Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan 2026 — Key Highlights

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) organized Swachh Vayu Diwas 2026 on the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies (7th September), conferring the 5th Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan Awards on best-performing cities and wards under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).

  • The International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies was designated by the UN General Assembly in 2019.
  • The 2026 theme: "Clean Air for Climate Action."
  • A Compendium of Best Management Practices under NCAP was released as a blueprint for State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs).

Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan Framework

  • Introduced in 2022-23; evaluates cities on measures to curb air pollution: road dust management, solid waste management (SWM), vehicular and industrial emissions, construction & demolition (C&D) waste, commercial emissions (DG sets), and public outreach.
  • Covers all 130 NCAP cities, divided into three categories by population:
  • Above 10 lakh
  • 3–10 lakh
  • Below 3 lakh

Top Performers (5th Sarvekshan, 2026)

  • Category 1 (>10 lakh): Lucknow (1st) — EVs in municipal fleets, mechanized road sweeping, legacy waste remediation; followed by Indore (2nd) and Jabalpur (3rd). Bottom five: Chennai, Jamshedpur, Kota, Kolkata, Madurai. Delhi ranked 30th.
  • Category 2 (3–10 lakh): Rourkela (Odisha).
  • Category 3 (<3 lakh): Kalinganagar (Odisha).
  • Ward-level awards introduced for the first time:
  • Category I (wards >30,000): Lucknow, Bhopal, Nashik
  • Category II: Bhubaneswar, Vijayawada, Prayagraj
  • Category III (wards <10,000): Rourkela, Nalgonda

National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)

  • Launched in 2019 by MoEFCC as a long-term, time-bound national strategy.
  • Covers 130 Non-Attainment Cities (cities failing to meet NAAQS for five consecutive years) plus Million Plus Cities.
  • No statutory backing — not legally binding; no penal provisions for states/ULBs.
  • Converges with Swachh Bharat Mission, Smart Cities Mission, FAME-II, PM Ujjwala Yojana.
  • Targets: Initially 20–30% PM reduction by 2024 (base year 2017); revised to 40% reduction by 2026. Nationally, the 2026 target remains largely unachieved — only 26 of 130 cities (20%) achieved 40% reduction.
  • Funding: Performance-linked grant of ₹16,425 crore as critical gap funding.
  • PRANA portal (Portal for Regulation of Air-pollution in Non-Attainment cities) tracks physical and financial progress.
  • Source Apportionment (SA) studies and Emission Inventories mandated for all 130 cities.
  • Three-tier governance: Apex Committee (Ministry level), Steering Committee (Chief Secretary level), Monitoring Committee (District Magistrate level).

Progress (2025-26 vs 2017-18 Baseline)

  • 108 of 130 cities showed improved PM10 levels.
  • 72 cities achieved >20% reduction.
  • 26 cities achieved >40% reduction.
  • 14 cities met NAAQS.