19-Oct-2021: Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh launches Air Quality Early Warning System to coincide with Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsava
Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh has launched Air Quality Early Warning System (AQEWS) on the occasion of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav week organised by the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), an autonomous Institute of Ministry of earth Sciences has developed a new Decision Support System (DSS) and extended the ability of the existing air quality early warning system (AQEWS) to have decision-making capability for air quality management in Delhi - NCR region.
The need was stated by Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM, which was recently formed by the Union Minister for MoEFCC with the approval of both the houses of parliament) during the meeting held in January 2021 and requested MoES institutions (IITM and IMD) for the same. Recently, the commission has reviewed the progress made by IITM and has in principle approved the current version of DSS for air quality management in the Delhi-NCR region. IITM, Pune has also developed a new website for DSS and recently, the entire system has been made-operational.
DSS is a significant contribution to Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsava on behalf of MOES and IITM and suggestions are invited on this issue.
Following is the link to the website https://ews.tropmet.res.in/dss/ (At present the website is viewed best in Desktop and soon it will be made compatible with mobiles On Android and iPad (IOS) .
The website is designed to deliver quantitative information about:
- the contribution of emissions from Delhi and the surrounding 19 districts to the air quality in Delhi,
- the contribution of emissions from 8 different sectors in Delhi their contribution,
- the contribution from biomass-burning activities in the neighbouring states to the degradation of air quality in Delhi,
- the possible quantitative effects of interventions at the on the forecast air-quality event in Delhi. All this information would assist in managing the air quality in a timely manner.
The website also has a feature whereby the users can create their own emission reduction scenarios (from 20 different districts including Delhi) so as to examine the possible projected improvement in air quality in Delhi for the next five days. This information would explicitly highlight the most important emission sources responsible for the degradation of air quality in Delhi and suggest possible solutions to ameliorate the same and could be used by policymakers. With a plethora of quantitative data, the AQEWS integrated with DSS could become user friendly tool for air-quality management in and around Delhi.
15-Oct-2018: Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi launched.
Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi was launched in Delhi by the Union Minister for Earth Sciences and Environment, Dr. Harsh Vardhan. The System is designed to predict extreme air pollution events and give alerts to take necessary steps as per Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) of the Government of India. The air pollution system has been developed jointly by the scientists at Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, India Meteorological Department and National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF).
The early warning system will help in proactively forewarning, 3-4 days in advance, any large scale air pollution events which may occur over the Delhi region. Outlining a series of efforts that the central government has taken the Union Minister said that the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has constituted a 41 member team which will continuously monitor the air pollution levels in Delhi and NCR region and will report to the board. Badarpur thermal power plant is being closed today, western peripheral expressway is likely to become operational in the first week of November, the Central govt. has released nearly 600 crores to concerned states for in-situ management of crop-residue and a slew of mitigation measures have been taken by the government.
A new website developed for archiving all the observational and prediction products was also launched at the event. The website will be accessed by the officials of Environmental Pollution Authority (EPA) and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for taking necessary steps depending upon the requirements. Ministry of Earth Sciences will be making further attempts to assimilate more data of other pollutants and also to improve accuracy of predictions with the technical support from the NCAR, USA and Finnish Meteorological Institute.
The air pollution system has been developed jointly by the scientists at Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, India Meteorological Department and National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF). The warning system consists of a) real time observations of air quality over Delhi region and details about natural aerosols like dust (from dust storms) and particulate matter using different satellite data sets b) Predictions of air pollutants from two different air quality prediction systems based on state-of-the-art atmospheric chemistry transport models and c) Warning Messages and Alerts and Bulletins.
The prediction systems were developed by scientists of MoES institutions with the technical support from the National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR),USA and the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI). The prediction part of the system consists of two modelling framework, one is based on NCAR atmospheric chemistry transport model and the second one is based on Finnish Meteorological Institute model. The modelling framework typically consists of a high resolution weather prediction model with an atmospheric chemistry transport model. Both the models have data assimilation facility, which can assimilate data from satellites on dust aerosols, particulate matter from stubble burning and other air pollutants like SO2 and NO2. The models will take into account the background aerosols and pollutants, long range transport of dust from dust storms and particulate matter from stubble burning. The predictions are now available up to 72 hours lead time.
Union Minister also released a mega emission inventory of Delhi which was made by scientists at IITM Pune who carried out a mega emission inventory campaign involving around 140students mapping all possible local sources of air pollution with around 37,500 hours of work. The final product with 400 m x 400m high-resolution emission inventory of Delhi and fringe area of all eight important air pollutants (like PM2.5, PM10, NOx, CO, SO2, BC, OC and VOCs) was released. Ground level activity data about emissions from as many as 23 different sources of pollution were also collected. The emission inventory suggests that there is a substantial increase of emissions from transport and industrial sector, while the contributions from residences have shown a substantial decline.
13-Oct-2021: Climate Resilience Information System and Planning (CRISP-M) tool for Mahatma Gandhi NREG Scheme launched
Union Minister of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj Shri Giriraj Singh today jointly launched Climate Resilience Information System and Planning (CRISP-M) tool for integration of climate information in Geographic Information System (GIS) based watershed planning under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA along with Lord Tariq Ahmad, Minister of State for South Asia and the Commonwealth in the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office through a virtual event.
Addressing the launching event, Shri Giriraj Singh said that the CRISP-M tool will help embed climate information in the GIS based planning and implementation of Mahatma Gandhi NREGS. He further appreciated efforts of British Government and all the stakeholders who supported Rural Development Ministry in developing the tool and hoped that the implementation of CRISP-M will open up new possibilities for our rural communities to deal with the issues of climate change. This tool will be used in seven states where in the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Government of UK and Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India are jointly working towards climate resilience. The states are Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Rajasthan.
During the joint launch of the CRISP-M tool, Lord Tariq Ahmad, Minister of State for South Asia and the Commonwealth in the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, applauded India’s commitment to advancing climate initiative through Mahatma Gandhi NREGS programme. In his address Lord Tariq mentioned that “Reaching right across India, the scheme is having a positive, life-changing impact. It is helping poor and vulnerable people to cope with climate change and protecting them from weather-related disasters. The impressive new tool we celebrate today, CRISP-M, is the latest example of this great work.”
Shri N. N. Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India said that the impact of grassroot planning, implementation and utilisation is visible in terms of enhanced groundwater recharge, increased forest coverage and increased land productivity in many impact studies of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA across India.
A panel discussion was also held on the occasion, in which Mr. Ben Webster, Head of Secretariat for the Risk-informed Early Action Partnership, hosted at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies – IFRC, Ms. Clare Shakya, Director of Climate Change Research Group, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), Mr. Kamal Kishore, Member, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Mr. Shantanu Mitra, Head, Infrastructure and Urban Development, Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), India and Dr Alok Choudhary Senior Principal Scientist & Head GIS&IP division, Madhya Pradesh Council of Science & Technology (MPCST)discussed the portal and its relevance at length.
Shri Rohit Kumar, Joint Secretary (RE), during his closing remarks said that the Ministry of Rural Development have already prepared GIS based plans for 1.82 lacs Gram Panchayats out of total of 2.69 Lacs Gram Panchayats of India, which is around 68%, with the help of Remote Sensing Technology, based on Ridge to Valley approach. Now, with the launch of this CRISP-M tool, the integration of climate information in GIS based watershed planning will be possible and that would further strengthen planning of climate resilient works under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS.
7-Sep-2021: Shri Bhupender Yadav dedicates first functional Smog Tower of India, situated at Anand Vihar in New Delhi.
Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Bhupender Yadav has asked all stakeholders including the citizens to sincerely and earnestly contribute to achieve cleaner air and healthier lives for all.
The Union Minister, who was speaking at an event in New Delhi today to mark the second International Day of clean Air For Blue Skies, stated that the Central Government has launched several initiatives to improve air quality in the entire country, with the Prime Minister himself setting a goal for holistic improvement in air quality in more than 100 cities. “86 cities showed better air quality in 2019 in comparison to 2018, which increased to 104 cities in 2020”, informed the Environment Minister.
The Minister said that the Government under the leadership of the Prime Minister is now actively linking all policy approaches to give paramount importance to conserve public goods like water, air and Earth.
Shri Yadav on the occasion virtually inaugurated the first functional smog tower in India at Anand Vihar, Delhi and expressed hope that the pilot smog tower project will yield fruitful results and supplement the air quality improvement efforts .A smog tower is a structure designed as large/medium scale air purifiers to reduce air pollution, usually by forcing the air through filters.
The smog tower at Anand Vihar with a height of over 20m, is of downdraft type, i.e. polluted air comes in from the top of the tower and clean air comes out of the bottom is intended for localised reduction in air pollution (Particulate Matter). The filtration system used in the tower has been designed by University of Minnesota with an expected efficiency of 90%. 40 fan units have been installed to provide a design airflow rate of 1000 m3/sec. The tower has been built by Tata Projects Limited with NBCC (India) Ltd. as the project management consultant.
The event also witnessed launch of a portal named “PRANA” – Portal for Regulation of Air-pollution in Non-Attainment cities under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP). Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) are implementing National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) in the country since 2019 with targets to achieve 20 to 30 % reduction in Particulate Matter(PM10 and PM2.5 ) concentrations by 2024 across the country.
City-specific action plans for improving air quality for 132 Non- attainment cities (NACs)/Million Plus Cities (MPC) targeting city specific air polluting sources (Soil & Road Dust, Vehicles, Domestic Fuel, MSW Burning, Construction Material and Industries) have been prepared and are already being implemented. The portal (prana.cpcb.gov.in) will support tracking of physical as well as financial status of city air action plan implementation and disseminate information on air quality to public.
So far, 375.44 crores have been released to 114 cities during FY 2019-20 & 2020-21 for initiating actions under city action plan. Further, 4400 cores have been released to 42 cities with million plus population as per recommendations of 15th Finance Commission report for FY 2020-21. This is in addition to funds available through various Central and State government schemes.
Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment, forest and Climate Change, Shri Ashwini Choubey while addressing the event said that Clean Air is intricately linked to a host of benefits for the human being and gave the slogan “Swachh Pawan, Neel Gagan”, emphasizing that for a Blue Skies we need to work towards making the air clean and stressed on adoption of sustainable lifestyle for all.
The event was also attended by Ms. Payden, Deputy WHO Representative who lauded India’s efforts on tackling Air Pollution and its leadership role on Climate Change. Dr. Antje C. Berger, Counsellor, Climate and Environment, Embassy of the German Federal Republic of Germany who also addressed the event said that technological solutions play a key role in mitigating the Environment Challenges that the world faces today.
Shri Atul Bagai, Head of Country Office, UNEP India, Shri Tanmay Kumar, Chairman, CPCB and various officials of the Ministry, ministers from states, mayors of cities and officials involved in the implementation of National Clean Air Programme at city level also participated in the hybrid event.
16-Jan-2020: Supreme Court nod for smog towers in Delhi
The Supreme Court has agreed with the Delhi government’s proposal to install a smog tower at Connaught Place within three months to reduce air pollution.
The Bench also ordered a smog tower to be installed in Anand Vihar as pointed out by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The court ordered the Delhi government to provide space of 30x30 metres for installation of an experimental tower at Anand Vihar within seven days. The court said this project would be funded by the Centre even as the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change would monitor it. The court directed the project to be completed in three months.
The court directed that anti-smog guns should be used in Delhi and the National Capital Regions (NCR) at large construction sites, road construction stretches, mining activities; large parking sites on unpaved areas, during large public gatherings, demolition activities and while sprinkling on dust-prone traffic corridors.
The court made it compulsory for authorities to use of anti-smog guns in Delhi-NCR at the site of projects that require environmental clearance from the State/Central level and which have a built-up area of more than 20,000 sq.mt. including excavation, material handling and other dust-generating activities. The authorities would have to prepare a ‘polluter pays’ policy to cover the cost of installation of the anti-smog guns at these sites.
The court directed the Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan government to identify plastic, industrial and other toxic waste and ensure they are not burnt but incinerated. Piled-up waste has to be removed within six weeks. The court also directed the pollution control boards of the four States to monitor at night and take stringent action against polluting industries.
The court asked the Delhi government to work out a comprehensive plan within three months to have full (100%) capacity to deal with garbage and wastes. The court has also directed the pollution control board and the Indian Bureau of Standards to randomly check the quality of water supplied in Delhi and submit a report in one month.
The court ordered penal action against developers in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan found flouting the Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules of 2016. The court ordered the States to file status reports on the action taken against rogue developers, including how many have been blacklisted. The court has sought a report on the existing facilities for construction and demolition waste recycling in the four States. It has asked the four States to come out with a comprehensive plan on waste management.
The court has ordered local authorities of Ghaziabad, Panipat and Meerut to ensure remedial measures are taken in connection with waste pile-ups in certain areas and file a report in a month.
The court asked why Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab should not be “saddled” with the burden to pay compensation for failing to prevent pollution and stubble-burning. It ordered a comprehensive plan to prevent stubble-burning to be placed before it.
The 11-page order said the plan should have a detailed plan for crop residuary management and its use as fertilizer, cattle food and bio-fuel. It asked the government to take a final decision on the incentive/disincentive of ₹100 per quintal and the in-situ farming.
Further, the court directed the Centre, Punjab, Haryana and UP governments to prepare a scheme to give access to small and marginal farmers to advanced farming machines such as combine harvesters, happy seeders, etc., either free of charge or for a nominal rent.