UPSC Articles
National Clean Air Programme to be modified
Part of: GS Prelims and GS-III- Pollution & Climate Change
In news
- The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to modify the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)
- NCAP proposes 20-30% reduction of air pollution by 2024.
Key takeaways
NGT’s directions
- Deadline to reduce air pollution by 20-30% by 2024 needs to be reduced.
- Increase the target of reduction.
- Review the action in terms of shift to e-vehicles and CNG vehicles, intensifying public transport systems, mechanical cleaning of roads, improvement in fuel quality, etc.
- Ensure the assessment and installation of the requisite number of Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Systems within six months.
Important value additions
NCAP
- It was launched by the MoEFCC in January 2019.
- It is the first-ever effort in India to frame a national framework for air quality management with a time-bound reduction target.
- It seeks to cut the concentration of PM10 and PM2.5 by at least 20% in the next five years, with 2017 as the base year for comparison.
- The plan includes 102 non-attainment cities, across 23 states and Union territories,
- They were identified by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on the basis of their ambient air quality data between 2011 and 2015.
