WHO revises Air Quality norms

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has revised its global air quality guidelines and recommended more stringent standards for key pollutants.

Key facts

• WHO set the new standards in the first update of its air quality guidelines since 2005.
• PM 2.5 norms for 24 hours average has been changed to 15 micro-g/m3 against 25 micro-g/m3 in 2005.
• While the PM 2.5 norms for annual average has been changed to 5 micro-g/m3 against the 10 micro-g/m3 in 2005.

Where does India stand?

At the current relaxed standards, most of the Indian cities fail to meet these levels. Annual PM 2.5 average in India is at 40 micro-g/m3 against the annual limit of 10 micro-g/m3 (2005) by WHO. As a result, India needs to revise its air quality standards to make them more stringent.

Steps taken by India

Under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), India is committed to minimise 20-30 per cent of air pollution in cities. To check the stubble-burning, Bio-decomposer will be used on 6 lakh acres land in UP, 1 lakh acres land in Haryana and 7,413 acres land in Punjab. Use of bio-decomposers is part of the action plan of preventing and controlling stubble burning in Delhi-NCR region.

About NCAP

NCAP was launched in January 2019 by the MoEFCC. It is the first-ever effort in India to frame a national framework for the management of air quality with a time-bound reduction target. This action plan seeks to reduce the concentration of coarse and fine particles by at least 20% in the next five years (base year 2017). This plan comprises of 102 non-attainment cities in 23 states and Union territories. These cities were identified by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) by analysing their ambient air quality data between 2011 and 2015.

Month: Current Affairs - September, 2021