The Congress on Sunday took a dig at the Delhi government over the use of ‘cloud seeding’ (artificial rain) to improve air quality and said that it would be appropriate to call the slight improvement for a day or two in a limited area as a “bad joke”.
Congress communication department in-charge Jairam Ramesh said that the Delhi government has spent Rs 34 crore on the ‘cloud seeding’ experiment aimed at improving air quality.
He said that on December 5, 2024, the Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change had said in reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha that the three specialized agencies in the National Capital Region, Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and India Meteorological Department (IMD) did not clearly advise the use of artificial rain to improve air quality in winter.
Ramesh said that after this, on October 31, 2025, the ‘Centre for Atmospheric Sciences’ of IIT, Delhi released a detailed report on this subject, in which it was made clear that artificial rain in winter cannot expect any significant improvement in the very poor air quality of Delhi.
He said, “‘Cloud seeding’ in winter certainly sounds dramatic and shows that the government is doing something, but the scientific community raises serious questions on its effectiveness. So, is it wise to rely so much on it just to generate headlines?”
“There is a ‘little improvement’ for a day or two in a limited area, as is being claimed now, is actually a cruel joke,” Ramesh said.
He also shared the Environment Minister’s reply given in Rajya Sabha and the report of IIT Delhi on ‘X’.
