Environment minister Jairam Ramesh announced the launch of a "very small" emissions trading scheme last week as an effort to reduce air pollution. Ramesh maintained that the scheme was not "because of the global negotiations on climate change," but is instead aimed at reducing public health problems as a result of air pollution. Valsa Nair Singh, chairperson of the Maharashtra State Pollution Control Board, said that the initiative will be carried out by placing air quality analyzers on factory premises as well as inside chimney stacks. Larger facilities will have to pay for the monitors while smaller ones will likely receive rented or subsidized analyzers from the Board. According to Singh, the Board has 131 factory-premise ambient air monitors and 45 stack monitors in Maharashtra, far short of covering the estimated 7,000 facilities of the industrial state. The system will only include particulate matter emissions in the first phase. For the full story, see http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-03-24/pollution/29182548_1_carbon-trade-pollution-particulate-matter.