Delhi-NCR continues to record “severe” air-quality episodes every winter. Critically evaluate the National Clean Air Programme and the airshed approach under CAQM.

Introduction:

The National Clean Air Programme was launched in January 2019 with a revised target of 40% reduction in PM2.5/PM10 by 2025-26 over the 2017 baseline; the CAQM Act 2021 created a statutory Commission for Air Quality Management for the NCR and adjoining airshed; CPCB AQI records put winter PM2.5 in Delhi at 250-400 µg/m³ against the WHO 2021 guideline of 5 µg/m³ annual.

NCAP architecture and scorecard:

NCAP covers 131 non-attainment cities; over ₹10,000 crore has been disbursed via 15th Finance Commission air-quality grants to million-plus cities. Action plans rely on city-level source apportionment, dust control, public-transport electrification, and industrial relocation. Outcomes remain mixed — only a few cities like Indore and Surat show sustained PM10 decline.

Airshed approach under CAQM:

The CAQM has statutory powers across Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, UP, and Rajasthan within NCR. GRAP Stages I-IV trigger sequenced restrictions by AQI. The shift from city-administrative to airshed governance is a structural advance. Yet ULBs remain under-resourced, and stubble-burning in Punjab-Haryana — estimated to contribute ~30% of Delhi's winter PM2.5 — persists despite PUSA bio-decomposer subsidies and the Connaught Place smog tower (2021).

Gaps:

Source-apportionment science is slow, BS-IV trucks still ply, and inter-state coordination on power-sector emissions remains thin; odd-even experiments (2016, 2019) have only short-run effects.

Way forward / Conclusion:

Notify statutory airshed plans for the Indo-Gangetic Plain, expand SAFAR-style real-time monitoring nationwide, mandate crop-residue management with PUSA decomposer, and phase out unfit BS-IV trucks by 2027 under MoEFCC.