Toxic air: India's 'helpless' farmers can't abandon stubble burning

Each winter, India’s capital Delhi and its surrounding areas get covered in a toxic grey blanket as farmers in the state of Punjab, known as India's grain basket, set several thousand acres of crop waste on fire.

Farmers do this to prepare for the next sowing, saying they have no other options to clear their fields following harvest.

"If, instead of burning, the stubble has to be disposed off in any other manner, then that involves a lot of expenditure," Paramjit Singh, general secretary of a prominent farmers' union in Punjab, told Reuters news agency.

The toxic smog then takes its toll on locals and the population in Delhi, about 280 km south of Khamanon town in Punjab's Fatehgarh Sahib district.

"It will reach Delhi much later but the first (casualty) is the farmer because he is standing in the middle of it when he burns it," said Singh, 45.

"He is helpless, he is not lighting it up out of choice."

In late October, the air quality of India’s national capital worsened, reaching the "severe" category for the first time this winter season, The Hindu reported citing the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

Over 30,000 stubble fires in Punjab

On Tuesday, Indian Agricultural Research Institute’s monitor Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modelling from Space (CREAMS) reported that they recorded 33,090 events of stubble burning in Punjab since September 15th.

CREAMS monitors paddy residue burning events in real-time via satellite in six states: Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan.

The season’s total for the following five states, respectively, is reported as 2624, 1007, 9, 3804, and 699.

The monitor also reports that they recorded a total of 17290 crop residue fires throughout India this month until November 6th.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in charge of the government in both Delhi and Punjab took accountability for the stubble burnings, saying they had failed to curb them.

Last week, the party said they would be working to resolve the problem by November next year.

"We have distributed around 120,000 machines to the farmers that assist in destroying the crop residue without having to burn it down," Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann told reporters.

He added that the Punjab Agricultural University had developed a mobile app to track the machines.

Mann also said that the government had set up a bio-energy plant for the disposal of crop waste.

Last week, however, The Hindu cited Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav as saying Punjab had “officially refused” to use biodecomposer to curb stubble burning.

The biodecomposer was reportedly used on only 5,000 acres, while the total area under paddy cultivation in the State is almost 7.5 million acres.

“Without any scientific evidence they are claiming that this doesn’t work,” said Mr Yadav.

The Hindu added that Mr Yadav had accused the AAP government of turning Delhi into a “gas chamber”, adding that there was a 19 percent increase in farm fires in Punjab from last year.

The AAP says they have urged the federal government to facilitate joint meetings between the northern states to identify the causes of pollution and produce solutions.

A federal government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the centre had already disbursed funds to the state authorities to offer alternative ways to the farmers to move away from burning crop stubble.