Union environment minister, Bhupendra Yadav, launched a portal called PRANA on September 7, 2021.

• PRANA Portal will be used to track the progress of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) in order to comply with India’s commitment to ensure clean air and blue skies to everybody.
• This portal was launched on the occasion of ‘International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies’ in non-attainment cities (NAC).
• Non-attainment cities are those cities that failed to meet the National air quality standards in a five-year period.
• With India’s efforts, 86 cities showed a better air quality in 2019 and it increased to 104 cities in 2020.

Environment ministry and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) seeks to achieve 20-30 percent reduction in particulate matter (PM10 as well as PM2.5) concentrations in India by 2024.

In order to achieve the target, India has prepared and is implementing city-specific action plans to improve air quality in 132 NACs/Million Plus Cities. It targets city-specific air polluting sources like soil & road dust, vehicles, MSW burning, domestic fuel, construction material and industries.

PRANA portal will help in tracking physical and financial status of city air action plan implementation. It will also disseminate information on air quality to the public.

Indian Environment minister and Japanese Environment Minister Koizumi Shinjiro also held first ever India-Japan High level policy dialogue. They discussed issues related to air pollution, climate change, sustainable technologies & transport, marine litter, fluorocarbons and COP-26. India and Japan are also strengthening bilateral cooperation on circular economy & resource efficiency, green hydrogen, low carbon technology etc.