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ESTABLISH NETWORK OF AIR-QUALITY

UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS | IIT-KANPUR TO ESTABLISH NETWORK OF AIR-QUALITY SENSORS TO MEASURE POLLUTION IN RURAL INDIA | 11TH JULY | THE HINDU

/ July, 2022, UPSC Daily Current Affairs

SYLLABUS SECTION: GS III (ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY)

WHY IN THE NEWS?

To bolster measurement of air pollution in rural India, the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur, is embarking on a $2.5 million project (₹19 crore) to install nearly 1,400 sensors in rural blocks of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar for Establish Network of Air-Quality.

DETAILS:

  • It is a three-year pilot project.
  • This pilot project could pave the way for a national network of air quality sensors in rural India to Establish Network of Air-Quality.
  • The outcomes from this network will help local communities, policy makers and researchers understand the ground situation.
  • Air pollution in India is largely frame as an urban blight.
  • But rural areas are also reeling under causes of pollution, such as biomass burning and reliance on diesel generators for electricity, which are worsening air quality.
  • Cities, because of their population density and industrial establishments, continue to be the overwhelming source of emissions.
  • The country’s current annual safe limits for PM 2.5 and PM 10 are 40 micrograms/per cubic metre (ug/m3) and 60 micrograms/per cubic metre.

Initiatives Related to Clean Air:

  • In 2019, the government launched the National Clean Air Program (NCAP) to reduce particulate matter air pollution by 20-30% by 2024.
  • This, however, is primarily aims at 122 cities that have been categorize as India’s most polluting cities.
  • Under NCAP, ₹375.44 crore was provides to 114 cities from 2018-19 to 2020-21 and ₹290 crore was allocates to 82 cities for the financial year 2021-22.
  • The program has an allocation of ₹700 crore envisaged for 2021-26.
  • The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)
  • It is a statutory organization under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (Mo.E.F.C).
  • It is also entrusted with the powers and functions under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.
  • National Air Quality Index (AQI)
  • It was established in 1974 under the Water (Prevention and Control of pollution) Act, 1974.
  • The AQI is an index for reporting daily air quality. It tells how clean or polluted the air is.
  • The higher the AQI value, the greater the level of air pollution and the greater the health Concern.
  • Research studies have attributed the key sources of PM2.5 in summer to be: dust and construction activities (35%), transport sector (20%) and industry (20%).
  1. Climate & Clean Air Coalition
  2.  LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging)

Read more: UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS

SOURCE: THE HINDU