Need To Go Beyond the City To Combat Pollution

Gist The intersection of vehicular emissions, agricultural stubble burning, and extreme meteorological events like a "Super El Niño" threatens to severely worsen Delhi’s winter air quality. While traditional mitigation focuses heavily on localized dust control, scientific consensus points to the dominance of fine particulate matter from transport and regional fires. Consequently, experts are calling for a paradigm shift from city-specific interventions to a regional "airshed-based" management system to effectively disperse and control toxic pollutants. For a UPSC aspirant, understanding the interplay between climate phenomena and urban pollution policies is crucial for governance and environmental ecology papers. Background Air quality management in India operates under frameworks like the National Clean Air Programme NCAP and the Graded Response Action Plan GRAP for the National Capital Region. Currently, NCAP gauges funding and assesses mitigation progress based on the percentage reduction of PM10 , a coarse particulate matter largely composed of dust. However, PM2.5 fine particulate matter , which originates primarily from vehicular emissions and combustion, is significantly more harmful to human health and can travel much greater distances than PM10 . Previously, the…