Breathing Justice: How stronger environmental law can still restore Delhi's ‘Right to Clean Air’

Delhi's winter air now comes with an unsettling sense of routine. As the season turns, the city braces itself for the thick, acrid fog that settles over it — blurring skylines, tightening chests, and forcing people to go about their day with an almost resigned acceptance. What was once dismissed as a seasonal irritation has hardened into something far more serious: a constitutional crisis hiding in plain sight.

- ROMIL ARYAN & DR. PARTHA S. RAKSHIT

India’s Supreme Court has long been clear that clean air is part of the right to life under Article 21. And yet, Delhi's repeated exposure to hazardous air levels shows how far the State has drifted from its constitutional obligations. The gap between the rights we celebrate and the reality we breathe has rarely felt wider.

The irony is hard to miss. Indian environmental jurisprudence is among the most progressive in the Global South. Landmark judgments — MC Mehta being the most famous — have introduced concepts such as sustainable development, the precautionary principle, and the public trust doctrine into the legal mainstream. Subhash Kumar Judgement affirmed that pollution-free air and water are inseparable from the right to life. The Constitution backs this with Article 48, which directs the State to protect the environment, and Article 51A(g), which places a duty on citizens themselves. The language, the philosophy, the intent — all of it already exists. But Delhi's lived reality makes something painfully clear: rights lose their force when enforcement remains halfhearted.

Delhi's pollution crisis is complicated, certainly, but not incomprehensible.

Stubble burning in neighbouring States, the sheer number of vehicles on the road, dust thrown up by relentless construction, emissions from industries, thermal plants, and the stubborn winter inversion — together, they form a perfect storm of pollutants. The science is conclusive, and the health consequences are well-documented: a significant dip in life expectancy, rising respiratory and cardiac illnesses, and children growing up with lungs that age far too quickly. Schools shut down, flights are diverted, hospitals struggle — all while constitutional and statutory protections sit largely unimplemented.