Subscribe
Punjab and Haryana have collectively recorded about 90 per cent reduction in stubble fire incidences during the 2025 paddy harvesting season, in comparison to the same period in 2022, Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change told the Lok Sabha.
The Centre has taken measures to mitigate air pollution caused due to stubble burning. It disbursed a sum of Rs 3,120.16 crore (Punjab — Rs 1,963.45 crore, Haryana — Rs 1,156.71 crore) to the Governments of Punjab and Haryana for CRM machines from 2018-19 to 2025-26 (as on November 17, 2025). These states have distributed more than 260,000 machines to individual famers and to more than 33,800 custom hiring centres in these states.
The Centre has established the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) under the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas Act, 2021 to address air pollution in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). The goal is better coordination, research, identification and resolution of problems of air pollution in Delhi-NCR and adjoining areas, Yadav told the Lok Sabha.
The Union government has released a sum of Rs 2,941.15 crore to Uttar Pradesh under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) for implementing air quality improvement measures as part of city specific clean air action plans.
The plans have been prepared for the 17 cities of the state that are included under NCAP. These plans target air pollution sources like soil & road dust, vehicular emissions, waste burning, construction & demolition activities, and industrial pollution.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has categorised 13 industrial areas of the state into 10 critically and 3 severely polluted areas. Of 777 industries (pertaining to 17 Red categories) located in Uttar Pradesh, 690 have installed Online Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems (OCEMS). CPCB has issued directions to the 87 industries which have not installed OCEMS, Kirti Vardhan Singh, Minister of State in the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change told the Lok Sabha.
India has been ranked ninth in the world in terms of total forest area according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s Global Forest Resources Assessment (GFRA) 2025, released on October 22, 2025. This marks an improvement from the previous assessment, in which India was ranked tenth, Singh told the Lok Sabha.
The total number of forest fire incidences detected in the November 2023 to June 2024 fire season across India was 203,544. It was 238,309 during the November 2024 to June 2025 season, Singh told the Lok Sabha.
In Maharashtra, satellite-based monitoring using SNPP-VIIRS detected 16,008 forest fires during the fire season from November 2023 to June 2024. Meanwhile, 25,759 fire incidences were detected from November 2024 to June 2025.
The total forest cover of the Hingoli district of Maharashtra is 111.73 square kilometres according to the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2023. This figure is 2.31 per cent of the total geographical area of the district. The total forest cover of Hingoli district decreased by 1.55 square kilometre between ISFR 2021 and ISFR 2023, Singh told the Lok Sabha.
The Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats & Tangible Incomes (MISHTI) was launched to promote and restore mangroves and enhance the resilience of coastal ecosystems. An area of 1,649.72 hecatres has been selected in six districts of Andhra Pradesh namely Bapatla, Kakinada, Eluru, Krishna, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Konaseema and Tirupati to implement the scheme. A sum of Rs 13.077 crore has been released to the state for undertaking the core and support activities under MISHTI through gap funding from National CAMPA, Singh told the Lok Sabha.
Based on the information submitted by the State Pollution Control Boards and Pollution Control Committees to CPCB for 2023-24 under the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, the total solid waste generated in India is 185,195 tonnes per day (TPD), waste collected is 179,479 TPD, waste processed/treated is 114,110 TPD and waste landfilled is 39,629 TPD, Singh told the Rajya Sabha.
There has been significant increase in the availability of power in Uttar Pradesh. The gap between the demand and availability of electricity in Uttar Pradesh has declined to almost NIL during 2025-26. As on October 31, 2025, the state has been allocated 9,935.1 MW of firm power and 250.6 MW of power from unallocated quota of Central Sector Generating Stations, Shripad Naik, Minister of State in the Union Ministry of Power told the Rajya Sabha.
Under the ongoing Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), segregation of mixed load feeders with more than 30 per cent agricultural load into agriculture and non-agricultural feeders is being taken up along with solarisation of the agriculture feeders under the PM KUSUM scheme. 1,802 feeders have been sanctioned for segregation in Uttar Pradesh under RDSS. Further, 370,000 pumps to be solarised under PM KUSUM scheme have been allocated to Uttar Pradesh. The works for feeder segregation and solarisation are under various stages of implementation in the state, Naik added.
The use of E20 fuel gives better acceleration, ride quality and most importantly, lowers carbon emissions by approximately 30 per cent as compared to E10 fuel, according to the Joint Statement dated August 30, 2025, released by Automotive Research Association of India, and the Federation of Indian Petroleum Industry (ARAI-FIPI-SIAM). Ethanol’s higher-octane number makes ethanol blended fuels a valuable alternative for higher-octane requirements that is crucial for modern high compression engines. Vehicles tuned for E20 deliver better acceleration which is a very important factor in city driving conditions. Additionally, ethanol’s higher heat of vaporisation reduces intake manifold temperatures, increasing air-fuel mixture density and boosting volumetric efficiency, Suresh Gopi, Minister of State in the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas told the Rajya Sabha.