2017 base year for National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)

On January 10, Union Environment Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan launched the much-awaited National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) to combat air pollution. The NCAP is a pollution control initiative that was launched with the intention to cut the concentration of coarse (PM10) and fine particles (PM2.5) by at least 20% in the next five years, with 2017 as the base year for comparison. The NCAP will be a mid-term, five year action plan with 2019 as the first year. The plan includes 102 most-polluting cities, across 23 states and Union territories, which were identified by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on the basis of their ambient air quality data between 2011 and 2015. Apart from experts from the industry and academia, the programme is expected to be a collaboration between the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Ministry of Heavy Industry, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Health, NITI Aayog, and CPCB.