November 27) was 303.
Air quality in Kolkata stood at 224, while in Mumbai it was 137, the CPCB data highlighted.
Ahmedabad’s AQI was 182, while Chennai’s air quality stood at 133.
Pune AQI was 149, while Hyderabad’s was 100.
Gurugram’s air quality on Wednesday was 217, while Noida’s was 207 and Greater Noida’s was 230. Ghaziabad’s air quality was in poor catergory at 215.
Good AQI was only in 12 places in India with Aizawl being the best at 28, Bagalkot (42), Chamarajanagar (43), Kalaburagi (43), Madikeri (30), Madurai (46), Ramanathapuram (36), Shillong (37), Sivasagar (48), Thoothukudi (29), Thrissur (47), Vijayapura (37).
As per CPCB, the AQI between 0-50 falls under ‘Good’ category, 51-100 in ‘Satisfactory’, 101-200 in ‘Moderate’, 201-300 ‘Poor’, 301-400 in ‘very poor’ and 401-500 in ‘severe’ category.
India has been the birthplace of several empires, which emerged from all parts of the country — east, south, north and west. Patna in Bihar became the foundation of one of the greatest empires ever seen in ancient times — the Nanda dynasty rulers, who was feared by even the forces of Alexander the Great. Delhi and Agra became capitals during the medieval era. The British made Calcutta as its summer capital and Shimla as its winter capital before shifting the colonial capital to Delhi in 1911, formally inaugurating it in 1931.
It was on December 12, 1911, the foundation of India’s new capital as Delhi was laid by King George V during New Delhi durbar (a pompous royal ceremony). The formal inauguration of Delhi as the capital of India happened on February 13, 1931 by Lord Irwin after the construction of the city was completed.
One of the reasons for declaring Delhi the capital was that it was the financial and political centre of many empires that had earlier ruled India. Also, Delhi, being situated in the northern part of the country, worked in its favour as Calcutta was situated in the eastern coastal part.
Back then, the British government believed that ruling India from Delhi would be easier and convenient than from Kolkata. But there have been arguments earlier as well about shifting India’s national capital out of Delhi.
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, the chairman of the drafting committee of the Constituent Assembly, in his book titled, “Thoughts of Linguistic States”, suggested the need of a second capital.
Ambedkar ruled out Kolkata because of its proximity with Tibet and said he found Mumbai unsafe due to its coastline. He then zeroed in on Hyderabad.
“I find Hyderabad to be a better location for the second capital. Hyderabad-Secunderabad and Bolarum should be constituted into a chief commissioner’s province and made the second capital of India,” he said.
“Hyderabad fulfills all the requirements of a capital for India… Fortunately, it can be very easily done with satisfaction to the whole of South India, to Maharashtra and to the Andhras. This is another remedy for easing the tension between the North and the South,” he said.
Ambedkar also said, “The feeling of the Southern people is that the Capital (Delhi) of their Country is far away from them and that they are being ruled by the people of Northern India.”
He argued against Delhi’s case as India’s national capital, saying, “Delhi is a vulnerable place. It is within bombing distance of the neighbouring countries. Although India is trying to live in peace with its neighbours, it cannot be assumed that India will not have to face war sometime or other, and if war comes, the Government of India will have to leave Delhi and find another place for its location. Which is the place to which the Government of India can migrate?”
Other capital candidates have also been suggested in the past.
In 2009, Congress leader Vilas Muttemwar argued in the Lok Sabha, “Considering the centrality and safety of the place, the then Prime Minister Pt Jawaharlal Nehru shifted all the four defence production factories to Nagpur after the Chinese invasion. Therefore, there is no denying the fact that Nagpur is the only city in the country which can vouch safe as the second capital of the country. Number of offices of Government and Public Sector Undertakings can easily be shifted from Delhi to Nagpur. This will not only release the pressure on Delhi but also homogeneously create a well-developed place for naming the second Capital of India viz. Nagpur.”
In 2013, Muttemwar reiterated his demand in the Lower House of Parliament, arguing against continuing with New Delhi as India’s capital. “The problems of Delhi include a wide spectrum of socio-economic, political and physical problems. The severity of the problems are the declining environmental quality and inadequate urban infrastructural facilities including electricity, water, roads, transport, housing etc. The population of Delhi has shown tremendous growth during the past few years and has posed enough problems for city planning and governance,” he had said.
In 2018, then Karnataka minister for large and medium industries RV Deshpande wrote to PM Modi urging him to make Bengaluru India’s second capital.
“India needs a second capital very urgently and Bengaluru is the best place to fulfill that role. A country the size and scale of India cannot be managed from one location, especially when the government is gearing up for a paradigmatic and radical change in terms of depth of governance, structural reforms, national reconstruction and international partnerships,” Deshpande had said.
Addressing a rally in Delhi in 2021, West Bengal Chief Minister and a veteran politician, Mamata Banerjee said, “I believe that India must have four rotating capitals. Why should Delhi decide all things? We should have four different capitals at the four corners of the country. And Parliament sessions should be held in different places in the country.”
She even wanted the central government to declare Kolkata as the “National Capital of Bengal” citing its position during colonial times under the British.
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Should India move its capital out of New Delhi to escape air pollution, but to where?
