With the objective of timely improvement of air quality in cities across India, the Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) launched National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) in 2018. NCAP is a long term, time-bound, national-level strategy to comprehensively tackle India’s toxic air problem. The plan envisions a 20-30 percent reduction in Particulate Matter concentrations by 2024 over 2017 levels.
The National Knowledge Network (NKN) has been formed under the aegis of NCAP with an objective to build local technical capacities in order to create a large institutional support structure for the national plan.
The NKN will also equip identified institutes of repute (IoR) for supportive action towards achieving NCAP targets. This capacity expansion will not only aid the current programme but also to create adequate capacity in States/UTs to support future air quality management efforts.
As it stands, the NKN has been conceptualised as an advisory group to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and shall function with the support of CPCB under NCAP.
Framework of NKN Engagement
