IITs, and other Institutions from 18 States to Conduct 'Clean Air Programme'
IITs and Other Institutes from across 18 states are assigned to share research data on the air pollution issue under the National Knowledge Network. The institutes will develop solutions backed by their expertise in technology.
A national knowledge program has been launched by the government of India for the initiative to counter the air pollution problem all over India. Under this, the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) will bring IITs and other premier institutes of India for the cause of research and development on clean air initiative.
The premier institutes selected are IIT Delhi, IIT Madras, IIT Roorkee, IIT Kanpur, IIT Bombay, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Guwahati and IIT Tirupati. The non-IIT Institutes which are the part of the programme are Bose Institute, Kolkata and PGI Chandigarh. All the institutes have been registered in the National Knowledge Network (NKN) for free sharing of knowledge. The non-IIT Institutes from Kolkata and Chandigarh will be acting as the knowledge partner for NCAP.
An official source said that the success of the NCAP programme would depend on the through knowledge sharing in the fields wherever needed. The knowledge partner selection for the cause was done on the basis of the knowledge and research expertise of the institutions on the fields of Public health, Civil engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Environmental Sciences and Air Quality. They were selected as the partners of the State Pollution Control Board to serve the objectives of NCAP.
The National Knowledge Network was inaugurated in Lucknow on Monday, 14th October 2019 in presence of the UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
The air pollution has been recognised as one of the key villains for affecting India’s climate, weather, harvest, ecosystems and heritage. Even though it is a global problem, India is suffering from acute and chronic health issues related to the pollution which varies from region to region depending on the severeness of air pollution.
The NCAP initiative was taken on January 2019 by The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) with the aim to reduce air pollution from 20 to 30 per cent by 2024. The IITs are the part of the mission with IIT Kanpur being the head nodal body and Prof Sachidanand Tripathi as the highest nodal faculty of the program.
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The Union Environment Minister Prakash Javedkar said that the emission norms are tightened for the industries, the compliant vehicles of BS-VI engine will also receive priority by the government of India from April 2020 along with electric vehicles. Environment Secretary C K Mishra said that the steps are taken at a very fast pace and it will likely bring good results with time. He informed that there will be two stages of the NCAP programme, one is Practical City-Specific Plan and another is taking actions backed by science and technology.
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Each of the institutes based on their location are expected to play a key role in identifying region-specific causes of air pollution and share the data on the National Knowledge Network. Based on which, an action plan which will be backed by science and technology will be implemented to eradicate those issues.