In 2019, the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) under the Government of India launched the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), which proposes strategies to reduce air pollution in several cities in India. In Jharkhand, only Dhanbad, a non-attainment city, and Ranchi and Jamshedpur, million-plus cities, are under the purview of NCAP. However, considering the importance of mitigating air pollution in several cities in the state, the government has identified multiple cities, including Ramgarh, to generate evidence on air pollution.

We are in a state of climate emergency. The past year was witness to some of the worst floods in Pakistan, extreme heatwaves in the United Kingdom, and devastating hurricanes in the United States. Climate disasters became the norm in India, too, during the first seven months of 2022 as 241 out of 273 days were marked by an extreme weather event — cold waves, heatwaves, cyclones, thunderstorms, torrential rains, floods, landslides, droughts, dust storms, hail, or snowstorms — according to a study by the Centre for Science and Environment.

Another Earth Day is upon us, reminding us how closely interlinked human, animal, and environmental health are. The theme for this year, ‘Restore Our Earth’, is yet another appeal to us—the inhabitants of this magnificent planet—to make earnest attempts at promoting harmony with nature.
Interestingly, nature itself holds vital cues on how we can go about it.

The studies, “Emission Inventory and Pollution Reduction Strategies for Bengaluru” and “Identification of Polluting Sources for Bengaluru: Source Apportionment Study”, point to transportation and road dust as the biggest contributors to air pollution in Bengaluru city. These studies were conducted under the aegis of KSPCB and supported by The Bloomberg Philanthropies and Shakti Foundation, to generate scientific data and contribute to India’s National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).

A study by the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP)—a Bangalore-based think tank—on the climate of eastern India underscores the need for climate risk mapping and climate action. The study ‘District-Level Changes in Climate: Historical Climate and Climate Change Projections for the Eastern States of India’ projects changes in temperature and rainfall patterns in Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and West Bengal—the eastern states of India—over the next three decades compared to the historical period (1990–2019).

The Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP) used satellite-based products to study the spatial patterns, hotspot areas, and rural–urban contrasts in PM2.5 in the Delhi-NCR, Kanpur, and Bengaluru regions for the calendar year 2019. Titled ‘Satellite-Based Mapping and the Quantification of PM2.5 in India,’ the official report was launched during a virtual event held on 28 February 2022. Three policy briefs based on the satellite-based mapping of Delhi-NCR, Kanpur, and Bengaluru were also released along with the report.

Low-cost sensors (LCSs) that measure PM2.5 are becoming popular for monitoring air pollution because of their low cost and portability. South Asian countries could especially benefit from using LCSs as reference-grade monitors are expensive and not always affordable. LCSs could also aid in monitoring air pollution in areas/geographies where access to reference-grade monitors is limited. The low cost and portability of LCSs, however, come with some trade-offs on data quality, reliability, and shelf life.

The Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP)—a Bengaluru-based think tank—published a study on the climate of north-eastern India titled ‘District-Level Changes in Climate: Historical Climate and Climate Change Projections for the North-Eastern States of India’. The study projects changes in temperature and rainfall patterns in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura over the next three decades (2021–2050) compared to the historical period (1990–2019).