Nearly two million students in Delhi and its surrounding areas have been ordered to stay home as worsening air pollution reaches hazardous levels. Authorities have resorted to annual shutdowns during the peak smog season,

Air pollution in India's capital, New Delhi, has become so severe that some residents are struggling to commute to work.

Winter has come to Delhi and with it, a familiar sense of gloom. The sky here is grey and there is a thick, visible blanket of smog. If you stay outdoors for more than a few minutes, you can almost taste ash. You will feel breathless within minutes if you try to run or even walk at a brisk pace in the smog.

STORY: Expectant mother Varsha Jain says she stays indoors in New Delhi to avoid breathing the toxic smog covering Northern India. Her husband is equally concerned, worrying about their child growing up in 'such polluted air'.