India Today Group launches five-week Pollution Ka Solution initiative

MUMBAI: Delhi’s pollution problem has had enough airtime; now it needs some action time. The India Today Group has launched ‘Pollution Ka Solution’, a five-week initiative aimed at shifting the conversation around the capital’s air quality from repeatedly documenting the crisis to finding practical, scalable and measurable ways to tackle it.

With vehicular emissions identified as a key contributor to Delhi’s pollution, the initiative will focus on clean mobility and transport-related emissions, inviting citizens to put forward ideas that could help improve the air the city breathes.

Citizens can submit their suggestions through the campaign’s online platform. The proposals will then go through a structured evaluation involving experts, industry stakeholders and on-ground feasibility checks, with the aim of separating workable solutions from ideas that may look good only on paper.

The jury brings together voices from science, governance, healthcare, media and sport. It includes Prof. Manindra Agrawal, Director, IIT Kanpur; Kalli Purie, Vice Chairperson & Executive Editor-in-Chief, India Today Group; Naresh Priyadarshi of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee; Dr Neelam Mohan, Sr. Director & HOD, Pediatrics, Medanta – The Medicity; and Kapil Dev, captain of India’s 1983 Cricket World Cup-winning team.

The initiative will also go beyond judging ideas from a distance. Select proposals may undergo on-ground testing to assess whether they can deliver measurable results in real-world conditions.

The five-week campaign will culminate in a Grand Finale, where shortlisted solutions will be presented before experts and key stakeholders. The winning idea will be adopted by the Chief Minister of Delhi for consideration of implementation at scale.

There is also a Rs 50 lakh cash prize for the winning proposal, adding a sizeable incentive to the search for an idea that can move from concept to execution.

The campaign’s central proposition is a simple change in the conversation: instead of asking only how bad Delhi’s air has become, it asks what can actually be done about it.

Through Pollution Ka Solution, the India Today Group is positioning the initiative around participation, evidence and execution — with the hope that Delhi’s next pollution debate produces not just more headlines, but a solution worth implementing.