India has been ranked as the eighth most polluted country in the world in 2022, by the 5th Annual World Air Quality report.
New Delhi: Union Minister for Environment Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav on Friday urged the States and Union Territories to take coordinated action to address the issue of air pollution.
The Minister’s remarks came a day after, India has been ranked as the eighth most polluted country in the world in 2022, by the 5th Annual World Air Quality report.
The Minister, however, appreciated the performance of 95 cities that have improved air quality and 20 cities that met the National Ambient Air Quality Standard in FY 2021-22 under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).
As per the World Air Quality report the PM 2.5 level has dipped to 53.3 microgram/cubic meter, which is still over 10 times the World Health Organisation’s safe limit. The report also revealed that 12 of the 15 most polluted cities in Central and South Asia are in India.
The Report mentioned that roughly 60 percent of cities in India included in the report recorded annual PM2.5 levels at least seven times higher than the WHO guidelines.
While addressing the meeting of the National Apex Committee under National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), Mr Yadav also highlighted the importance of the implementation of NCAP and emphasised upon the coordinated actions for taking air quality improvement measures.
He spoke on the significance of Airshed approach adopted in Indo-Gangetic Plain and stressed on the need for regional cooperation to address the issue of air pollution.
Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Ashwini Kumar Choubey congratulated the nine cities viz. Lucknow, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Moradabad, Firozabad, Amravati, Dewas, Sunder Nagar and Nalagarh that have received cash award under Swacchh Vayu Sarvekshan conducted for FY 2022-23.
He urged all cities to take air quality improvement measures and participate in the ranking framework.
Choubey also requested States and Union Territories to submit proposals under Nagar Van Yojana and AMRUT for increasing the green cover in NCAP cities.
During the meeting the importance of Mission LiFE launched by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for taking citizen centric actions to protect and conserve the environment was emphasized.
On 15th August 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi assuring Government’s commitment to ensure clean air to all the people of the country, announced the intent and plan to improve the air quality in more than 100 cities through holistic approach.
Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change informed that Rs.8915 Crore have been provided from 2019-20 to 2022-23 for taking air quality improvement measures in 131 cities for achieving the prescribed annual air pollution reduction targets.
The Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has launched the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) on 10th January, 2019 as a national-level strategy outlining the actions for reducing the levels of air pollution at city and regional scales in the Country.
The Programme aims to systemically address air pollution by engaging all stakeholders and ensuring necessary action. 131 non-attainment and million plus cities have been identified for the implementation of the city specific action plans under this Programme.
The Programme focuses on preparation and implementation of national level action plan, state level action plans & city level action plans of the targeted 131 cites.
NCAP targets to achieve reduction in Particulate Matter (PM10) levels up to 40% or achievement of national standards (60 microgram/cubic meter) by 2025-26 in targeted 131 cities of 24 States.
