National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)

Pollution is a concern that our country is facing for decades now. To counter this matter, the Environment Ministry of India devised the plan of NCAP in 2018. The principle grail behind the program is to consistently meet the standard air quality at every country's location.

The objective proposed by the Ministry of Environment aims to shrink the particulate matter in the air by 20-30% by 2024, taking 2017 as its base year. Considering that the prevalent conditions of air quality are solely deteriorating, NCAP's initiative is bound to facilitate the existing laws for alleviating the emissions.

NCAP is a collaboration program that requires cooperation between the center, state, and local governments to be a success. This program's objective already aligns with the existing policies, such as the National Action Plan on Climate Change, Smart Cities Mission, etc. This program is city-centric, i.e., it aims to create action plans for the 102 cities in India that exceed the air quality safeguards.

In the most initial phase of its implementation, NCAP hasn't been too successful. Despite claiming that the government is doing everything to reach the program's goals, the emergency-levels of AQI in Delhi last year demonstrated a different side of the coin.

Even in November 2019, the Supreme Court of India criticized the center and state governments for their unsuccessful attempts to control the contamination caused by stubble burning. Critics have also brought into limelight the fact that there's still not a lot of clarity regarding the fund allocation, which could further slow down NCAP's impact.

As it's evident, the execution is just as imperative as the drafting. The unclean air issue is not a new concept, and millions of people suffer through it from the comfort of their homes. It's high time that we teach a zero-tolerance policy for all the matters related to health emergencies.

The holistic picture that binds us all is the common goal to provide clean air to every citizen, and the driving factor for us should be to bring a change for our future generations.