Air pollution is one of the biggest global environmental challenges of today. A time bound national level strategy for pan India implementation to tackle the increasing air pollution problem across the country in a comprehensive manner in the form of National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) was launched by Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan in New Delhi on Jaunary 10, 2019.
The NCAP will be a mid-term, five-year action plan with 2019 as the first year. However, the international experiences and national studies indicate that significant outcome in terms of air pollution initiatives are visible only in the long-term, and hence the programme may be further extended to a longer time horizon after a mid-term review of the outcomes. The approach for NCAP includes collaborative, multi-scale and cross-sectoral coordination between the relevant Central Ministries, State governments and local bodies. Dovetailing of the existing policies and programme including the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) and other initiatives of Government of India in reference to climate change will be done while executing NCAP.
There will be use of the Smart Cities programme to launch the NCAP in the 43 smart cities falling in the list of the 102 non-attainment cities. The NCAP is envisaged to be dynamic and will continue to evolve based on the additional scientific and technical information as they emerge. The NCAP will be institutionalised by respective Ministries and will be organised through inter-sectoral groups, which include, Ministry of Road Transport and Highway, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Ministry of Heavy Industry, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Health, NITI Aayog, CPCB, experts from the industry, academia and civil society. The programme will partner with multilateral and bilateral international organisations, and philanthropic foundations and leading technical institutions to achieve its outcomes.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) shall execute the nation-wide programme for the prevention, control, and abatement of air pollution within the framework of the NCAP. The Apex Committee in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) will periodically review the progress. Annual performance will be periodically reported upon. Appropriate indicators will be evolved for assessing the emission reduction benefits of the actions.
National Clean Air Programme has 3 major components, which are Mitigation Action, Knowledge and Database Augmentation and Institution Strengthening. NCAP details seven mitigation actions. Web-based, three-tier mechanism to review, monitor, assess and inspect to avoid any form of non-compliance. The system will work independently under the supervision of a single authority, which will ensure accreditation of three independently operating entities. Extensive Plantation Drive under NCAP at pollution hot spots in the cities/towns will be undertaken under the National Mission for Green India with Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) being managed by National Compensatory Afforestation Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).Technology Support of Clean Technologies with potential for air pollution prevention and mitigation will be supported for R&D, pilot scale demonstration and field scale implementation. Regional and Transboundary Plans have a major role to play for effective control of pollution more specifically with reference to the Indo-Gangetic plain. Air quality management at South-Asia regional level by activating the initiatives under ‘Male Declaration on Control and Prevention of Air Pollution and its Likely Transboundary Effects for South Asia’ and South Asia Cooperative Environment Programme (SACEP) would be explored. Sectoral Interventions include sectors such as e-mobility, power sector emissions, indoor air pollution, waste management, industrial and agricultural emissions and dust management. City Specific Air Quality Management Plan for 102 Non-Attainment Cities is based on comprehensive science-based approach, involving meteorological conditions and source apportionment studies. A separate emergency action plan in line with Graded Response Action Plan for Delhi will be formulated for each city for addressing the severe and emergency AQIs. Further, the state capitals and cities with a population more than a million may be taken up on priority for implementation. State governments’ participation is not limited to evolving an effective implementation strategy but also in exploring detailed funding mechanism.
Knowledge and Database Augmentation includes setting rural monitoring network and 10 city super networks (overall air quality dynamics of the nation, impact of interventions, trends, investigative measurements, etc). Extending Source apportionment studies to all Non-Attainment cities will help in prioritising the sources of pollution and formulation and implementation of most appropriate action plans. A unified guideline for source apportionment study will be formulated and updated by the Centre. Air Pollution Health and Economic Impact Studies on health and economic impact of air pollution are to be supported. Framework for monthly analysis of data w.r.t health is to be created. International Cooperation including Sharing of International Best Practices on Air Pollution, Review of Ambient Air Quality Standards and Emission Standards need to be strengthened periodically and new standards need to be formulated for the sources where standards are not available. National Emission Inventory will be formalised under the NCAP. Its significance is in tracking progress towards emission reduction targets and as inputs to air quality model.
Institutional Strengthening involves a National Apex Committee at the MoEF&CC and State-level Apex Committee under the chief secretaries in various states. There are various other institutions being envisaged such as Technical Expert Committee and National-level Project Monitoring Unit (PMU) at the MoEF&CC and National-level Project Implementation Unit (PIU) at the CPCB, besides Public Awareness and Education through national portals, media engagement, civil society involvement, etc. Training and Capacity Building by identifying lack of capacity on air quality issues due to limited manpower and infrastructure in the CPCB and SPCBs, lack of formal training for various associated stakeholders, etc. as one of the major hurdles is an effective implementation of air pollution management plans. Setting up Air Information Centre, which will be responsible for creating a dashboard, data analysis, interpretation, dissemination, may be set up with the assistance of the IITs, and IIMs. Operationalisation of the NPL-India Certification Scheme (NPL-ICS) for certification of monitoring instrument is also useful. It will help to cater to the country’s needs with respect to the online monitoring of air pollution. The proposed certification scheme will have three major components i.e. NPL-India Certification body (NICB), certification committee, and testing and calibration facility. Air-Quality Forecasting System (AQFS) as a state-of-the-art modelling system, will forecast the following day’s air quality. The satellite data available through ISRO will be integrated for monitoring and forecasting under the NCAP.
Network of Technical Institutions Knowledge Partner’s dedicated air pollution units will be supported in the universities, organisations and institutions and a network of highly qualified and experienced academicians, academic administrators and technical institutions will be created. Technology Assessment Cell (TAC) will evaluate significant technologies with reference to prevention, control, and abatement of pollution. Technology induction/transfer would be facilitated, wherever necessary, with time bound goals for indigenisation and local manufacturing. The TAC will be created involving the IITs, IIMs, the major universities, industries, and using the existing mechanisms and programme of the Department of Science & Technology, India Innovation Hub, etc.
The programme is likely to be a path-breaking initiative and one of the most critical and most significant programmes. It addresses one of the most alarming challenges of urbanisation i.e. air pollution. It is aimed to push through cuts in industrial emissions and vehicular exhaust fumes, introduce stringent rules for transport fuels and biomass burning and reduce dust pollution. It also includes upgrading and increasing monitoring systems. The NCAP is envisaged to be dynamic and will continue to evolve based on the additional scientific and technical information as they emerge. Air pollution has increasingly been becoming a serious concern, predominantly for the health of the people. It is in this context, the need for a National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) was felt and finally India has got its national plan to combat pollution. This war against pollution is a significant step forward. The programme will put in place the mitigation actions for prevention, control and abatement of air pollution.