Delhi shares 21st spot in Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan 2026 rankings
Delhi just landed the shared 21st spot with Visakhapatnam in the Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan 2026, in the category for cities with populations above 10 lakh, a national survey that scores cities on how well they're tackling air pollution, not on how clean their air actually is.
Among India's biggest cities, Delhi did better than Srinagar and Bengaluru but still has a long way to go when it comes to real air quality.
Delhi 172 points, winter smog persists
Delhi scored 172 points for efforts like managing road dust and waste, beating out Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata. But Hyderabad edged ahead with a higher rank.
The top performer? Lucknow, with an impressive 198 points.
Even though these rankings show progress in pollution control measures, Delhi's winter smog is still a big problem: AQI levels often shoot past 400.
So while there's some improvement on paper, breathing easy in the capital is still tough during those colder months.