Where do Indian cities stand on toxic air?

Last Updated16/01/2023

Four years since the Centre launched the National Clean Air Campaign (NCAP), analysts found that progress has been slow and pollution only incrementally reduced in most cities.

About: It committed funds as well as set targets for 131 of India’s most polluted cities on January 10, 2019.
Non-attainment cities: The 131 cities that did not meet the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for the period of 2011-15 under the National Air Quality Monitoring Program (NAMP).

Annual average: It prescribed limits for the two main classes of particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) - 40 micrograms/per cubic metre (ug/m3) and 60 micrograms/per cubic metre.
Initial target: Reducing key air pollutants PM10 and PM2.5 by 20-30% in 2024, taking the pollution levels in 2017 as the base year to improve upon.
New target: 40% reduction in particulate matter concentration, but by 2026.

Lags in the NCAP: Only 38 of the 131 cities that were given annual pollution reduction targets managed to meet the targets for FY21-22.
Need of more air quality monitoring stations: India will need to install more than 300 manual air quality monitoring stations per year to reach the NCAP goal of 1,500 monitoring stations by 2024.

Delhi’s PM2.5 levels: Improved by over 7% compared to 2019.
Top 10 most polluted list of 2022: Most cities were from the Indo-Gangetic Plain.
Bihar: Its non-attainment cities, Patna, Muzaffarpur and Gaya, now feature in the top 10 most polluted cities on the basis of PM2.5 levels.
Out of 46 non-NCAP cities: 21 recorded significant improvement in their annual PM2.5 value with 5% or more decline between 2019 and 2021.
Cities recording an increase in their annual PM2.5 levels: There were 16 NCAP cities and 15 non-NCAP cities that registered a significant increase in their annual PM2.5 levels.