IIT-Kanpur to establish network of air-quality sensors to measure pollution in rural India
Tags: National News
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur has announced that it will undertake a USD 2.5 million (₹19 crore) project to install around 1,400 sensors in rural blocks of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
IIT Kanpur is undertaking this project to promote measurement of air pollution in rural India.
Air pollution is a serious problem in India's cities, burning of biomass, and dependence on diesel gensets for electricity is deteriorating air quality even in villages.
Benefit of the project
The outcome of this project will help local communities, policy makers and researchers to understand the real situation.
The three-year pilot project will pave the way for a national network of air quality sensors in rural India.
The data from this network will also be made available in real time to enable actionable and evidence-based decision making.
National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)
It was launched in 2019 by the government of India.
Under this, a national target has been set to reduce the PM 2.5 and PM10 particulate matter present in the air by 20 to 30 percent, taking 2017 as the base year.
Under this scheme, initially 122 cities with the highest air pollution in India have been targeted primarily.
Upon its launch, there was a commitment by the government to increase the network of rural air pollution monitoring sensors, but little progress has been made on that front.
The country’s current annual safe limits for PM 2.5 and PM 10 are 40 micrograms/per cubic metre (ug/m3) and 60 micrograms/per cubic metre.
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