The Supreme Court has termed vehicle and construction bans 'old, tried and failed tools'. Critically examine the effectiveness of the Graded Response Action Plan in addressing air pollution in the NCR.

The Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) is run by the CAQM's Sub-Committee on GRAP. It imposes curbs across the NCR in stages as Delhi's AQI worsens from 'Poor' to 'Severe' [2]. The Supreme Court has called its bans "old, tried and failed tools" [1]. GRAP therefore has to be judged on two counts: how well it works as an emergency brake, and whether it has wrongly become a substitute for a long-term clean-air plan.

Strengths: where GRAP works

• Graded and pre-emptive: curbs tighten step by step. The Nov 2025 revision moved staggered office timings into Stage II, so action now starts earlier [2].
• Covers the whole region: one schedule binds Delhi and the NCR districts [2], unlike orders limited to one city.
• Cuts the worst peaks: Stage III was revoked six days after it was invoked in Jan 2026 [5]. The ASG argued that GRAP keeps pollution at "sustainable levels" [1].

Weaknesses: why the Court's criticism holds

• Reactive, not preventive: curbs start only after the air has turned bad. The Bench noted that 'very poor' is now "normal" [1].
• The emergency has become routine: Stage II ran from 19 Oct 2025 [3] to 18 Feb 2026 [4], about four months.
• Aimed at the wrong source: dust is 38% of PM2.5 in summer but only 17% in winter [7]. Winter construction bans therefore spare transport (28%) and industry (30%) [7].
• Some sources escape pressure: biomass burning makes up about 20% of Delhi's PM2.5 [6], yet the government called stubble burning "a little" of the problem [1].
• The cost falls on the poor: CAQM itself calls Stage-III curbs disruptive for many stakeholders [5]. Daily-wage construction workers bear most of the loss.
• Management, not cure: the government admitted, "we are only doing management" [1].

Way forward

• Source-based triggers: IITM's new AATAL facility can separate vehicle, biomass, dust and incoming pollution, and so guide GRAP decisions [8].
• Airshed targets: set PM2.5 targets for each State and each sector. Beijing's plan, which combined regional targets with cuts at the source, lowered PM2.5 by 35% between 2013 and 2017 [9].

GRAP works as a brake but cannot clean the air by itself. It should sit inside a science-based plan with targets for each source and a timeline. Only then can the Article 21 right to clean air, upheld in M.C. Mehta, and SDG 11.6 become real for the NCR.