Delhi Tests Cloud Seeding as Post-Diwali Pollution Soars—Experts Call It a ‘Gimmick’

Key Points

As Delhi choked on hazardous post-Diwali air, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government launched its first cloud seeding trial on Thursday, 23 October 2025, aiming to induce artificial rain to disperse the toxic haze. But as the city’s air quality plunged to the worst PM2.5 levels since January 2025, scientists and environmental experts warned that the move may be little more than a distraction from the capital’s deep rooted pollution crisis.

Delhi’s environment minister, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, confirmed that the first test flight was conducted in Burari on Thursday, firing seeding flares into the sky. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said that if weather conditions remained favourable, Delhi could witness its first “artificial rain” on 29 October 2025. The initiative, long delayed by unpredictable weather, has been positioned as the government’s most ambitious pollution control measure since coming to power earlier this year.

Cloud seeding involves dispersing particles such as silver iodide into clouds to stimulate rainfall. While the technique has been used in countries including China and the UAE, its success depends heavily on the presence of thick, moisture-laden clouds, a rarity in Delhi’s dry winter months.

Experts from Delhi’s Centre for Atmospheric Sciences have denounced the plan as “a textbook case of science misapplied and ethics ignored.” Experts have called the experiment a “gimmick,” equating it with the city’s failed “smog towers” project: expensive installations that delivered negligible improvements to air quality. “Snake-oil solutions will not clear the air in Delhi or the rest of North India,” they warned, adding that the use of chemicals such as silver iodide and sodium chloride carried unknown risks for agriculture and human health.

According to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), Delhi’s average PM2.5 concentration during Diwali reached 228 micrograms per cubic metre, rising to 241 µg/m³ the next day. The figures, far above national and World Health Organization limits, were the city’s highest since January 2025. In some areas, hourly readings were off the charts: Nehru Nagar recorded 1,763 µg/m³ at 10 p.m. on Diwali night, 118 times the WHO’s safe guideline.

Analysts said the official data likely underestimates the severity of the crisis, with several monitoring stations reporting missing or maxed out values. At Anand Vihar, pollution readings disappeared from 11 p.m. on 20 October 2025 to mid-afternoon the next day — the peak pollution window. “Pollutant concentrations might have exceeded instruments’ detection limits,” CREA’s Manoj Kumar observed.

Health experts have repeatedly cautioned that sustained exposure to PM2.5, fine particulate matter small enough to enter the bloodstream, can cause long-term damage to the lungs, heart, and other organs. “The tinier the particle, the greater the health risk,” said Anumita Roy Chowdhury of the Centre for Science and Environment.

Meteorologists from the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) have all urged caution, noting that Delhi’s short lived western disturbances rarely provide suitable cloud cover. Even if rain is induced, it may evaporate before reaching the ground.

Experts argue that the BJP government’s emphasis on cloud seeding mirrors the pattern of short term “visibility projects” that prioritise optics over impact. “It does not address the sources of pollutants — vehicles, industries, crop burning, and dust,” said one atmospheric scientist involved in government consultations. “We’re washing away symptoms, not curing the disease.”

See Also: Delhi Air Pollution Hits Severe Levels as AQI Crosses 400 After Diwali Celebrations, The Capital Chokes

The Politics of Pollution

The BJP, which came to power in Delhi earlier this year, has framed the project as proof of its commitment to innovation in environmental governance. But critics say such initiatives risk becoming public relations tools rather than sustainable policy measures.

Delhi has consistently ranked as the world’s most polluted capital for over a decade. In 2024, pollution levels rose by another 6%, driven by crop residue burning, vehicular emissions, and industrial output. Each winter, the capital’s air turns into a noxious mix of smog and particulate matter that traps millions of residents in hazardous conditions.

The city’s air quality crises have historically prompted a flurry of interventions: from car rationing schemes to anti-smog guns and now artificial rain, with few yielding measurable improvement. As experts put it, the government’s latest trial is another attempt at “engineering weather instead of enforcing regulation.”

Notably, the initiative comes after the BJP government's earlier petition in the Supreme Court to allow bursting of firecrackers in the NCR region on Diwali – the main propellant behind the current pollution surge.

Even if successful, scientists say, the effects of cloud seeding would be temporary, a few hours or days of marginally cleaner air before pollution levels rebound. The IMD and CAQM have both stressed that artificial rain cannot substitute for emission control.

“Cloud seeding may help clear suspended particles briefly, but it cannot replace the need for sustained action,” said one CPCB official. “We need to target the sources, not the sky.”

As Delhi prepares for its next possible rainfall experiment, the brown haze continues to shroud India Gate, hospitals report a surge in respiratory cases, and air-quality indices remain deep in the “hazardous” zone.

For now, the city’s residents are being promised rain, but not necessarily relief. [Rh/Eth]

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