5th Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan Awards Given on Swachh Vayu Diwas 2026

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change held Swachh Vayu Diwas 2026 on 7 September 2026. The date is also the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies. Justice Prakash Shrivastava, Chairperson of the National Green Tribunal, was the chief guest and presided over the event.

Who spoke

Justice Shrivastava said clean air is a basic need and not a luxury. He said development and the protection of the environment can move together. He called air pollution a hard problem because it ignores political boundaries and comes from many sources at once, and he named urban and rural local bodies as the frontline institutions. Shri Tanmay Kumar, Secretary of the ministry, said the fight against air pollution is a continuous programme and needs a citizen-led movement in mission mode. The Chairperson of the Commission for Air Quality Management, Shri Rajesh Verma, and the Chairperson of the Central Pollution Control Board, Shri Amandeep Garg, were also present.

How the awards were decided

The framework for the Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan was issued in 2022-23. It scores a city on road dust, solid waste management, vehicular emissions, industrial pollution, construction and demolition waste, other emissions such as DG sets, and awareness work. All 130 cities under the National Clean Air Programme took part, sorted into three groups by population: below three lakh, three to ten lakh, and above ten lakh. Cities first assessed themselves, the State-level Monitoring Committee approved the entry, the Central Pollution Control Board evaluated it, independent committees verified it in the field, and ten best performing cities were then chosen.

What NCAP has achieved

All these gains are measured for 2025-26 against the levels of the financial year 2017-18. The PRANA portal tracks air quality management for the 130 cities. A Compendium of Best Management Practices under NCAP was also released so that one city can copy what worked in another.