19-Dec-2022: National Conference of Environment Minister

National Conference of Ministers of Environment, Forest and Climate Change was held at Ekta Nagar, Gujarat during 23-24 September 2022. The Conference had six thematic sessions with topics focusing on Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE), Combating Climate Change, PARIVESH[a Single Window System for Integrated Green Clearances], Agro Forestry, Prevention and Control of Pollution, Wildlife Management including biodiversity and conservation of wetlands and Plastics and Waste Management.

National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) launched by Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change is a long-term, time-bound, national level strategy for prevention, control and abatement of air pollution. NCAP envisages to reduce air pollution by 20-30% in 131 cities in terms of Particulate Matter (PM10) concentrations by 2024 over the baseline of 2017. NCAP has been extended till 2025-26 and targets have been revised to 40%.NCAP strategy includes implementation of Clean Air Action Plans at National, State and City levels for source specific mitigation actions, financial incentive structure for targeted cities linked with air quality improvement performance, coordinated actions by Central Ministries and State Governments and their agencies, convergence of resources from schemes of Central Government, State Government and Urban Local Bodies and Building of a mass movement (Jan Andolan).

Details of actions taken under National Clean Air Programme

Action Plans under NCAP:

1. Preparation of national level plan includes convergence of schemes/ programmes of different Ministries/ Departments.
2. Preparation of State Action Plans 24 States
3. Preparation of City level action plans in 131 cities.

Guidelines:

1. Issued guidelines for release and utilisation of funds for 82 cities under NCAP.
2. Issued operational guidelines for implementation of recommendations of Million Plus City Challenge Fund recommended by XV Finance Commission for 49 cities.
3. Issued guidelines for Capacity Building and Outreach Programmes for conducting National, State and City level awareness and public outreach programmes on air quality management.
4. Issued guidelines on Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan (Ranking of Cities) to rank cities for taking measures to improve air quality.
5. Issued guidelines on National Knowledge Network (NKN) and Institute of Repute (IoR) to provide technical and scientific assistance to States and cities for implementation of activities under NCAP.

Monitoring and implementation:

1. National level Committees constituted to review and monitor the progress of NCAP:
   1. Apex Committee
   2. Steering Committee
   3. Monitoring Committee
   4. Implementation Committee
2. State level Committees have been constituted to monitor and implement NCAP activities:
   1. Steering Committee
   2. State Level Monitoring and Implementation Committee
   3. District level Implementation Committee
3. City level Air Quality Management Cells have been formed to undertake activities in line with the NCAP guidelines.
4. MoUs signed between CPCB, SPCB and ULB for 82 cities and MoEFCC, State Government and ULB for 49 cities for undertaking measures to improve air quality.
5. MoEF&CC has also launched “PRANA” a portal for monitoring the implementation of NCAP.
6. National Knowledge Network (NKN) consisting of experts from IITs, research organisations, State Pollution Control Boards, independent experts, has been formed with a vision to build local technical capacities in order to have a larger pool of institutes to support activities under NCAP.
7. 88 Institute of Reputes (IoRs) are assigned to 131 cities for providing assistance to implement City action plans.

Sanction of funds:

1. Rs. 6897 crore have released to 131 cities till FY 2021-22 for implementation of city action plans for taking measures to improve air quality.
2. Rs. 2985.6 crore have been allocated to 131 cities for FY 2022-23. Rs. 290 crore have been sanctioned to 82 cities (as on 30th November, 2022).

Public Awareness and Capacity Building:

1. MoEF&CC conducted following workshops for sensitization, knowledge sharing and capacity building of the stakeholders:
   1. For Western region, workshop conducted on 22nd and 23rd November 2021, in Mumbai and sensitised the States of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Goa about the NCAP and XV-FC grant for improvement in air quality.
   2. For Southern region, workshop conducted on 21st and 22nd May 2022, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu sensitised the States/UTs of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadweep, Pondicherry and Daman & Diu.
   3. For Delhi & NCR region, workshop on “Dialogue towards clean air” conducted on 7th & 8th March, 2022, in Gurugram, Haryana included Delhi and NCR region on the issues of air quality of Delhi NCR.
   4. National Vayu conference conducted on 3rd & 4th December, 2022, in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha, covered all 131 cities across 24 states/UTs and gathered scientists, experts, academicians, mentors, students and other stakeholders across the country to share and scientific knowledge and best practices to implement NCAP.
2. Conference and exhibition of Start -ups in the field of Air Quality Management has been organised during ‘Eco Alternatives Expo & Start-up Conference’ on 26th -27th, 2022, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
3. Nine (9) Cities have been awarded under “Swachh Vayu Survekshan” with total cash award of Rs. 5.25 crore.
4. Rs. 1 crore have been released to States to organise workshops and public outreach programmes on air quality management during FY 2022-23.
5. Pilot studies have been taken up in Delhi for evaluation of air pollution mitigation technologies. A pilot Smog tower for the localized reduction in air pollution has been set up on October 01, 2021 at Anand Vihar, ISBT.

12-Dec-2022: Technology Assessment Cells

National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) strategy document

• Technology Assessment Cell for
  • evaluating significant technologies
  • prevention, control, and abatement of pollution

MoEFCC issued guidelines for National Knowledge Network (NKN) and Institutes of Repute (IoR) under National Clean Air Programme on 22.09.2022.

National Knowledge Network (NKN)

• Vision: Build local technical capacities
• Larger pool of institutes to support activities under NCAP
• Support on scientific & technical knowledge and laboratory based information
• Monitoring the progress of NCAP implementation
• Evaluating the performance
• Provides recommendations for air quality management measures for
  • specific research need
  • policy initiative to meet the objectives of the NCAP programme

Experts included from:

• IIT Kanpur
• IIT Mumbai
• IIT Madras
• IIT Roorkee
• IIT Guwahati
• National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI)
• Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI)
• Indian Meteorological Department (IMD)
• All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS)
• The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)
• officials from Central Pollution Control Board
• State Pollution Control Board/ Pollution Control Committees (CPCB & SPCB/PCCs)
• independent experts.

24-Sep-2022: Swachh Vayu Survekshan- Ranking of Cities under National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)

National Conference of Ministers of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

• Inaugurated by the Prime Minister virtually
• Two-day conference held in Ekta Nagar, Gujarat on 23-24th September, 2022

Parallel Session on Control and Prevention of Pollution

• Guidelines on ‘Swachh Vayu Survekshan- Ranking of Cities’ released under National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)
• Ministry is going to launch Swachh Vayu Survekshan for ranking 131 cities in the country

Ranking Criteria

• Based on City Action Plans prepared as part of National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) for reducing air pollution upto 40% by 2025-26
• 131 cities are categorized into three groups based on population
  • 47 cities in the first group having population more than 10 lakh
  • 44 cities in the second group having population between 3 to 10 lakh
  • 40 cities in the third group having population less than 3 lakh
• Cities are required to do the self-assessment as per the framework provided on PRANA online portal
• Assessment is carried out annually
• Cities have to report implementation of activities and measures taken in respect of
  • Solid waste management
  • Road dust management
  • Management of construction and demolition waste
  • Control of vehicular emissions
  • Industrial pollution

Ranking Process

• Based on the self-assessment and third-party assessment
• 3 best performing cities in each group will be given cash award in the spirit of competitive federalism
• Promotes constructive competition to take measures to improve air quality
• Not based on the measurement of air quality parameters to rank cities
• Based on the actions taken by cities to improve air quality in different domains

18-Jul-2022: National Clean Air Programme

National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)

• Launched by MoEF&CC in January 2019
• Long-term, time-bound, national level strategy
• Objective: comprehensive mitigation actions for prevention, control and abatement of air pollution

Targets

• 20 to 30% reduction in Particulate Matter concentration by 2024 across the country
• Implemented in 132 cities

Improvement in PM10 concentration

• Overall improvement in 95 cities
• 20 cities conforming to NAAQS in 2021-22 compared to 2017

Coverage

• Non-Attainment Cities (NACSs) where NAAQS is exceeded for 5 consecutive years
• 124 cities identified as NACs and 8 other million plus cities of Fifteenth Finance Commission- Million Plus Cities Challenge Fund are covered

Engagement of international organizations for technical assistance

Committees for effective implementation

• Apex Committee, Steering Committee, Monitoring Committee, and Implementation Committee at Central level
• Steering Committee and Implementation Committee at State level
• Implementation and Monitoring Committee at City level

Measures taken by the Government for Air Quality Management

Vehicular Emission

• Leapfrogging from BS-IV to BS-VI fuel standards since 1st April, 2018 in NCT of Delhi and from 1st April, 2020 for the rest of the country.
• Introduction of BS VI compliant vehicles across the country since April, 2020.
• Development of Expressways and Highways to reduce fuel consumption and pollution.
• Eastern Peripheral Expressway & Western Peripheral Expressway have been operationalized to divert non destined traffic from Delhi.
• Environment Protection Charges (EPC) have been imposed on diesel vehicles with engine capacity of 2000cc and above in Delhi NCR.
• Introduction of cleaner/alternate fuels like CNG, LPG, ethanol blending in petrol.
• Promotion of public transport and improvements in roads and building of more bridges to ease congestion on roads.
• Network of metro rails for public transport are enhanced and more cities are covered.
• Ban on 10-year-old diesel vehicles and 15-year-old vehicles in Delhi NCR.
• Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) -2 schemes has been rolled out.
• Permit requirement for electric vehicles has been exempted.
• Promotion of public transport and improvements in roads and building of more bridges to ease congestion on roads.

Industrial Emission

• Ban on use of pet coke and furnace oil in NCR, use of pet coke in processes in cement plants, lime kilns and calcium carbide manufacturing units.
• Stringent emission norms for Coal based Thermal Power Plants (TPPs).
• Shifting of industrial units to PNG/cleaner fuel  in Delhi
• Installation of online continuous emission monitoring devices in highly polluting industries.
• Shifting of brick kilns in Delhi-NCR to zigzag technology for reduction of pollution

Air Pollution due to Dust and Burning of Waste

• Notifications of 6 waste management rules covering solid waste, plastic waste, e-waste, bio-medical waste, C&D waste and hazardous waste.
• Setting up infrastructure such as waste processing plants.
• Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for plastic and e-waste management.
• Ban on burning of biomass/garbage.

Monitoring of Ambient Air Quality

• Expansion of air quality monitoring network of manual as well as continuous monitoring stations under programmes such as National Air Monitoring Programme (NAMP).
• Initiation of pilot projects to assess alternate ambient monitoring technologies such as low-cost sensors and satellite-based monitoring.

Monitoring the Implementation of NCAP

• Government has launched NCAP as a national level as a national-level strategy outlining the actions for reducing the levels of air pollution at city and regional scales in India. City specific air action plans have been rolled out for implementation in 132 NACs and MPCs
• Rs. 472.06 crore have been sanctioned to 82 non-attainment cities under NCAP to provide support for critical gap funding. The funds are disbursed based upon the performance of the cities as per the NCAP operational guidelines.
• Further, 15th Finance Commission (XV-FC) has provided a special grant of Rs 4,400 crore to 42 million plus cities/urban agglomerations which covers 50 Non-Attainment Cities for FY 2020-21.
• The performance based incentive grant of Rs.12,139 crore for FY 2020-21 to 2025-26 have been allocated for improvement in air quality of 42 million plus cities/urban agglomerations under Million-Plus Cities Challenge Fund (MPCCF). MoEF&CC is the nodal agency for monitoring ambient air quality and recommending DoE for disbursing grants to 42 Million –plus cities.
• For FY 2021-22 for 42 MPCs, Rs2025 Cr have been released by DoE to 42 cities/UAs on the basis of their performance assessment made by MoEF&CC.
• City specific action plans are regularly monitored by committees at Central: Apex, Steering, Monitoring and implementation committee; at State: Steering, implementation committee and at City level Implementation and Monitoring Committee.
• Implementation of Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi, Kanpur and Lucknow. The system provides alerts for taking timely actions.
• Public Complaints regarding air pollution issues in Delhi NCR are taken through ‘Sameer App’, ‘Emails’ (Aircomplaints.cpcb[at]gov[dot]in) and ‘Social Media Networks’ (Facebook and Twitter).
• PRANA a portal for monitoring implementation of NCAP has been launched.

4-Apr-2022: Funds for NCAP

The funds are released to support the implementation of City Specific action plans (CAPs) for the improvement of Air Quality. These CAPs include activities such as expansion of monitoring network, construction and demolition waste management facilities, non-motorised transport infrastructure, green buffers zone, use of mechanical street sweepers, composting units etc.

Central level committees

• Steering Committee
• Monitoring Committee
• Implementation Committee

State level committees

• Steering Committee (Chaired by Chief Secretary)
• Monitoring Committee (Chaired by Principal Secretary Environment Department)

City/District level committees: Implementation Committee (Chaired by Municipal Commissioner/District Magistrate)

Non-Attainment Cities

• City Action Plans for 132 cities
• Coordinated action of state government and its agencies
• Funding mobilized through convergence of resources from various schemes

Million-Plus Cities Challenge Fund (MPCCF)

• 42 Urban Agglomerations with million plus population
• Performance-based grants based on improvement in air quality
• Rs. 12,139 crore allocated for FY 2020-21 to 2025-26
• Rs. 4400 crore disbursed in 2020-21
• Rs. 1833 crore disbursed in 2021-22
• Rs. 472.06 crore released to Non-Attainment cities

Funding sources

• Central Government schemes
  • Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban)
  • Atal Mission For Rejuvenation And Urban Transformation (AMRUT)
  • Smart City Mission
  • Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT)
  • Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric vehicle - II (FAME)

State/UT Governments and its agencies

• Municipal Corporations
• Urban Development authorities
• Industrial development authorities

NCAP/XV-FC funding

• Performance-based supplemental grant
• Funding of unfunded critical gap of action plans

17-Dec-2021: First meeting of National Apex Committee under National Clean Air Programme held

Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change committed to clean air. Fighting air pollution needs to be made a mass movement.

Airshed Focus

• Different cities have different factors contributing to air pollution
• Focusing on the airshed is important

Air Quality Improvement Efforts

• 96 cities showed better air quality in 2020 compared to 86 cities in 2019
• Positive trend in achieving better air quality, but more needs to be done
• Coordination and collaboration of all stakeholders needed

National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)

• Launched in 2019
• Targeted 132 cities non-conforming to national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for 5 consecutive years
• 124 cities include 34 million plus cities/urban agglomerations
• 8 other million plus cities covered under the XV-FC grant for receiving performance-based grant for air quality improvement

NCAP implementation

• Focus on preparation and implementation of national, state, and city level action plans
• Centre level Steering Committee, Monitoring Committee, and Implementation Committee constituted
• Periodic review of implementation progress conducted

NCAP funding

• Rs 375.44 crores provided during 2019-20 to 2020-21
• Rs 290 crore allocated to 82 cities for FY 2021-22
• Rs 700 crore allocation for 2021-2026
• XV-FC provided a special grant of Rs 4,400 crore to 42 million plus cities/urban agglomerations for FY 2020-21
• Rs. 12,139 crores allocated for improvement in air quality of 42 million plus cities/urban agglomerations for 2021-2022 to 2025-26

NCAP focus on knowledge enhancement

• National Knowledge Network (NKN) constituted with a group of experts from different reputed academic/research institutes of the country.
• Helps State and city level administrations in strategizing and taking up measures to tackle air pollution at local levels in a scientific, effective and efficient manner.

National portal for NCAP

• National portal for National Clean Air Program "PRANA"
• Provides all information related to various policies/programs/schemes/activities of stakeholders along with progress made towards improvement in air quality

26-Mar-2021: MoU signed towards execution of planned actions in time bound manner in 132 cities under National Clean Air Programme(NCAP)

In the presence of Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Prakash Javadekar the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed today by representatives of State Pollution Control Boards, Urban Local Bodies and Institutes of Repute for 132 identified cities for implementation of city specific action plans under National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).

• MoU signed for 132 identified cities for execution of planned actions in a time-bound manner
• National Knowledge Network comprising leading air quality specialists has been constituted to support activities under NCAP and guide local Institutes of Repute in conducting air quality researches

National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)

• Long-term, time-bound, national level strategy to tackle air pollution problem in India
• Targets to achieve 20% to 30% reduction in Particulate Matter concentrations by 2024
• City-specific action plans have been prepared to control specific air pollution sources through multidimensional actions
• Implementation agencies: State Pollution Control Boards, Urban Local Bodies, Institutes of Repute
• Expansion of ambient air quality network, source apportionment studies, public awareness, grievance redressal mechanism and sector-specific action points are part of the action plans

Remarks by Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Prakash Javadekar

• Concerted efforts required by the State Governments and all concerned for improving air quality in the country
• Vision of ‘Swatch Bharat, Swatch Vayu’
• Initiative in line with Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi's vision of curbing air pollution by 20% in the next 4 years in over 100 cities
• Urged States to quickly procure e-buses for public transport purpose sanctioned under the FAME Scheme
• Regretted that only 600 e-buses out of 6000 sanctioned have been procured and are operational
• Allocation of funds for e-buses will go to other cities if any city fails to utilise them.

16-Sep-2020: Long-Term, Time-Bound, National Level Strategy to Tackle Air Pollution-National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)

National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)

• Launched by Central Government
• Long-term, time-bound, national level strategy
• Aims to tackle air pollution across the country

Targets

• 20% to 30% reduction in Particulate Matter concentrations by 2024
• 2017 as base year for comparison

Non-attainment cities

• 122 identified based on air quality data from 2014-2018
• City-specific action plans prepared

City-specific action plans

• Strengthen monitoring network
• Reduce vehicular/industrial emissions
• Increase public awareness
• Monitored by Committees at Central and State level

Air quality monitoring

• State Pollution Control Boards
• Results published regularly

Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCCs)

• Established by Smart Cities
• Connected to Air Quality Monitors (AQMs)
• Effective monitoring

29-Apr-2019: Committee constituted to oversee clean air programme

Union Environment Ministry constituted a committee to implement the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).

Committee

Chaired by the Secretary, Union Environment Ministry

Members:

Joint Secretary (Thermal), Ministry of Power

Director-General, The Energy Resources Institute (TERI)

Professor Sachidananda Tripathi, Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K)

National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)

• Aims to reduce particulate matter (PM) pollution by 20%-30% in at least 102 cities by 2024
• Unveiled in January
• Envisaged as a scheme to provide the States and the Centre with a framework to combat air pollution
• A five-year action plan with 2019 as the first year
• Review every five years

Cities

• States in which the cities are located are expected to produce plans that include:
  • Increasing the number of monitoring stations
  • Providing technology support
  • Conducting source apportionment studies
  • Strengthening enforcement
• Cities would be expected to calculate the reduction in pollution, keeping 2017’s average annual PM levels as the base year

Pollution in India

• WHO's database on air pollution lists Tier I and Tier II Indian cities as some of the most polluted places in the world
• In 2018, 14 of the world’s 15 most polluted cities were in India

NCAP measures

• Cities required to implement specific measures such as:
• Ensuring roads are pothole-free to improve traffic flow and thereby reduce dust (within 60 days)
• Ensuring strict action against unauthorized brick kilns (within 30 days)
• No specific date for when these obligations kick in

Headquarters of committee: New Delhi

Remit of committee

• Ensuring inter-ministerial organisation and cooperation
• Sharing information and resolving issues that could arise between ministries
• Giving overall guidance and directions to effectively implement the programmes.

10-Jan-2019: Government launches National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)

National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)

• Launched by Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan
• Time-bound national level strategy to tackle air pollution
• Involves collaborative and participatory approach
• Targets 20%-30% reduction of PM2.5 and PM10 concentration by 2024
• Aims for comprehensive mitigation actions for prevention, control, and abatement of air pollution
• Augments air quality monitoring network and strengthens awareness and capacity building activities

Approach for NCAP

• Collaborative, multi-scale, and cross-sectoral coordination
• Includes relevant central ministries, state governments, and local bodies
• Dovetails existing policies and programmes, including National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC)

NCAP Implementation

• Mid-term, five-year action plan with 2019 as the first year
• Use of Smart Cities program to launch NCAP in 43 smart cities
• Envisaged to be dynamic and will continue to evolve
• Institutionalized by respective ministries and organized through inter-sectoral groups
• Partners with multilateral and bilateral international organizations, philanthropic foundations, and technical institutions

City Specific Action Plans

• Formulated for 102 non-attainment cities
• Prepared in consultation with Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)
• Institutional Framework at Centre and State Level to be constituted

Other Features of NCAP

• Increasing number of monitoring stations in the country
• Technology support
• Emphasis on awareness and capacity building initiatives
• Setting up of certification agencies for monitoring equipment
• Source apportionment studies
• Emphasis on enforcement
• Specific sectoral interventions

20-Apr-2018: Stakeholder consultation on National Clean Air Programme concludes in Environment Ministry

Stakeholder Consultation on National Clean Air Programme to focus on implementation of city-specific action plans

Suggestions:

• Chief Secretary level committees in the States for multi-sectoral coordination.
• Area-specific standards.
• Satellite monitoring.
• Enforcement issues.
• High-resolution inventory for Indo-Gangetic plains.
• Multi-city, multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder coordination.

International experts from Europe, United States, China, Brazil, Japan and World Bank shared experiences in air quality monitoring, modelling, management and measures taken to improve air quality in their respective cities.

Specific sessions on transport, industries, residential, refuse and dust sectors.

International experiences shared:

• Chinese advanced stack emission control technology.
• Brazilian improvements in the transport sector.
• Mongolian improved cooking stoves.
• European strategies to control emissions from ammonia in agriculture sector.
• USA improvements in vehicular technologies, inspection and maintenance systems and emission trading schemes.

Objective of the consultation:

• Consultations with State government bodies on the NCAP.
• Ensure their participation during the stages of formulation and implementation.
• Suggest technological and management options.

Issues arising from city-level pollution need to be dealt with on a regional scale and coordination between different agencies across various states is required.

Empower state-level agencies and provide them with a roadmap for implementation of NCAP.

Cities must assess their air quality, source contributions and derive action plans based on their local conditions and resource availability.

MoEF&CC indicated commitment to collaborative and participatory approach for effective implementation.

Source-based initiatives need to be part of city-specific plans and cannot be integrated in NCAP.

Organized with support from Central Pollution Control Board, The World Bank, and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).