New Delhi, Dec. 17 -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday orally observed that the measures taken by authorities so far have been a "total failure" in effectively curbing rising levels of air pollution in the Delhi-NCR region.

A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant remarked that any meaningful reduction in pollution would require broader, long-term planning rather than ad hoc responses.

With respect to various petitions highlighting the inadequacy of recent measures aimed at protecting children, such as the Delhi government's directives to shut schools or allow them to function in a hybrid mode, the Court noted that these were merely temporary policy decisions taken by the authorities to mitigate health risks.

Thus, the bench refu...