National Clean Air Programme

National Clean Air Programme

News: An analysis by the environmental think tank, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) reported limited improvement in PM2.5 for the cities under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).

Key Findings:
• Only 14 of 43 NCAP cities registered a 10% or more reduction in their PM2.5 while only 43 cities had adequate data to be considered.
• Cities in Punjab, Rajasthan and Maharashtra dominated the list of cities which registered a significant increase in PM2.5 levels between 2019 and 2021

What is NCAP?
• The NCAP launched in 2019 aims to bring a 20%-30% reduction in pollution levels from PM2.5 and PM10 particles by 2024, using 2017 pollution levels as a base.
• Cities are required to quantify improvement starting 2020-21, which requires a 15% and more reduction in the annual average PM10 concentration and a concurrent increase in “good air” days to at least 200.
• Anything fewer will be considered ‘low’ and the funding consequently reduced.
• It is coordinated by Central Pollution Control Board.

Issues with NCAP:
• For monitoring, CPCB only considers levels of PM10, the relatively larger, coarser particles.
• However, PM2.5, the smaller, more dangerous particles, aren’t monitored as robustly in all cities, mostly due to the lack of equipment.
To know more about NCAP do click on the following link - https://youtu.be/UXCEmF9r_kg