Crisis, what crisis? Envt minister busy tweeting about Modi travels, tigers instead of pollution

The national capital’s air pollution crisis has continued to worsen, with at least 21 of the 38 air quality monitoring stations recording AQI levels of 490 or above Tuesday morning, according to the Central Pollution Control Board. 

But what consolation does Bhupender Yadav – the Union Minister for Environment, Forests, and Climate Change – have to offer on social media amid this crisis? A birthday wish to colleague Kiren Rijjiju.  

The PM2.5 and PM10 levels have sharply risen since Sunday, the IMD has issued a yellow alert for moderate-to-dense fog conditions in the Delhi-NCR, and the Supreme Court has enforced Stage 4 restrictions under the Graded Response Action Plan, reminding governments of people’s constitutional right to a pollution-free environment. The universities and schools, meanwhile, have suspended physical classes, flights have been delayed, and even central government employees have demanded work from home amid experts cautioning about the severe health consequences. 

Yadav, an MP from Alwar, has been busy posting on X about tiger conservation and a host of things – except, of course, the actual environmental crisis choking the national capital. 

In fact, as Delhi turned into a veritable gas chamber on Monday, the press department at the environment ministry remained busy cautioning journalists that they should rely only on the official AQI readings of the Central Pollution Control Board.

A message by the ministry to journalists on Monday, read, “Dear media officials, for accurate and reliable AQI data, we kindly request you to refer only to the SAMEER App or the CPCB Official Website. These are the authorized platforms for relaying the air quality index. Please avoid relying on unofficial or unreliable sources to ensure that correct information is alone disseminated to the public.” 

A journalist later shared a screenshot of the AQI reading from the US embassy, which pegged it at 1544 in Delhi – three times more than the CPCB’s calculation.

In addition, throughout the day, the ministry’s focus remained on CoP29 at Baku. It issued three press releases on Monday: two on “interventions” by India on “just transition”, and a tiger reserve notified in Chhattisgarh.

Yadav’s X posts on Modi’s rallies, visits and Sabarmati Report

Union minister Yadav’s X timeline, which we studied from November 10, is populated with reposts about Modi’s Nigeria and Dominica visits and Modi and Amit Shah’s take on the film on the 2002 Godhra train tragedy The Sabarmati Report. One of his posts is also dedicated to Bal Thackeray on his death anniversary, and several others on the Maharashtra and Jharkhand polls.

On November 16, when AQI had already been ‘severe’ for the fourth consecutive day in the Delhi-NCR, Yadav posted Modi’s speech at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit.  

His other posts were about Gurupurab and Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas, reposts of Modi’s election rallies. 

Yadav is yet to spare even a word on the crisis unfolding in the Delhi-NCR even as many X users have called him out over his silence.   

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