National Clean Air Programme has been launched by the Central Government in the year

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — D, 2019. The National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) was launched on 10 January 2019 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEFCC). It was India's first national, time-bound framework to tackle air pollution across the country, initially covering 131 'non-attainment'/Million-Plus cities that failed to meet ambient air-quality standards, with an original target of a 20-30% reduction in PM10/PM2.5 by 2024 (base year 2017).

Why the other options are wrong — (a) NCAP was announced/consulted around 2018 but was formally launched in January 2019; 2018 is a near-miss trap, not the launch year.  (b) 2017 is the base year used for measuring the targeted PM reduction, not the launch year of the programme.  (c) By 2020 NCAP was already a year old and being implemented; it was not launched in 2020.

Concept: NCAP is a pan-India, city-level clean-air strategy run by the MoEFCC/CPCB. Instead of a single national law, it works through city-specific action plans for 'non-attainment' cities — those whose air quality repeatedly breaches the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) — funding source-apportionment studies, monitoring and mitigation.

State PCS 2020 Q1 — Environment & Ecology PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2020 Q1 — Environment & Ecology PYQ with Answer