1. National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)

• National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), launched in 2019, is India''s flagship program for better air quality. It was launched as a long-term, time-bound, national level strategy to tackle the air pollution problem across the country in a comprehensive manner.
• Goal: 20% to 30% reduction in Particulate Matter concentrations by 2024 keeping 2017 as the base year.
• Under NCAP, 132 non-attainment cities have been identified across the country based on the Air Quality data from 2014-2018.
• Non-attainment cities are those that have fallen short of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for over five years.
• Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

Features  

• Objective - The overall objective of the programme includes comprehensive mitigation actions for prevention, control and abatement of air pollution.
• It also aims to augment the air quality monitoring network across the country and strengthen the awareness and capacity building activities.
• Also, city-specific action plans are being formulated for 102 non-attainment cities that are considered to have air quality worse than the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
• The Smart Cities programme will be used to launch the NCAP in the 43 smart cities falling in the list of the 102 non-attainment cities.
• Target - It proposes a tentative national target of 20%-30% reduction in PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations by 2024, with 2017 as the base year for comparison.
• However, the government has stressed that NCAP is a scheme, not a legally binding document with any specified penal action against erring cities.
• Implementation - NCAP talks of a collaborative, multi-scale and cross-sectoral coordination between central ministries, state governments and local bodies.
• The CPCB will execute the nation-wide programme for the prevention, control, and abatement of air pollution within the framework of the NCAP.
• NCAP will be “institutionalised” by respective ministries and will be organised through inter-sectoral groups that will also include the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Health, NITI Aayog, and experts from various fields.
• Other features of NCAP include –

1. Increasing the number of monitoring stations in the country including rural monitoring stations
2. Technology support
3. Emphasis on awareness and capacity building initiatives
4. Setting up of certification agencies for monitoring equipment
5. Source apportionment studies
6. Emphasis on enforcement
7. Specific sectoral interventions.

Proposed mitigation measures

• Enforcement - It calls for stringent enforcement through a web-based, three-tier mechanism that will review, monitor, assess and inspect to avoid any form of non-compliance.
• The experience indicates lack of regular monitoring and inspection as the major reason for non-compliance.
• Trained manpower and regular inspection drive will be ensured for stringent implementation purpose.
• It also calls for an “extensive plantation drive” at pollution hotspots and execution.
• However, it is not made clear how much air pollution this will seek to reduce.
• Elaborating existing schemes–While some of the strategies are not new to India, NCAP appears to be targeting effective implementation.
• For example, it talks of “congestion management” at traffic junctions by the traffic police, solid waste management by municipal corporations, and stringent industrial standards put in place by concerned ministries.
• For power sector emissions, it refers to emission standards set by the Ministry of Environment and Forests for Thermal Power Plants in December 2015 to be implemented within a two-year period.
• It notes that this has since been extended to December 2022.
• For agricultural stubble burning, it highlights the initiatives already in place by way of the central assistance of Rs 1,151 crore for in situ management of crop residue and provides for general action points to be explored.

• Focus - NCAP calls for a city action plan that needs to be guided by a comprehensive science-based approach involving source apportionment studies.
• It also advises that state capitals and cities with a million-plus population be taken up on priority.
• PRANA ( Portal for Regulation of Air-pollution in Non-Attainment cities), is a portal for monitoring of implementation of NCAP.

Concerns

• NCAP takes into account available international experiences and national studies.
• It notes that internationally, actions have been “city-specific” rather than country-oriented, and cites examples such as Beijing and Seoul that saw 35%-40% PM2.5 reductions in five years.
• However effective this might have been abroad, reductions by similar levels might leave Indian cities still heavily polluted.
• Delhi’s very severe pollution levels are four times the permissible limits now, and a 30% reduction by 2024 would still leave it very dangerous for health.

Varied Progress in Clean Air Target

• Climate Trends and Respirer Living Sciences are both involved in the NCAP Tracker, an online hub for updates on India''s clean air policy.
• Climate Trends is a research-based consulting and capacity building initiative that focuses on environment, climate change, and sustainable development.
• Respirer Living Sciences is a climate-tech startup partner to the Government of India. It supported the Centre of Excellence ATMAN on Clean Air Technologies which was established at IIT Kanpur.
• PM2.5 Reduction Disparities:
• Among 49 cities with consistent PM2.5 data over five years, only 27 cities showed a decline in PM2.5 levels, while merely four cities met or surpassed the targeted decline as per National Clean Air Campaign (NCAP) Goals. The NCAP''s goal is to reduce average particulate matter (PM) concentrations by 40% by 2026 in 131 cities. Initially aimed for a 20-40% reduction by 2024, the target was later extended to 2026.
• Mixed Progress Across Cities:
• While some cities like Varanasi, Agra, and Jodhpur exhibited significant reductions in PM2.5 levels, others, including Delhi, reported marginal declines (only 5.9%) or even increased pollution loads. Varanasi showed the most substantial reduction with a 72% average decrease in PM2.5 levels and a 69% reduction in PM10 levels from 2019 to 2023.
• Regional Vulnerabilities:
• The Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) remains highly vulnerable to elevated particulate matter concentrations, hosting around 18 of the top 20 most polluted cities for PM2.5. Only Guwahati and Rourkela, outside the IGP, were among the 20 most polluted cities for PM 2.5.
• Monitoring Challenges:
• The availability and distribution of continuous ambient air quality monitors significantly influence annual pollutant concentrations. However, many Indian cities lack an adequate number of such monitoring stations. While cities such as Mumbai and Delhi have several such stations, most Indian cities have only a handful. Only four of the 92 cities have more than 10 such stations.
• Factors Impacting Pollution:
• Variations in pollution levels can be attributed to geographical locations, diverse emission sources, meteorological influences, and the interplay between emissions and Meteorology, requiring further investigation.

2. Swachh Vayu Survekshan 2023 and NCAP

Recently, the awards for Swachh Vayu Survekshan (Clean Air Survey) 2023 were announced. The survey was conducted by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

Major Components of Assessment 

• solid waste management,
• road dust management,
• management of construction and demolition waste,
• control of vehicular emissions and industrial pollution.
• 3 best performing cities in each group will be given cash award in the spirit of competitive federalism.

This Sarvekshan provides a tool to cities to plan their actions in order to improve the air quality. It is not based on the measurement of the air quality parameters to rank the cities. It is based on the actions taken by the cities to improve the air quality in different domains.

Key Findings about the SVS 2023

• Swachh Vayu Survekshan (SVS) is a new initiative by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to rank cities on the basis of air quality and implementation of activities approved under the city action plan (NCAP) in 131 non-attainment cities.
• Cities are declared non- attainment if over a 5-year period they consistently do not meet the NAAQS for PM10 or NO2.
• The categorisation of cities has been based on the 2011 population census. 
• Criteria: The cities were assessed on eight major points: 
• Control of biomass 
• Municipal solid waste burning
• Road dust
• Dust from construction and demolition waste
• Vehicular emissions
• Industrial emissions
• Public awareness
• improvement in PM10 concentration
• Performance: 
• Top 3 cities under 1^st category (million plus population): Indore followed by Agra and Thane. 
• Worst Performers: Madurai (46), Howrah (45) and Jamshedpur (44)
• Bhopal ranked 5^th and Delhi ranked 9^th
• Top 3 cities under 2^nd category (3-10 lakhs population): Amravati followed by Moradabad and Guntur.
• Worst Performers: Jammu (38), Guwahati (37) and Jalandhar (36)
• Top 3 cities under 3^rd category (<3 lakhs population): Parwanoo followed by Kala Amb and Angul. 
• Worst Performer: Kohima (39) 
• Comparison: 
• In SVS 2022, the first three spots (million-plus category) were secured by cities in Uttar Pradesh — Lucknow (1), Prayagraj (2) and Varanasi (3).  All three cities have been ranked lower this year.