STUBBLE BURNING Cause of Worsening Air Pollution

Abstract

Farmers in India set their fields on fire to get rid of paddy stubble before wheat crop is sown. These fires release trace gases and particulate matter which pose a serious health hazards. Fires raging across Punjab and Haryana leave the neighbour Delhi gasping and wheezing. Air pollution in NCR of Delhi is recorded at 500 level- mark on Air Quality Index. In certain areas of Delhi, AQI shot up to 900 mark in November 2019 which forced government to declare it a Public Health Emergency. AQI between 100-200 mark is considered “Moderate”. Ministry of Earth Sciences found that Delhi's pollution is worsened by 35 per cent due to stubble burning. Supreme Court of India, however, stated that Agricultural Burning added only 4 per cent to the environmental pollution of Delhi (15
November, 2019). There is a study carried out by Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare which has reported that Punjab
contributed 83 per cent of harmful emissions from stubble burning during 2018. Here, farmers race against the short turnaround time to immediately sow the next crop of wheat after machine harvest of paddy crop. As the residual stubble are still moist after the rainy season, some farmers spray 'used machine oil' to hasten the spread of fire. It further aggravates the pollution load. Some 2 lakh farmers are involved in stubble burning in India. Remote Sensing Centre at Ludhiana has revealed that a total 21,978 fires were recorded in Punjab during 2018. Similarly, Haryana Space Application Centre at Hisar registered a total of 4257 fires in Haryana during the same period. Apparently, stubble trouble lies more in Punjab.