The awards for Swachh Vayu Survekshan (Clean Air Survey) 2023 were announced. The survey was conducted by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
Performance
- Top 3 cities under 1st category (million plus population): Indore followed by Agra and Thane.
- Worst Performers: Madurai (46), Howrah (45) and Jamshedpur (44)
- Bhopal ranked 5th and Delhi ranked 9th
- Top 3 cities under 2nd category (3-10 lakhs population): Amravati followed by Moradabad and Guntur.
- Worst Performers: Jammu (38), Guwahati (37) and Jalandhar (36)
- Top 3 cities under 3rd category (<3 lakhs population): Parwanoo followed by Kala Amb and Angul.
- Worst Performer: Kohima (39)
Every year, the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies is celebrated on 7 September to raise awareness and facilitate actions to improve air quality. It was declared so by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 2019. Theme for 4th International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies (Swachh Vayu Diwas 2023) – “Together for Clean Air.”
Key Findings about the SVS 2023
- Swachh Vayu Survekshan (SVS) is a new initiative by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to rank cities on the basis of air quality and implementation of activities approved under the city action plan (NCAP) in 131 non-attainment cities.
- Cities are declared non- attainment if over a 5-year period they consistently do not meet the NAAQS for PM10 or NO2.
- The categorisation of cities has been based on the 2011 population census.
The cities were assessed on eight major points
- Control of biomass
- Municipal solid waste burning
- Road dust
- Dust from construction and demolition waste
- Vehicular emissions
- Industrial emissions
- Public awareness
- improvement in PM10 concentration
NCAP
- The National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) aims to systematically address air pollution by engaging all stakeholders and ensuring necessary action.
- 131 cities have been identified for the implementation of the city specific action plans under NCAP.
- Target: It is the first-ever effort in the country to frame a national framework for air quality management with a time-bound reduction target.
- It seeks to cut the concentration of coarse (PM10) and fine particles (PM2.5) by at least 20% in the next five years (base year for comparison – 2017).