India, Oct. 21 -- Despite a 77.5 percent drop in stubble burning. long seen as a primary cause of Delhi's winter smog, the capital's air quality collapsed to a five-year post-Diwali low on Tuesday morning, with PM2.5 levels averaging 488 micrograms per cubic metre, nearly 100 times the World Health Organization's exposure limit.

The data paints a grim picture, a 212 per cent spike in pollution compared to pre-Diwali readings, and a peak level of 675 micrograms per cubic metre on Diwali night.

In reality, those limits were widely ignored, leaving Delhi blanketed in a thick, chemical haze through the night and into Tuesday morning.

This year's Air Quality Index (AQI) easily surpassed last year's 328, as well as 312 in 2022 and 218 in 202...