Next phase of National Clean Air Programme demands that PM 2.5 take centrestage in pollution response

With a population of over one billion, India has a large disease burden associated with air pollution — as established by the State of Global Air 2024 report published by the US-based Health Effects Institute (HEI).

It is important to note that India has recorded 2.1 million deaths due to air pollution in 2021.

To combat the air pollution-menace, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) launched the 'National Clean Air Programme' (NCAP) in January 2019 to improve the air quality in 131 cities, designated as non-attainment cities.

With two years remaining for the current program to end, a CSE analysis has highlighted that the next phase of reforms requires an approach that makes PM2.5 the benchmark for performance-linked funding, improves metrics to prioritise combustion sources, ties funding to sectoral targets, establishes stronger institutional mechanisms and capacity for planning and implementation in cities.