In a bold move aimed at alleviating the persistent air-pollution crisis in the Indian capital, the regional government of Delhi has launched its first trial of cloud-seeding operations. Officials announced that flares were fired into the skies this week in an effort to artificially trigger rainfall and thereby reduce airborne particulate matter.
The experiment is being spearheaded by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Delhi, which has long promoted cloud seeding as a potential tool to rein in the city’s chronically poor air quality. The scheme had been on hold due to unpredictable weather systems, but the decision to proceed followed yet another spike in pollution levels after this year’s Diwali celebrations, when smog settled thick over the city.
According to Delhi’s Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa, the first trial flight deployed seeding flares on Thursday. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta indicated that if conditions remain favourable, artificial rain could fall as early as 29 October.
Under the technique, aircraft or drones introduce silver iodide particles into cloud cover. These particles serve as nuclei around which water droplets can coalesce, potentially enhancing precipitation. The hope is that induced rain will scrub pollutants from the air and bring much-needed relief to residents.
Nevertheless, the plan has attracted significant scepticism from scientific experts. Researchers at Delhi’s Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, namely Professors Shahzad Gani and Krishna AchutaRao, have characterized the cloud-seeding initiative as “a textbook case of science misapplied and ethics ignored”. They equated it with previous costly experiments such as the “smog-towers” whose impact was found to be minimal.
Key concerns raised include the fact that cloud cover in Delhi during winter—the period when pollution peaks—is often insufficient to support effective seeding; the intervention does not address root-causes such as vehicular emissions, industrial pollution and agricultural burning; and the long-term health and ecological effects of repeated silver iodide or sodium chloride dispersal remain poorly studied.
Delhi has for more than a decade been ranked as the world’s most polluted city. In 2024, the concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) increased by six per cent, driven by a hazardous mix of traffic congestion, factory and power-plant emissions, and biomass and crop-burning in the surrounding region. These pollutants become trapped under colder, stagnant air masses in winter, exacerbating smog conditions.
Critics argue that high-profile technical fixes like cloud-seeding risk diverting attention and funds away from more systemic and proven interventions, such as stricter industrial controls, overhaul of public-transport infrastructure, and stronger regulation of agricultural residue burning. The trial underlines the depth of urgency around tackling air quality in Delhi—but also highlights the limited arsenal at the city’s disposal.
As the experiment progresses, residents and observers alike will be closely watching whether artificial rain proves to be anything more than a temporary splash—and whether the message it sends is that Delhi’s air-pollution crisis can be brokered with a silver-iodide flare rather than a comprehensive strategy of reform and enforcement.
