JUDY WOODRUFF: There is a toxic
brew in much of the air over
India, sparked by everything

from farmers burning their
fields to industrial pollution.

Special correspondent
Fred de Sam Lazaro
examined this problem.

And now he has this update.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Smoke
billows from the fields of
Northern India, as farmers burn

remnants of their
crops after harvest.

They say it's the easiest and
quickest way to get their fields
ready for the next planting.

But what is convenient for
the farmers is wreaking
havoc in nearby cities.

The smoke from thousands
of fields mixes with the
pollution from millions
of cars and trucks.

Those noxious clouds of smog
make it hard to see during
the day and hard to breathe.

Sakshi Chauhan is recovering
from a severe throat infection.

SAKSHI CHAUHAN, India (through
translator): I was told
that I have an infection.

Because of this, I cannot
eat anything from outside.

The doctor told me not
to go out, told me not to
go out because of smog.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The smoke
is so thick that, earlier this
week, flights at New Delhi's

international airport
were delayed or canceled
due to poor visibility.

The city declared a public
health emergency, restricted the
number of cars allowed on the

road, and ordered all
construction work to stop.

MUKESH KUMAR, Construction
Project Chief (through
translator): The pollution
has risen to great

levels.

Our company has halted
construction since November 1.

We had it shut even before that.

We are following
the official order.

We have stopped all work,
and all the precautions
and initiatives are being
taken to curb pollution

here.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO:
Also contributing to
the rampant smog, plumes
of smoke generated by

fireworks during the
recent festival of
Diwali, a celebration of
light where, now, during

the day, there is less.

Weather and wind patterns
are also blamed for trapping
pollutants over India's capital.

Dirty fuels are the culprit
from several sources.

Automobiles are the major one.

On average, 1,400 new vehicles
are added to Delhi's streets
every day, most now burning

a highly polluting diesel
long outlawed in Europe
and the United States.

By 2021, diesel fuel here
will meet European standards.

The government has also promised
to shut down old coal-fired
plants and restrict new ones.

But pollution has been
worsening for years.

Two years ago, to get an idea
of how dirty the air is, we
went to one of the cleanest

places in Delhi, the
American Embassy School.

It serves the children
of American and other
expats and diplomats.

Many don face masks, but
only until they're inside.

Ellen Stern was the
school's director.

ELLEN STERN, Former Director,
American Embassy School: We
have an air system that goes all

the way through the school.

We now have four different kinds
of filters on it that filter
out various kinds of things.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Barun
Aggarwal showed me the elaborate
system his company, BreatheEasy,

has set up in the school,
pulling out the first layer
of filter, thickly coated with

a grimy soot.

So, if you were to walk
outside today, this is what
is coming into your lungs?

BARUN AGGARWAL,
BreatheEasy: Absolutely.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The fine
particle filters also show
stark before-and-after evidence

of the harmful air outside.

You would think such systems
would be in strong demand, but
Aggarwal says, aside from a few

buildings mostly occupied by
expats, its been a hard sell.

Among India's growing
middle-class, he says,
there's denial or
indifference, a sense that

pollution is the price of
India's rapid economic progress.

BARUN AGGARWAL: The
number of myths that are
there with regards to
air pollution in India

are incredible.

The first one that I get by
mostly Indians is that, if I
breathe clean air for eight

hours, then my immunity
will come down, and when I
go out, I will fall sick.

Completely wrong, because this
is -- if you believe that,
then you should be giving your

children two packets of
cigarettes to smoke every day.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Kamal
Meattle is an environmental
activist who also designed
the embassy school's

filtration system.

It works well, he says, but
it is no panacea for a city
of 20-plus million residents.

KAMAL MEATTLE, Environmental
Activist: You cannot have just
air purifiers and cleaning

systems for the people
who can afford them.

It has to be for the people
who are on the road, who
are in (INAUDIBLE) or slums.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Meattle, who
trained at MIT, has developed
lower-cost ways to cope

with the pollution,
plants, thousands of
them in this rooftop
greenhouse of his six-story

office building.

Clean air is produced,
and each floor is pulling
in the air as needed.

KAMAL MEATTLE: And there are
plants on each floor also.

This is a central air cleaning
system for the whole building.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO:
Plants do more than
produce oxygen, he says.

They are natural air purifiers.

Their roots eat bacteria and
fungi and they absorb chemicals
like formaldehyde and benzene

produced by office products.

KAMAL MEATTLE: Areca palms
for the daytime, bamboo palm.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Installing
plants is a small step people
can take indoors, but he

acknowledges there's a huge
complex problem outside these
clean air bubbles, not easily

solved in India's
chaotic democracy.

The Indian government says it's
taken steps to reduce pollution.

But, in the meantime, for years
to come, India's capital and,
for that matter, most of its

major cities will continue to
be among the most difficult
places on Earth to breathe.

For the "PBS NewsHour," this is
Fred de Sam Lazaro in New Delhi.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Fred's
reporting is a partnership
with the Under-Told
Stories Project at the

University of St.
Thomas in Minnesota.