With 14 of the world's 15 most polluted cities, India launches the National Clean Air Programme. The goal is to reduce PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations by 30 per cent by 2024.
India year zero. That is how 2019 could be described for the Asian giant — a year that began with the launch of the first National Clean Air Programme (Ncap) by the Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Harsh Vardhan, in New Delhi. It is a medium-term five-year action plan that envisages an investment of 45 million dollars over 2 years to tackle air pollution in 102 cities identified by the Central Pollution Control Board for failing to meet pollution standards. The goal is to reduce PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations by 20–30 per cent by 2024.
Today India is one of the countries with the worst air quality in the world, with levels of air pollution that cause 1.24 million deaths per year and with 14 of the world's 15 most polluted cities (according to World Health Organization data). The government led by Narendra Modi has focused on the country's economic growth — growth that has inevitably also led to pollutant levels considered dangerous to health.
"Today cities occupy only 3 per cent of the land, but they contribute 82 per cent of GDP and are responsible for 78 per cent of CO2 emissions," said Shri Kant, chief executive of the Niti Aayog (National institution for transforming India). "Cities are engines of growth and equity, but they must be sustainable, and it is in this context that the Ncap is a very inclusive programme of particular importance."
The average PM2.5 level in New Delhi last year stood at 172 micrograms per cubic metre, whereas the level considered safe is 50 micrograms per cubic metre. In Mumbai, meanwhile, the average PM2.5 level was 147 micrograms. Toxic air, a blanket of smog that hangs over city streets and not only reduces visibility but also undermines the very health of residents.
The plan provides for a whole series of actions to be taken in the various cities, although the publicly released documents do not make it entirely clear what those actions are — namely, whether they involve closing coal-fired power plants, reducing fires in rural areas, or focusing on sustainable or electric mobility. It does appear, however, that there will be some form of collaboration between the various ministries, while what can be gathered is that the initial plan envisages comprehensive air quality monitoring in the cities deemed most polluted.
Criticism has come from Ashutosh Dikshit, chief executive of the United Residents Joint Action in New Delhi — a kind of association that gathers, analyses and disseminates information to call for the efficient delivery of civic services, healthcare, safety, clean air and water for the city's residents. The plan "will remain an intellectual exercise if steps are not taken to implement it. India is a nation of young people and an entire generation has had to face a silent health crisis," he commented in a statement. An entire generation living under a poisonous blanket for much of the year.