The ministry of environment, forest and climate change has sanctioned projects to assess impact of air pollution on human health in 20 selected cities across the country under the National Environmental Health Profile Study.

This study is a comprehensive assessment of the environmental factors that can affect public health within a specific region including air pollution which include:

i.    Estimate of mercury levels and exposure for pregnant women and new born babies in selected coastal and South Indian cities
ii.    Bio-availability of Dioxin like Polychlorinated Biphenyls, Dioxine and Furan released due to combustion of electronic waste
iii.    Assessment of Air Pollution with Co-beneficial Factors for Tiruchirappalli City.
iv.    Impact of Traffic Emissions on Health Amongst Adolescents in Delhi.
v.    Health impact of firecrackers bursting during Diwali in National Capital of Delhi.
vi.    Air quality impact on respiratory health due to crop residue burning in close proximity to residential areas adversely affect respiratory health.
vii.    Health effects of chronic exposure to smoke from biomass fuel burning in rural households in Northern and Eastern India.

This information was given by minister of state for environment, forest and climate change Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. He also stated that no study has been undertaken regarding impact of air pollution on climate change.

“National Clean Air Programme” (NCAP) has been launched in January 2019 which is a long-term, time-bound national level strategy for prevention, control and abatement of air pollution. Under NCAP, it has been envisaged to achieve targets of 20 to 30% reduction in Particulate Matter concentrations by 2024 in 131 cities of 24 States/UTs with respect to base year 2017. Subsequently, the target has been revised to achieve up to 40% reduction or achieve National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) in terms PM concentrations by 2025-26.

Under Nagar Van Yojana, MoEF&CC, Uttarakhand State has been sanctioned an amount of Rs.80.5 lakhs for creation of Nagar Van/Nagar Vatikas as urban forests in an area of 20 hectares. Further, an amount of Rs.53.69 crore was released to Uttarakhand for implementation of City Action Plans for improvement of air quality.