What are the key features of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) initiated by the Government of India?

Lay out NCAP's coverage, targets, funding and monitoring features, then use 2025-26 data and the Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan to assess results.

• NCAP, launched in January 2019, covers 130 non-attainment and million-plus cities and targets a 40% cut in PM10, or meeting the national standard, by 2025-26 (raised from an early 20 to 30% goal).
• Cities get performance-linked grants of more than ₹16,400 crore and report progress on the PRANA portal; Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan ranks them on action such as waste management and road dust control.
• In 2025-26, 108 of 130 cities had lower PM10 than in 2017-18, 72 cut it by over 20% and 26 by over 40%, but only 14 met the national standard.

The WRI India study exposes a gap in clean-air planning that ranks sources by citywide share, supporting a call for neighbourhood-level and seasonal action.

• A WRI India study of 11 polluted cities (2019 to 2026) found open waste burning triples in winter, though it contributes under 1% of citywide PM2.5 and PM10.
• Ground-level smoke near homes and dumps releases dioxins, furans, heavy metals and VOCs; poorer areas of Tier 2 cities recorded nearly 84 incidents per sq km per day.
• Suggested fixes: daily door-to-door collection in underserved areas by urban local bodies, winter hotspot mapping, and neighbourhood-level data in city clean-air plans.