With three failed trials and lakhs of money spent, Delhi’s cloud seeding efforts have all been in vain – this despite the government working with IIT Kanpur in the experiment to tackle the national capital’s toxic air. IIT Kanpur’s director later said the cloud seeding didn’t yield results – or any rain at all – due to low moisture content in the clouds over the capital.

But how true is this?

Newslaundry spoke to Shahzad Gani, an assistant professor at the Centre for Atmospheric Sciences in IIT Delhi, to find out. 

“When there was no moisture in the clouds, there was no point in conducting cloud seeding. And even if it did rain, its effect would not last more than a few hours,” he said. 

More pertinently, Gani and other experts have pointed out that this is far from a permanent solution to Delhi’s perennial pollution problem. Watch to find out why – and what other solutions can help. 

While everyone wakes up to North India’s pollution woes only in winter, we’ve been tracking it through the year as part of our #FightToBreathe campaign. You can help. Click here.