Indian cities have a huge improvement in terms of air quality but, however, the hurdles still exist:
Recently, according to the report of the climate tech firm Respirer Living Sciences, cities of India have actually done very much to cut the PM2.5 level; they collectively cut down an average of 27% between 2019 and 2024. As particularity in details, PM2.5 covered by the National Clean Air Plan shows 24% down in cities’ levels. Focus areas on management are also placed on improvement but still stay on hazardous levels.
Top Winners in the Reduction of PM2.5 Levels
The report lists the following cities: Varanasi and Moradabad have dramatically reduced their levels of PM2.5, with a drop of 76% and 58% particulate matter, respectively. Other cities that have been recorded to be in excellent improvement in the ranking include Kalaburagi at 57.2%, Meerut at 57.1%, Katni at 56.3%, Agra at 54.1%, Baghpat at 53.3%, Kanpur at 51.2%, and Jodhpur at 50.5%.
Such reductions are being ascribed to diverse actions undertaken under the NCAP and other area-specific local-level interventions specifically aimed at improving ambient air quality. Steady gains in air-pollution abatement across the country have reduced, according to the report, PM2.5 concentration in NCAP cities-the cities that have been selected for point-specific clean-air interventions-by as much as 24%.
Among the town selected, some towns are so heavily polluted. Delhi had 107 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic meter in 2024. Other cities under NCR are Gurugram and Faridabad. The alarming level of pollution is so huge here that it reaches 96.7 and 87.1 micrograms per cubic meter, respectively. The most polluted area was in Byrnihat, Assam at 127.3 micrograms per cubic meter of PM2.5, followed by Sri Ganganagar at 85.5 and Greater Noida at 83.9 micrograms per cubic meter of PM2.5.
Other well-listed cities at the top levels of pollution are Muzaffarnagar, Durgapur, Asansol, and Ghaziabad, which show PM2.5 levels to be more than the accepted limits. Continued high pollution levels in most areas bring to mind that many regions are suffering from the worst air quality.
Story of Hope and Caution
Though there is a slight improvement in the air quality in some cities, the situation remains alarming in others. “While Varanasi has seen a whopping reduction of 76.4 percent, northern regions such as Delhi-NCR, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh are still experiencing serious episodes of pollution,” said Ronak Sutaria, founder of Respirer Living Sciences.
Despite these successes, air pollution continues to be a serious public health concern, with frequent readings that exceed the permissible limit in northern and central India. This frequent high reading indicates the challenges facing the government in attaining air quality standards.
India’s National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)
Launched in 2019, it aims to reduce particulate pollution by 20-30% by 2024 with a base year of 2017. This was adjusted to a 40% reduction by 2026 with 2019-2020 as the new base year. In short, the scheme has been able to push efforts toward the aspiration of cleaner air in India, but challenges still exist in the direction toward that.
The central challenge of NCAP is actually reduction in concentration for PM10 of cities. Equally contributing is the portion, however, relating to air quality to its arguments about level contributions made in level of PM2.5; it significantly has declined in last five years that is associated because fine particles get so minute which gets into human lungs and eventually to their bloodstream causing more grievous conditions- diseases for people related with respirational systems cardiovascular disorders as well as to precursors deaths.
Conclusion
This is a story of partial achievement and persistent struggle for India’s march towards cleaner air. On one hand, Delhi and the other big metros are doing a fabulous job in reducing the air pollution; on the other hand, the story of the others – the main northern Indians – is very dismal. Success stories emanating from the cities under NCAP, such as Varanasi, have been reported, but much is yet to be done to address pollution levels throughout the country.
Control efforts over air pollution and reducing particulate matter are important to improve public health but also help in mitigating the long-term environmental impacts of air pollution. It remains a very important fight for India’s future with cooperation between the government bodies, industries, and citizens.
Source: Respirer Living Sciences