Air Quality Index (AQI)

Launched by the Environment Ministry, under ‘Swachh Bharat’

• Colour coded: AQI act as ‘One Number- One Colour-One Description’ to judge the Air Quality for Common Man to judge the air quality within his vicinity
• Central Pollution Control Board along with State Pollution Control Boards has been operating National Air Monitoring Program (NAMP) covering 240 cities of the country.
• Real time monitoring: Continuous monitoring systems that provide data on near real-time basis are also installed in a few cities.
• AQI categories: There are six AQI categories-

Good, Satisfactory, Moderately polluted, Poor, Very Poor, and Severe.

• List of 8 pollutants: for which short-term (up to 24-hourly averaging period) National Ambient Air Quality Standards are prescribed.
• Particulate Matter (size less than 10 µm) or (PM₁₀),
• Particulate Matter (size less than 2.5 µm) or (PM₅),
• Nitrogen Dioxide (NO₂),
• Sulphur Dioxide (SO₂),
• Carbon Monoxide (CO),
• Ozone (O₃),
• Ammonia (NH₃), and

Lead (Pb)