Stubble Burning Air Pollution

Experts say cloudy skies in 2022 and farmers only burning part of the stubble could have led to an underestimation of this year's stubble fires

Punjab recorded a 30 per cent drop in stubble burning incidents this season (from September 15 to November 30) as compared to last year, Environment Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer said on Wednesday. The state witnessed 49,907 crop residue burning incidents this season as against 71,304 last year, he said. Hayer said stubble burning is not the problem of Punjab alone, it is the problem of the entire country. Despite the Union government rejecting the state government's proposal to provide financial assistance to farmers for not burning paddy straw, the cases of stubble burning have reduced, the minister said. Had there been a positive response from the Centre, there would have been a further reduction in stubble burning incidents, he added. In July, Delhi and Punjab governments had jointly sent a proposal to the Centre and the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to help them give Rs 2,500 per acre as cash incentive to farmers in Punjab for not burning stubble. However,

Under the campaign, the authorities are appealing to farmers to "donate" the paddy stubble to the "gauthans", the livestock sheds

Punjab saw 2,467 stubble burning incidents on Saturday with Bathinda registering the maximum 358 farm fires. With these, the cumulative farm fire cases between September 15 and November 12 jumped to 43,144, according to the Ludhiana-based Punjab Remote Sensing Centre data. This is 27 per cent less compared to 58,976 crop residue burning incidents reported in the corresponding period of last year, according to data. The state had reported 71,091 such incidents during the same period in 2020, it stated. Of the total 2,467 stubble burning incidents on Saturday, Bathinda topped the list with 358 farm fires, followed by 336 in Moga, 256 in Muktsar, 242 in Fazilka, 231 in Mansa, 200 in Faridkot, 186 in Ferozepur and 174 in Barnala, according to data. The state had seen 1,758 and 3,403 active fire incidents on November 12 in 2020 and 2021 respectively, the data stated. The farmers continued to set crop residue on fire in order to clear fields for sowing the wheat crop. The wheat, if sow

The air quality in the national capital is constantly hovering between the 'very poor' to 'severe' categories, which is expected to worsen in the next four days

Farm fire incidents crossed the 30,000 mark in Punjab with the state witnessing 2,487 stubble-burning cases on Monday. With fresh crop residue burning incidents, the cumulative farm fire cases from September 15 to November 7, rose to 32,486, according to the Ludhiana-based Punjab Remote Sensing Centre data. The state reported 57,696 and 37,933 farm fires during the same period in 2020 and 2021, respectively. Out of a total of 2,487 farm fire incidents on Monday, Ferozepur witnessed 353 crop residue burning incidentsthe highest in the state, followed by 268 in Moga, 257 in Muktsar, 256 in Batala, 218 in Faridkot, 202 in Barnala, 180 in Sangrur, 177 in Fazilka and 165 in Mansa, according to the data. Punjab had seen 4,716 and 5,199 active fire incidents on November 7 in 2020 and 2021, respectively, as per the data. Currently, the districts in the Malwa region are reporting a rising number of stubble-burning incidents. Due to stubble burning, many places in Haryana on Monday evening

The Centre's air quality panel on Friday directed deputy commissioners of all districts in Punjab, barring Pathankot, to take measures to "drastically" bring down the number of farm fires in the agrarian state. A thick layer of smog has enveloped Delhi-NCR for the last two days, primarily due to unfavourable meteorological conditions trapping pollutants and raging farm fires in Punjab. The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) reviewed the implementation of measures to restrict the farm fire count in Punjab at a meeting with its chief secretary and deputy commissioners of 22 districts, barring Pathankot (no farm fire incidents were reported there). A statement said the primary focus of the review meeting was to reiterate the need to intensify action to check the sudden spike in the number of stubble burning cases seen in the last few days. "The chief secretary and deputy commissioners were reminded of their earlier commitments of drastically bringing down the farm fire count

Diwali is the start of the air pollution season in the states in the Indo-Gangetic Plain, and the worst of the season may be ahead of us, according to data from the Central Pollution Control Board's Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Station. According to the analysis by National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) Tracker, average PM 2.5 levels in October this year were higher as compared to 2021 in the capital cities of Delhi, Chandigarh, Lucknow and Patna. The PM2.5 levels in October 2022 have surpassed those in October 2021, despite delayed withdrawal of monsoon and a comparatively cleaner Diwali over the last five years. The rains also delayed the stubble burning season this year, the NCAP Tracker analysis said. "The PM 2.5 levels for October 2022 in Delhi and Patna remained above (Central Pollution Control Board) CPCB's daily safe limits of 60 micrograms per cubic metre. Delhi recorded an average PM 2.5 of 105 micrograms per cubic metre in October as opposed to 74.88 micrograms

The number of paddy stubble burning incidents in Punjab rose 12.59 per cent year-on-year to 26,583 in the last 50 days, with a spurt in such cases after Diwali, according to the latest ICAR data. However, when compared to Punjab, the number of paddy stubble burning events in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi remained lower between September 15 and November 4 this year, the data showed. On Friday alone, a total of 2,945 stubble-burning events were detected in six states, out of which a maximum of 2,437 incidents were in Punjab, followed by Madhya Pradesh (348), Haryana (63), Uttar Pradesh (61), Rajasthan (34) and Delhi (2). Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the country's premier agriculture research institute under the aegis of the Agriculture Ministry, has come out with a bulletin based on the inputs from the three remote sensing satellites -- Suomi NPP, Terra and Aqua -- at the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC). Stubble burning in Delhi'

The overall air quality over Delhi is likely to remain in 'Severe' category from till Sunday

Punjab on Thursday witnessed 2,666 farm fire incidents with Sangrur district seeing maximum crop residue burning cases. With the fresh number of farm fires, the cumulative farm fire cases during September 15 till November 3, rose to 24,146, according to the Ludhiana-based Punjab Remote Sensing Centre data. The state had reported 39,178 and 20,433 crop residue incidents during the same period in 2020 and 2021 respectively. Out of total 2,666 farm fire incidents on Thursday, Sangrur topped the districts with maximum 452 farm fires, followed by 336 in Bathinda, 269 in Ferozepur, 254 in Barnala, 205 in Mansa, 180 in Moga and 168 in Patiala. The state had reported 2,413 and 2,512 active fire incidents on November 3 in 2020 and 2021 respectively, as per the data. Currently, the districts in Malwa region are reporting a rising number of stubble burning incidents. The farmers continued to set crop residue on fire in order to clear fields for sowing the next crop--wheat and ...

Around 53 per cent of the Delhi-NCR residents identify stubble burning in neighbouring states as the "primary cause" of rising levels of air pollution, according to a survey. The survey conducted by LocalCircles is based on responses from 20,000 citizens. Around 10,037 respondents identified stubble burning by farmers in adjoining states as the root cause of bad air quality in the national capital, it said. Delhi's air quality continued to be in the 'severe' category on Thursday with its Air Quality Index (AQI) dipping at 426 at 9.10 am, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data showed. The data breakup shows that a much smaller percentage or 13 per cent believe the primary cause is "motor vehicle emissions", while 7 per cent of the respondents blamed it on "garbage burning in the city". Around 7 per cent respondents held "industrial emissions" responsible and 7 per cent blamed "construction activity", the survey said. When asked about the Odd-Even vehicle program, around 1

The share of stubble burning in Delhi's PM2.5 pollution jumped to 38 per cent on Thursday, which, experts said was the reason behind the thick layer of pungent smog over the national capital. The increase in stubble burning has kicked off a political slugfest, with Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Wednesday saying that there had been a 19 per cent rise in farm fires over 2021 in Punjab and that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had turned the national capital into a gas chamber. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in turn, blamed the central government for rising incidents of stubble burning in Punjab and said it should "resign" if it cannot control air pollution. Gufran Beig, founder project director, SAFAR, a forecasting agency under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, said, "The share of stubble burning in Delhi's pollution has increased to around 38 per cent which is quite significant." The air pollution situation is the worst in Noida which falls into the path of emissions

The share of stubble burning in Delhi PM2.5 pollution rose to 32 per cent on Wednesday, the highest this year so far, amid raging farm fires in Punjab and favourable conditions for transport of emissions to Delhi-NCR. The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) reported 3,634 farm fires in Punjab on Wednesday, the highest this year so far. The number stood at 1,842 on Tuesday, 2,131 on Monday, 1,761 on Sunday, 1,898 on Saturday and 2,067 on Friday. SAFAR, a forecasting agency under the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences, said the share of stubble burning in Delhi's PM2.5 pollution increased to 32 per cent due to favourable transport-level wind speed. Transport-level winds blow in the lowest two layers of the atmospherethe troposphere and stratosphere -- and carry smoke from farm fires to the national capital region. Moderately favourable surface-level wind speed (up to 8 kmph), however, did not allow rapid accumulation of pollutants, meteorology experts said. Farm fires accou

'Last year there were 2,561 incidents of stubble burning, whereas it has decreased to 1,925 this year while 13,873 incidents have taken place in Punjab this year'

The air quality in the national capital was in the 'very poor' category for 7 days as against zero last year. The AQI was in the 'poor' category for 10 days as against seven in 2021

Punjab reported 1,111 stubble burning incidents on Thursday

Ongoing construction across NCR to exacerbate situation; While the number of residue-burning cases reported so far is about half of last year's figure, it is likely to shoot up in the days ahead

Stubble burning can make plans ineffective