Hon’ble Minister of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Bhupendar Yadav launched a portal named ‘PRANA’ (Portal for Regulation of Air-pollution in non-Attainment cities) under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) on the occasion of the second International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies.
Knowledge Lens (a B2B product company that builds innovative solutions in niche technologies including Big Data, AI, IoT) has been chosen by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) to develop this portal. Knowledge Lens collaborated with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), GIZ and MoEFCC to develop PRANA. The portal aims to provide real-time information on city-wise pollution levels. It is a single platform that also provides information on how specific cities are curbing their air pollution levels, as well as historical data on air pollution mitigation milestones achieved since 2018 till date.
Hon’ble Minister, Bhupendar Yadav commented at the event, “Central Government has launched several initiatives to improve air quality in the entire country, with the Prime Minister himself setting a goal for holistic improvement in air quality in more than 100 cities. “86 cities showed better air quality in 2019 in comparison to 2018, which increased to 104 cities in 2020”.
“Government under the leadership of the Prime Minister is now actively linking all policy approaches to give paramount importance to conserve public goods like water, air and Earth,” he added.
Sudheesh Narayanan, Founder & CEO of Knowledge Lens, said, “Adoption of IT systems in combating pollution is becoming essential and we are honored to be part of this digital initiative for facilitating a national level air quality portal for visibility to clean air actions. PRANA will enable comprehensive mitigation actions for prevention, control, and reduction of air pollution besides strengthening pollution awareness and capacity building activities.”
The PRANA approach is multi-disciplinary, spanning across multiple ministries and regional institutes including IITs, NITs, and laboratories across India, as well as international organizations. In this manner, PRANA aims to augment public awareness and capacity building measures.
NCAP is a comprehensive initiative in partnership with various Ministries and States to improve air quality at a city, regional, and national level. It was initiated in 2019 to implement various sectoral policies, strengthen monitoring, and enhance public participation in 132 cities for effective Air Quality Management. The tentative national level target is to reduce Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5) concentration by 20–30% by 2024.