North India’s air pollution concerns return as stubble burning resumes in Punjab and Haryana

Every year in October-November, agricultural fires become a major contributor to air pollution in north India.

Air pollution concerns have resurfaced in northern India, which typically is smothered by a blanket of smog that throws life out of gear in the winter, as farmers resume burning crop residue after harvesting the crop in Punjab and Haryana.

Satellite images from the US space agency Nasa show that farmers have already begun burning crop stubble in parts of the two northern states that’s blamed for the winter-time phenomenon that holds up flights and trains and reduces road traffic to a crawl.

Data from the agency's Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), a key instrument on board the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) satellite, shows a gradual jump in detection of fires in farmlands in recent weeks.

From September 1 to October 3, Punjab recorded about 268 fire events while Haryana reported about 47. (Source: VIIRS SNPP-NASA)

“Most of the fires are in and around Amritsar in Punjab as of now. This year due to consistent cloud/rain the overall fire season is delayed,” Pawan Gupta, senior scientist, Earth Sciences at the USRA Science and Technology Institute (STI) told Moneycontrol by email. STI/USRA works closely with the Nasa Marshall Space Flight Center and the University of Alabama in Huntsville, USA.

From September 1 to October 3, Punjab recorded about 268 fire events and Haryana about 47.

As many as 65 fires were spotted in Punjab on September 29 while 12 fire incidents were recorded in Haryana on the same day. This is the highest number for a day in September in both states.

“The consistent cloud cover also limits satellite capabilities to detect small fires and thus, we may not be detecting all the fires in the region,” Gupta said.

READ: Stubble Burning | How the Green Revolution has left behind grey skies

The numbers may appear small, but experts said satellite-derived fire event data over the last few years indicates a recurring pattern of early burning of crop residue. In September 2020, for example, Punjab reported 1,370 fires and Haryana 245, according to Nasa.

“The fires we spotted in the last few days follow the trend observed in corresponding periods over the last five years,” said LS Kurinji, programme associate at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), a New Delhi-based policy research institute.

Smothering Delhi-NCR

In October-November every year, farmers in Punjab and Haryana, together the breadbasket of India, clear thee stubble from their fields by burning the stubble because it is the cheapest method for them to make the soil fit for replanting. It is a major contributor to air pollution in northern India, many cities in which are ranked among the world’s most polluted. On an average peak day, the number of fires touches 4,000.

“We cannot compare this year’s numbers with last year when COVID-19 had led to labour scarcity,” she said.

Also, read: Air pollution shortens Indian life expectancy by nearly 6 years: Study

In November last year, the share of stubble burning in Delhi’s pollution rose by 42 percent in a day, the maximum so far that season. In 2019, stubble burning accounted for at least 44 percent of air pollution in

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) said fires in Punjab rose to 76,590 in 2020 from 52,991 a year ago. It said that in Haryana fires reduced by 25 percent to 5,000 from 6,652 over the same period.

On October 4, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal released a 10-point winter action plan said that he said will help combat air pollution in Delhi. He said Delhi's air quality will start deteriorating in a few days because of stubble burning for which his government has prepared a decomposer with the help of Pusa Institute of Technology which, once sprayed on crop residue, will eliminate the need to burn it.

 Funds galore, plans afoot

The stubble burning in northern India has long been a major cause of air pollution in the region. The Union government has spent over Rs 2,245 crore to address this issue in the last four years.

In 2020, stubble burning in Punjab increased by 44.5 percent despite getting 46 percent of the total funds from the central government for checking crop farm fires, the Centre told the Supreme Court in February this year.

Union agriculture secretary Sanjay Agarwal said on September 13 that funds to the tune of  Rs 491 crore have been released to Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh ahead of harvesting of kharif crops for tackling the stubble burning in the 2021-22 financial year.

Of this,  Rs 235 crore had been released to Punjab,  Rs 141 crore to Haryana and  Rs 115 crore to Uttar Pradesh.

In the last four years, a total of Rs 1,050.68 crore has been released to Punjab, Rs 640.9 crore to Haryana, Rs 489.08 crore to Uttar Pradesh and Rs 4.52 crore to Delhi as part of a central scheme on promotion of agri-mechanisation for the management of crop residue in these states.

Last week, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) said that Punjab, Delhi and NCR states have prepared detailed action plans for the prevention and control of stubble burning, according to a report in Indian Express

The governments will adopt a management plan for crop residue management under which 1,43,801 machines are already available, and another 56,513 are being procured.

Politics and Pollution

The solutions have not stuck, so far, and the court orders like bans and heavy fines often remain unenforced. In November 2019, Supreme Court Justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta while calling Delhi “worse than hell” and said toxic fumes over the city from stubble in the two neighbouring states were “reminiscent of an internal war”.

Also, read: No respite from toxic air in sight as poll-bound states won’t penalise farm fires

What complicates matters is that farmers are a crucial vote bank.

The authorities this year are unlikely to punish the farmers who burn the crop residue in the election season.

On August 25, the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government announced it would drop legal proceedings against farmers accused of burning crop waste. A similar demand of withdrawing cases against farmers involved in stubble burning has emerged in Punjab from Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), one of the Opposition parties in Punjab, the state going to polls in a few months. Both states go to polls early next year.

Paddy-Wheat Cycle

Farmers in Punjab and Haryana burn stubble as there is a short window between harvesting of summer-sown paddy and sowing of wheat. Growers cite the high cost of manual or mechanical management of straw as a reason behind their preference to burn stubble.

Experts said more systemic solutions should be implemented at a scale including steps to ensure that all farmers have affordable access to equipment that help to mix the stubble with soil.

Also, read: Explained | Hiding behind a smog tower

“We have to change the cropping pattern to reduce acreage under paddy besides scaling up options of recycling stubble for producing other products so that farmers can earn from stubble sale,” Anumita Roy Chowdhury, of the Centre of Science and Environment, told MoneyControl.

Union environment minister Bhupendra Yadav, however, said winters this year would be better in terms of air quality because steps have been taken in advance.

“From July to September, six advisories and 40 directions have been issued on air quality. We are taking active steps to reduce stubble burning through strict monitoring, using alternate methods etc,” Yadav said recently in a report in Business Standard.

Many experts link the pollution in Delhi-NCR to the paddy-wheat cropping system which they suggest should change for a long time change. And till that happens, North India is likely to continue the struggle to breathe in winters.