A Closer Look at the Air Pollution Dynamics during Diwali Festival in India

Abstract. Every year steep spikes in pollution levels are observed during the festival of Diwali in India. This worsens the already degraded air quality of the country. Ranked last in the Environmental Performance Index 2022, India needs extensive infrastructure enhancements for proper data collection and analysis of its emissions in order to improve the current scenario. The study carries out an analysis to understand the dynamics of the pollution levels around the Diwali festivities, with a particular focus on the PM2.5 air pollutants. Our analysis reveals that the northern region of India has higher pollution levels compared to the other parts of India, with Delhi as the hotspot. A close correlation is also observed between Delhi and its neighboring agricultural states. Further, in contrast to preconceived notions, an increase in emissions has been observed during the COVID-19 pandemic despite the nationwide lockdown. The study emphasizes the lack of proper monitoring setups with only one center for 9100 km² of the country, along with the unreliability in the analysis of the air quality in places like Delhi due to the unavailability of data from more than 60 % of the monitoring centers at certain times.