NCAP at 7, Delhi BS-VI Ban, Green Crackers: CLAT GK

📑 On this page

Every October, Delhi's sky turns the colour of weak tea and the same three arguments return: is the government doing enough, should cars be kept out, should crackers go? This week all three came back with fresh numbers.

A Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) analysis found that seven years into the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), 117 of 130 cities still breathe dust above the national limit. Delhi is shutting out non-BS-VI vehicles from outside from 1 November. And the Supreme Court's preference for persuasion over prohibition on firecrackers has restarted the faith-versus-health debate.

For CLAT, that is a full set: static GK the exam likes (Articles 48A and 51A(g), CPCB, CAQM, PM2.5) plus an editorial argument built for assumption and inference questions.

🎯 In a nutshell

CREA's analysis of 130 NCAP cities, reported by The Wire, found 117 above the PM10 standard of 60 µg/m³ in 2025-26, the programme's final year. Before NCAP, the figure was 125.
Against the revised goal of up to a 40% PM10 cut, only 21 cities beat 40% measured from 2017-18, and only 8 measured from 2019-20.
Of ₹16,824 crore released, about ₹12,087 crore (72%) has been spent; some big spenders, such as Chennai, saw PM10 rise.
Delhi bars non-BS-VI vehicles registered outside the city from 1 November 2026 to 31 January 2027; nearly 3.5 lakh Noida and Greater Noida vehicles are caught.
The Supreme Court favoured awareness and voluntary restraint over blanket cracker bans and backed CSIR-NEERI green crackers; a Telegraph editorial says awareness alone won't do.

📌 What CLAT actually expects

A Current Affairs passage would describe NCAP and the Delhi curbs in plain words, then test careful reading of the numbers and linked GK: where Articles 48A and 51A(g) sit, what CAQM and CPCB are, what PM2.5 means. The cracker debate could equally be an English or Logical Reasoning passage asking for the author's assumption.

The backstory

What are we breathing?

PM10 is particulate matter 10 micrometres or less across: road and construction dust, industrial and vehicle particles, small enough to inhale. PM2.5 is the finer fraction, 2.5 micrometres or less, which goes deeper into the lungs and can enter the bloodstream. A Lancet Planetary Health study linked PM2.5 to 3.8 million deaths in India between 2009 and 2019, about 5% of all deaths, measured against Indian standards.

The legal scaffolding

The main law is the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), set up in September 1974 under the Water Act, was given powers under the Air Act too. In 2009 it notified the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS): an annual limit of 60 µg/m³ (micrograms per cubic metre) for PM10 and 40 µg/m³ for PM2.5. A city that keeps failing them is a non-attainment city.

The 42nd Amendment, 1976 brought the environment into the Constitution. Article 48A, a Directive Principle, says the State shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and safeguard forests and wild life. Article 51A(g), a Fundamental Duty, asks every citizen to protect and improve the natural environment and have compassion for living creatures.

Neither is enforceable in court by itself. The enforceable right came through judges, who read Article 21 (the right to life and personal liberty) to include the right to health and a clean environment. CLAT 2025 asked where the 42nd Amendment placed environmental protection.

NCAP and Delhi's extra layer

The environment ministry (MoEFCC) launched NCAP in January 2019 for 131 cities in 24 States and UTs. Each city wrote a City Action Plan against its own sources, such as road dust, vehicles, garbage burning and construction, and progress is tracked on the PRANA portal. The original target was a 20-30% cut in particulate levels by 2024; in April 2023 it became a cut of up to 40% in PM10, or meeting the 60 µg/m³ standard, by 2025-26.

Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) also have the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), created by an Act of Parliament in 2021. Its area includes adjoining parts of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, and where orders conflict, its directions prevail over the CPCB's.

What happened

The seven-year report card

CREA analyst Manoj Kumar compared PM10 in 130 NCAP cities across 2017-18 (the baseline), 2019-20 (year one) and 2025-26 (the deadline), using PRANA data and ministry replies in Parliament. The analysis came out on 25 October.

Measure	2017-18 (pre-NCAP)	2019-20 (year one)	2025-26 (deadline)
Cities above PM10 limit of 60 µg/m³	125	112	117

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The number fell early, then crept back. After seven years, only eight fewer cities break the limit than before NCAP, and about nine in ten still do.

From 2017-18: PM10 fell in 105 cities, but only 21 cut it by more than 40%. It rose in 23.
From 2019-20: PM10 fell in 84 cities, only 8 by more than 40%. It rose in 43.

Why two baselines? Gains measured from 2017-18 may partly predate NCAP. Measured from the year it actually began, more cities have got worse.

Money spent, air not cleaner

Spending did not track results. Chennai used ₹449 crore, the most among cities where pollution rose, and its PM10 ended 20% above 2019-20. Visakhapatnam used ₹74 crore and saw PM10 rise 67.1% over 2017-18. Monitoring lags too: NCAP fell 465 short of its target of 1,500 manual stations by 2024.

CREA's prescription for what Kumar calls NCAP-2.0: plan by region and airshed, not city by city; tie funds to sources like industry and power plants; and target PM2.5. An airshed is an area where air behaves as one unit as pollutants disperse, so no single city inside it can clean its air alone.

Delhi's 1 November rule

On 20 October, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta announced Delhi's Winter Action Plan. From 1 November 2026 to 31 January 2027, vehicles registered outside Delhi that fail BS-VI norms cannot enter; electric and CNG vehicles and essential services are exempt. BS stands for Bharat Stage, India's vehicle emission standards. India jumped from BS-IV straight to BS-VI, skipping BS-V, and BS-VI vehicles have been sold nationwide since April 2020. The plan also brings 'no valid PUC, no fuel' and doubled parking fees.

Hindustan Times reports nearly 3.5 lakh Noida and Greater Noida vehicles will be shut out, and commuters say public transport near their homes is thin. Noida's traffic police added a wrinkle: under CAQM guidelines, non-end-of-life vehicles may run until GRAP's stricter stages (the Graded Response Action Plan of emergency curbs) apply. Two governments, one airshed, two rulebooks: the CREA argument in miniature.

The crackers question

At a hearing on NCR pollution, the Supreme Court favoured awareness and voluntary restraint over blanket bans that are hard to enforce, and questioned whether religious observance can justify harm to children and other vulnerable people. It backed green crackers developed with CSIR-NEERI (the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur): less polluting, not pollution-free.

The Telegraph's counterpoint: limited green crackers were allowed in 2025, yet average PM2.5 after Diwali reached 488 µg/m³, the highest since 2021. That reflects every source, not crackers alone. Its case is that awareness needs regulation behind it: certification, checks on manufacture and sale, and published before-and-after air data.

The legal frame dates to Arjun Gopal v. Union of India (October 2018), where the Supreme Court allowed only improved and green crackers to be made and sold, banned series crackers and online sales, and limited Diwali bursting to 8 pm-10 pm.

The debate

Nobody seriously disputes that the air is bad. The fight is over who bears the cost of fixing it, and how.

Question	One side	The other side
Festivals: Article 21 or Article 25?	Health comes first. Article 25 itself makes religious freedom subject to public order, morality and health, and children did not choose to breathe a neighbour's celebration.	Article 25 protects practice, not just belief. Crackers are one source among many, so targeting festivals while traffic and crop-residue smoke continue feels selective to many believers.
Ban or persuade?	A ban is a clear rule police can enforce. Voluntary restraint has had years, and the 2025 post-Diwali reading shows it falls short.	Blanket bans are widely ignored and push sales underground, where nobody checks what is in the box. Awareness and certified green crackers change behaviour more durably.
Livelihoods	Trade cannot be built on harming others' health; the 2018 court recalled that environmental protection had been placed above the right to carry on business.	The 2018 court itself weighed the warning of unemployment for lakhs of people. Sudden bans hit the poorest workers first.
Keep outside vehicles out?	Older vehicles pollute more, and a seasonal entry rule is a quick lever Delhi actually controls.	It burdens commuters with no transit option while Delhi's own sources continue. Without better buses and Metro links, it shifts cost rather than cutting pollution.
City plans or airsheds?	Cities run roads, garbage and construction, and accountability is clearest when one civic body owns one plan.	Pollution crosses city and state lines; NCAP's results suggest city budgets cannot beat regional sources.

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We feel that Article 25 is subject to Article 21 and if a particular religious practice is threatening the health and lives of people, such practice is not to [be] entitled to protection under Article 25.

— Supreme Court, Arjun Gopal v. Union of India, 23 October 2018

Settled: most NCAP cities missed the target, and religious practice does not override health. Contested: bans versus persuasion, and whether entry curbs are fair to NCR commuters. Unknown: what NCAP's next phase looks like, and whether green crackers make a measurable difference.

Facts you must know

Item	What to remember
NCAP	Launched January 2019 by the MoEFCC; 131 cities in 24 States/UTs; original target 20-30% PM cut by 2024 (base 2017-18); revised to up to 40% PM10 cut or meeting the national standard by 2025-26
PRANA	Portal for Regulation of Air Pollution in Non-Attainment Cities: NCAP's tracking portal
NCAP funding	49 million-plus cities via the Fifteenth Finance Commission air quality grant; 82 cities via MoEFCC's Control of Pollution scheme
CPCB	Statutory body under MoEFCC; set up September 1974 under the Water Act, 1974; also given powers under the Air Act, 1981
NAAQS	Notified by CPCB on 18 Nov 2009; annual limits: PM10 60 µg/m³, PM2.5 40 µg/m³
CAQM	Statutory body under the CAQM in NCR and Adjoining Areas Act, 2021 (ordinance Oct 2020); replaced EPCA (1998); its directions prevail over CPCB and state boards in case of conflict
BS-VI	Bharat Stage emission norms; India leapfrogged from BS-IV to BS-VI; BS-VI vehicles nationwide since April 2020
CSIR-NEERI	National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur; developed green crackers (less polluting, not pollution-free)
Article 48A	DPSP: the State shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and safeguard forests and wild life. Added by the 42nd Amendment, 1976
Article 51A(g)	Fundamental Duty of every citizen: protect and improve the natural environment, including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life; compassion for living creatures. Added by the 42nd Amendment
Article 21 and Article 25	21: life and personal liberty, read to include health and a clean environment. 25: religious freedom, subject to public order, morality and health

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⚠️ Common confusions

PM2.5 vs PM10: the smaller number is the finer, deadlier particle; PM10 includes it. NCAP's targets were set in PM10, which is one of CREA's complaints. 48A vs 51A(g): 48A binds the State and is a Directive Principle; 51A(g) binds citizens and is a Fundamental Duty. Neither is a Fundamental Right; the enforceable right comes through Article 21. CAQM vs CPCB: CPCB is national (1974); CAQM is only for NCR and adjoining areas (2021) and overrides CPCB there. 131 vs 130: NCAP covered 131 cities; CREA analysed 130. Released vs spent: ₹16,824 crore released, ₹12,087 crore spent. BS-V: it never happened; India skipped it.

How CLAT could test this

An original CLAT-style passage, then five questions: two from the passage, three on linked static GK.

🧩 Worked example

When the Union government launched the National Clean Air Programme in January 2019, it made a modest promise. Cities that had repeatedly failed the national air quality standards, known as non-attainment cities, would cut their particulate pollution by 20 to 30 per cent within about five years. In 2023 the promise grew bolder: a cut of up to 40 per cent in PM10, the coarser of the two dust measures, or full compliance with the national limit of 60 micrograms per cubic metre, by 2025-26. That deadline has now passed, and an independent analysis of 130 programme cities makes for uncomfortable reading. In 2025-26, 117 of them still recorded PM10 levels above the national limit. Before the programme began, the figure was 125; in its first year it had dipped to 112. Measured from the original 2017-18 baseline, 21 cities managed a reduction of more than 40 per cent. Measured from 2019-20, the year the programme began, only eight did, and 43 cities were dirtier than when they started. Spending, it turns out, did not guarantee results. Of roughly ₹16,800 crore released, about ₹12,100 crore was spent, yet several of the biggest spenders saw pollution rise. The analysts behind the study draw a structural lesson. Air does not stop at a municipal boundary: smoke from a kiln or a power plant far outside a city can settle over streets whose civic body has no say over its source. Plans drawn city by city, they argue, must give way to plans built around an airshed, a region in which air moves and mixes as a single unit. They also want the next phase to target PM2.5, the finer particles that travel deep into the lungs. Delhi, meanwhile, is reaching for blunter tools. From 1 November, vehicles registered outside the city that do not meet BS-VI emission norms may not enter until the end of January. Commuters from neighbouring districts complain that their difficulties were not considered and that public transport near their homes is thin. Festivals add a final layer. The Supreme Court has preferred to urge voluntary restraint with firecrackers rather than rely only on bans that are hard to police, and it has backed less polluting 'green' crackers. Critics reply that awareness without strict checks on what is made and sold leaves buyers unable to tell a genuine green cracker from an ordinary one. Behind each of these choices sits the same question: when a celebration, a commute or a livelihood collides with the air everyone must breathe, which should give way?

1. Which of the following statements is supported by the passage?

AThe number of cities above the national PM10 limit fell steadily every year from 2017-18 to 2025-26

BMore cities met the 40 per cent reduction goal when measured from 2019-20 than when measured from 2017-18

CMore cities exceeded the national PM10 limit at the deadline than in the programme's first year

DThe cities that spent the most money recorded the largest improvements in air quality

▸ Show solution

Answer: C. The passage gives 112 cities above the limit in the first year and 117 at the deadline, so C follows. A is wrong because the number dipped and then rose. B reverses the facts: 21 cities beat 40% from 2017-18, only eight from 2019-20. D contradicts the passage, which says several big spenders saw pollution rise.

🧩 Worked example

2. The analysts' argument that city-by-city plans should give way to airshed plans rests on which assumption?

AA significant part of the pollution in a city comes from sources outside that city's control

BCities have misused the money released to them under the programme

CPM10 is more harmful to health than PM2.5

DVehicle entry bans are the most effective way to clean a city's air

▸ Show solution

Answer: A. If most of a city's pollution came from inside it, a city plan would be enough. The case for airshed planning only works if outside sources matter, which is A. B is not stated; the passage says spending did not guarantee results, not that money was misused. C is the reverse of the passage. D is unrelated to the airshed argument.

🧩 Worked example

3. The passage ends by asking which should give way when celebration collides with clean air. The two provisions that the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976 added on the environment, Article 48A and Article 51A(g), belong respectively to:

AFundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy

BDirective Principles of State Policy and Fundamental Duties

CFundamental Duties and Fundamental Rights

DDirective Principles of State Policy, both of them

▸ Show solution

Answer: B. Article 48A is in Part IV (Directive Principles) and directs the State to protect the environment. Article 51A(g) is in Part IVA (Fundamental Duties) and places the duty on citizens. Neither is a Fundamental Right; courts reached a right to a clean environment through Article 21.

🧩 Worked example

4. Delhi's vehicle curb operates within the National Capital Region, where a dedicated commission manages air quality. Which statement about the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) is correct?

AIt was set up under the Air Act, 1981 as a regional office of the CPCB

BIt is a statutory body under a 2021 Act of Parliament, and its directions prevail over those of the CPCB and state pollution boards in case of conflict

CIt is a constitutional body created under Article 48A

DIt is an advisory committee of the Delhi government with no binding powers

▸ Show solution

Answer: B. CAQM was created by the Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Act, 2021, after an October 2020 ordinance. It can issue binding directions that prevail over the CPCB, state pollution boards and state governments in case of conflict. It is not part of the CPCB, not a constitutional body, and not a Delhi government committee.

🧩 Worked example

5. The national limit of 60 micrograms per cubic metre for PM10 mentioned in the passage is part of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. These were notified by:

ACAQM, under the CAQM Act, 2021

BThe Central Pollution Control Board, under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981

CNITI Aayog, under the National Clean Air Programme guidelines

DThe Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988

▸ Show solution

Answer: B. The CPCB notified the NAAQS on 18 November 2009 under the Air Act, 1981. They set annual limits of 60 µg/m³ for PM10 and 40 µg/m³ for PM2.5. CAQM came only in 2021 and covers NCR alone; NCAP uses the standards but did not create them.

Connect the dots

Emissions Gap Report 2026 and coral reefs

Yesterday's piece: why 1.5°C slipped away, and the CBDR-RC debate.

Current Affairs & GK

Science, tech and environment

More environment current affairs and static GK.

Current Affairs & GK

National affairs and polity

DPSPs, Fundamental Duties and statutory bodies for GK.

Current Affairs & GK

Constitutional law

Article 21, Article 25 and how rights are balanced.

Legal Reasoning

Strengthen and weaken

Practise attacking arguments like the airshed case.

Logical Reasoning

CLAT 2025 paper

See how the 2025 paper asked about the 42nd Amendment.

Practice

Test yourself under exam conditions

Take a full-length CLAT mock with a Current Affairs and GK section built like this one.

Take a free CLAT mock

Sources

Frequently asked questions

What is the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)?

NCAP is the environment ministry's national plan to cut air pollution, launched in January 2019 for 131 cities in 24 States and UTs that repeatedly failed national air quality standards. It first aimed for a 20-30% cut in particulate levels by 2024, a target revised in 2023 to up to a 40% PM10 cut, or meeting the national standard, by 2025-26.

How many NCAP cities still exceed the PM10 standard?

CREA's analysis of 130 NCAP cities found 117 above the annual PM10 standard of 60 µg/m³ in 2025-26, compared with 125 before NCAP and 112 in 2019-20. Only 21 cities cut PM10 by more than 40% from 2017-18, and only eight from 2019-20.

What is Delhi's non-BS-VI vehicle ban from 1 November 2026?

Under its Winter Action Plan, Delhi has barred vehicles registered outside the city that do not meet BS-VI emission norms from entering between 1 November 2026 and 31 January 2027. Electric and CNG vehicles and essential services are exempt. Hindustan Times estimates nearly 3.5 lakh Noida and Greater Noida vehicles are affected.

What is the difference between PM2.5 and PM10?

PM10 is particulate matter 10 micrometres or less across, such as road and construction dust. PM2.5 is the finer fraction, 2.5 micrometres or less, which goes deeper into the lungs and can enter the bloodstream. India's annual limits are 60 µg/m³ for PM10 and 40 µg/m³ for PM2.5.

Which articles of the Constitution deal with environmental protection?

Article 48A (a Directive Principle) asks the State to protect and improve the environment and safeguard forests and wild life. Article 51A(g) (a Fundamental Duty) asks citizens to protect the natural environment. Both were added by the 42nd Amendment, 1976. Courts have read Article 21 to include the right to health and a clean environment.

What are green crackers?

Green crackers are less polluting fireworks developed with CSIR-NEERI, the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute in Nagpur. They cut emissions compared with conventional crackers but are not pollution-free. In 2018 the Supreme Court allowed only improved and green crackers to be made and sold.