DC Edit | Halt Cloud Seeding, Fight Bad Air

The Delhi cloud seeding experiment has failed in its primary objective of triggering artificial rain to reduce pollution levels, which have been sky-high over the NCR since Diwali. Any claims regarding the effectiveness of cloud seeding as a means of reducing pollution must be countered by the large amounts of particulate matter that would leave anyone spending the winter in the NCR breathless.

This experiment, a collaboration between the Delhi government and IIT-Kanpur, could only have been pulled off by political gamesmanship because the conditions of a dry winter were not very suitable for trying to create artificial rain. Such measures have largely been abandoned worldwide. Even in places where these methods are still being tried, such as Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, artificially created rain mostly results in a change in microclimate rather than any benefit.

Whenever they face drought or heatwave conditions, many states in India, including Tamil Nadu, have tried this dark method of forcing nature to give up some of its moisture abundance outside the monsoon season. The results were so inconclusive that they cast doubts so persistently on the method of spraying chemicals into low clouds that it was almost completely abandoned.

Such shortcuts to control pollution to satisfy capital bases will not work. In fact, many central ministries have recommended not spending money on cloud seeding to alleviate the massive atmospheric pollution problem. Unable to take concrete measures, Delhi is stuck in a deadlock.

If New Delhi were to follow Beijing’s example, it would have to take numerous measures to start cleaning the atmosphere, rivers, drainage and water purification systems, traffic, and construction-demolition processes to control dust and pollution. It has never been seen that the political will to take disciplined measures exists in the country. We also do not have the eyes and ears of the entire population to help control what is affecting all people by depriving them of a quality life.