| | SEPTEMBER 20208Vantage Point By Amit Bhatnagar, Founder, Swasthgram Foundation (Shudhvayu Innovation)I n January 2019, the government initiated the National Clean Air Program (NCAP), a five-year ac-tion plan committed to curbing air pollution. By creating a nationwide air quality monitoring system and through enhancing citizen awareness, Delhi is slowly but surely on the path to reclaiming its share of fresh clean air. The various anti-pollution measures undertaken in the last few months were a major source of motivation for those combating the enormous air pol-lution in the city. But there is still much to be done within the Indian contex-tual framework to effectively address the perils of aerial pollution and meet the air quality standards laid down by the WHO. Pollution, the foremost catalyst of the sinister global climate change, is now one the most urgent concerns faced by India. With about 17% of the world population residing in India, the country is home to the most pol-luted cities, and witnesses the highest number of deaths and diseases in the world related to air pollution. With an approximate 100 % of the national populace residing in areas exhibiting PM2.5 concentrations that are above the permitted level, the dire state of affairs calls for an immediate and pro-active remediation. To achieve this end, technologically ­ charged scien-tific solutions hold vast and promising potential in tackling and curtailing the numerous hazards of air pollution. Technology if judiciously opti-mized can most effectively neutralize the dangers of air pollution. As per the revealing brought to light by the Exponential Roadmap, disruptive ICT solutions like the Internet-of-Things (IoT) can enable the essential reduc-tion of carbon emissions level by the year 2030. ICT has numerous implica-tions in the fields of transportation, electricity grids, manufacturing, agri-culture, etc. And since, ICT being a Car-bon-thin sector that makes up for 1.4 per cent of the global CO2 emissions; it can dispense a feasible new-age mech-anism for India and the world in moni-toring pollution levels and reducing its carbon footprints.There is also an urgent need to de-part from traditional modes of mobili-ty that rely on fossil fuels and shift to clean fuel alternatives. ICEs are one of the biggest sources of rising pollution levels across the planet but technolog-ical innovations have also led to the emergence of noiseless zero -emission EVs or Electric Vehicles as per the need HOW TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP INDIA BREATHE EASYSCIENCE AS SOLUTIONThe primary step would be to develop a scientific understanding of the temporal and spatial factors that are causing the pollution in a particular geographic location
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