Green Diwali Campaign Launched for 130 NCAP Cities

The Green Diwali Campaign was rolled out across the country on 20 October 2026 by the Programme Centre – Resource Partner (PC-RP) of WWF-India, which works with the backing of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The drive stays on until 8 November 2026 and its single request to every household is to keep the festival free of firecrackers.

What the campaign is built on

The drive has been tied to Mission LiFE, short for Lifestyle for Environment, which rests on the idea that small daily choices add up to a large collective result. Organisers are carrying the message into schools, colleges, other educational institutions, resident welfare associations and neighbourhood groups. Cities named under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) draw the sharpest attention: all 130 of them have been marked for special focus.

The Green Diwali Pledge

• Celebrate without firecrackers, and bring family members and neighbours around to the same choice.
• Light earthen diyas and pick lamps that draw less electricity.
• Keep single-use plastic out of festival shopping and decoration.
• Sort household waste rather than mixing it, and buy what local makers produce.

Institutions have been asked to hold pledge sessions in morning assemblies, during class hours, at rallies and in community meetings, so that the promise is made in the open rather than quietly at home.

Measuring your own footprint

Beside the pledge, citizens are being pointed to a Carbon Footprint Survey run by WWF-India. It lets a person see how much of their environmental load comes from ordinary routines and purchases, and which old habit a greener one could replace.

How taking part is recorded

Schools, colleges, EIACP centres, community bodies and individuals send in what they did through an online form. Every entry has to carry the name and location of the institution or organisation, a description of the activity with its date, a count of the people who took the pledge, geo-tagged photographs and a short report. The stronger entries may be put on display on EIACP websites and social media handles, which gives participating institutions something to work towards.