Delhi air still 'very poor' despite highest rainfall in January since 1995

India's capital was this morning the world's fifth most polluted city in the world with an AQI of 170.

Delhi's air was 'very poor' Sunday morning despite rains lashing parts of the national capital on Saturday, marking the highest rainfall this month since 1995.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) was 314 at 8 am, according to the Ministry of Earth Sciences' air quality forecast agency SAFAR. Readings below 50 are considered safe, 51 and 100 is 'satisfactory' and anything above 300 is considered hazardous or 'severe'.

Data from Safdarjung Observatory on Saturday said that Delhi has received 69.8 mm rainfall in January this year so far, the exact amount the city had received in the first month of 1995.

Delhi was this morning the world's fifth most polluted city in the world with an AQI of 170, according to IQAir. Kolkata was the only other Indian city on the list at the fourth spot with an AQI at 173. 

India is failing in efforts to improve its toxic air quality, with the number of smog-plagued cities increasing since the launch of a national program to tackle the issue, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

A total of 132 cities now have pollution levels deemed below national standards, from 102 cities when the National Clean Air Programme began in 2019, according to a report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.