NCAP Draft: More Clarity Needed On Emission Reduction Targets

K Jayadev

A recent report by Health Effects Institute (HEI) in the US says, over 95 per cent of the world's population breathes unsafe air, with India and China together contributing to over half of the global deaths due to pollution caused by small particulate matter. This is an alarming revelation indeed.

India has been treading on the danger line of pollution for a very long time. China and India accounted for more than half (51 per cent) of the death toll, according to the report. Exposure to air pollution contributed to more than 6 million deaths worldwide last year, playing a role in increasing the risk of stroke, heart attack, lung cancer and chronic lung disease.

Indoor air pollution can also affect air quality in the surrounding area, with this effect contributing to one in four pollution deaths in India and nearly one in five in China. "India has really begun to step up on indoor air pollution, for instance through the provision of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) as a cooking fuel, and through electrification," Bob O'Keefe, vice-president at HEI, said.

Understanding the severity of the problem, the Indian government decided to counter the frightening monster of pollution and put a check on the alarming situation that we all are faced with at the moment. The government formulated National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) as a medium term national level strategy to tackle the increasing air pollution problem across the country in a comprehensive manner.

The overall objective is to expand and develop effective ambient air quality monitoring network across the country besides ensuring comprehensive management plan for prevention, control and subsiding of air pollution. The NCAP focuses on collaborative and participatory approach covering all sources of pollution and coordination between relevant Central Ministries, State Governments, local bodies and other stakeholders.

Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr Mahesh Sharma, talking about the programme said, "In order to ensure use of new technologies to combat the rising challenge of air pollution in India, a separate component on ‘Technology Assessment Cell’ has been envisaged under NCAP to evaluate the technologies for prevention, control and abatement of air pollution.”

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) finally released a concept note or draft on the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) recently. The ministry seeks comments from concerned stakeholders by May 17, 2018.

The concept note acknowledges notification of sector-specific emission standards, expansion of air quality monitoring network, banning the burning of biomass and passing over from BSIV to BSVI for vehicles by April 1, 2020. But these have resulted in insignificant improvements in air quality levels, the need for time-bound initiatives at both city and rural level are absolutely vital to fight the problem of air pollution in our country.

The intended goal of the programme is to meet the “annual average air quality standards at all locations in the country in a stipulated timeframe”. In order to achieve this, all the 100 non-attainment cities would have to design city-specific action plans with specific timelines for implementation of listed initiatives.

The NCAP certainly has high ambitions for formalising an air quality management system in our country backed by science, technology and data. A budget amounting to Rs 637 crore has been set aside for aiding implementation of the programme. The document lays down specific targets and timelines for each initiative listed under the programme.

What is interesting to note is that while the document mentions emission reduction targets, nowhere does it actually quantify these targets. We need to see if not quantifying targets will help in developing a clean air action process. In the final analysis, NCAP is a well-intentioned initiative and if only the government comes up with more concrete targets in every aspect it would be a blessing in disguise for all.