IIT Kanpur to set up network of air quality sensors to measure pollution in rural India

The institute is looking forward to launching this project to bolster the measurement of air pollution in rural India. The three-year pilot project is expected to pave the way for a national network of air quality sensors in rural India.

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur has announced that it will be launching a USD 2.5 million project to install nearly 1,400 sensors in rural blocks of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The institute is looking forward to launching this project to bolster the measurement of air pollution in rural India. The three-year pilot project is expected to pave the way for a national network of air quality sensors in rural India. 

“The outcomes from this network will help local communities, policy makers and researchers understand the ground situation. Data from this network will also be made available in real-time to enable actionable and evidence-based decision-making,” said Sachidanand Tripathi, project leader and Professor at IIT-K, as reported by the Hindu.

In 2019, the Central government launched the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) to achieve 20 to 30 per cent reduction in particulate matter (PM) air pollution by 2024 with 2017 as the base year for comparison. This however is primarily aimed at 122 cities categorised as India’s most polluted cities.

During its launch, the government officials had committed to increase the network of rural air pollution monitoring sensors, but little has progressed on that front. Despite having several cities on the world’s list of the most polluted cities in the world, India still has very few sensors relative to the size of its population due to which the enormity of the air pollution crisis is obscured in towns and villages. Cities, because of their population density and industrial establishments, continue to be the overwhelming source of emissions.

Under NCAP, INR 375.44 crore was provided to 114 cities from 2018-19 to 2020-21 and INR 290 crore was allocated to 82 cities for the financial year 2021-2022. 

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