Niti Aayog has proposed a 15-point action plan to combat air pollution in ten most polluted cities in the country, including Delhi, Kanpur and Varanasi. The draft action plan titled ‘Breathe India’ includes encouraging electric vehicles, phasing out private diesel vehicle and development of crop residue utilisation policy.

The action plan also includes expediting strategic decommissioning of old and inefficient power plants and implementation of a large scale feebate programme from 2020 onwards. The report also said there is need to enact strong measures to curb vehicular emissions. It also called for concerted action from all levels of governance, cutting across ministries and departments.

According to a recent WHO database (2018), Kanpur, Faridabad, Gaya, Varanasi, Agra, Gurgaon, Muzaffarpur, Lucknow and Patna are the top ten most polluted cities in India.