{"id":128146,"date":"2026-10-09T11:04:44","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T05:34:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=128146"},"modified":"2026-10-09T11:04:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T05:34:44","slug":"stubble-burning-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/stubble-burning-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Stubble Burning in India: Causes, Laws and Policy Solutions"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Stubble Burning Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Every year around this time, air pollution in North India, particularly Delhi, dominates public discourse. Stubble burning by farmers is one of the most cited reasons for the worsening Air Quality Index (AQI).\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Experts argue that the practice is not simply a farmer\u2019s bad choice \u2014 it is the result of legal, technological and economic factors interacting together.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>What Is Stubble Burning?<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stubble burning means setting fire to crop residue \u2014 the lower parts of plants left after harvesting.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is prevalent from early October to late November across northwest India, especially Punjab, Haryana, and parts of Uttar Pradesh.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is mainly associated with paddy straw, and Punjab and Haryana together produce around 29 million metric tons of it.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Why It Matters for Health and Soil<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Releases large amounts of particulate matter, carbon monoxide, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/indoor-air-pollution\/\" target=\"_blank\">volatile organic compounds (VOCs)<\/a><\/strong>, and other carcinogenic substances, forming a thick smog.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Causes <\/span><b>loss of soil fertility<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by depleting nitrogen, sulphur, potash, phosphorus and other micronutrients.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The heat generated causes <\/span><b>loss of soil moisture and organic content<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which in turn increases fertiliser use in the next crop cycle.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Not A New Practice<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stubble burning has existed in Punjab since the late 1970s and early 1980s, following the introduction of combine harvesters, which leave plant residue behind.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What has changed is its timing \u2014 now coinciding with winter months, following the enactment of the Punjab Preservation of Sub-Soil Water Act, 2009 (PPSSWA 2009).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The Water Crisis That Triggered a Law<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2012, nearly 73% of Punjab\u2019s cropped area was irrigated using groundwater. There was a deficit of 14.31 billion cubic metres, met through excessive groundwater withdrawal.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Groundwater levels in Punjab declined at an alarming 0.36 metres annually between 1999 and 2009.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A landmark NASA GRACE satellite study (2009) found the Punjab-Haryana-Rajasthan region lost 109 cubic kilometres of groundwater between 2002 and 2008 alone \u2014 then considered the largest groundwater depletion event in the world.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>How PPSSWA 2009 Unintentionally Caused the Timing Shift<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Act aimed to <\/span><b>prevent rapid groundwater depletion<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by prohibiting early paddy sowing and transplantation before the monsoon arrived.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Farmers were barred from sowing paddy before May 10 and transplanting before June 10. Stringent punishments were prescribed for this.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These sowing restrictions pushed the paddy harvest to late October\/early November, leaving farmers just a 10\u201315-day window to prepare fields for wheat.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The high-yielding PUSA-44 variety, which takes 150\u2013160 days to harvest, narrowed this window further. Combine harvesters leave about a foot of stubble behind, and manual clearing is time-consuming and expensive.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Together, these factors made stubble burning almost a necessity.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Why Farmers Keep Growing Paddy and Wheat Anyway<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The deeper question: why do farmers persist with these crops despite strict laws and falling groundwater? The answer lies in the <\/span><b>incentive structure<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Paddy procurement<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (2012\u20132024 average): 37% nationally, but 87% in Punjab and 74% in Haryana \u2014 more than double the national average.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Wheat procurement<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: 30% nationally, versus 70% in Punjab and 63% in Haryana.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"3\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These national averages already include Punjab and Haryana \u2014 excluding them would make the gap even starker.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This <\/span><b>assured procurement<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> provides guaranteed income, discouraging diversification.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Additionally, <\/span><b>power is free<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in Punjab and almost free in Haryana, further encouraging water-intensive paddy and wheat cultivation via groundwater extraction.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Technical Solutions and Their Limits<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>In-Situ Measures<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Crop Residue Management (CRM) machines \u2014 Happy Seeders, Super Seeders, Rotavators; Short-duration rice varieties and direct seeding of rice.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Ex-situ Measures<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Converting residue into bio-ethanol and compressed biogas.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The problem with both:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Happy Seeders\/Super Seeders need an expensive 60-HP tractor, often idle for most of the year. Even hiring one costs \u20b910,000 with a long waiting period.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ex-situ measures cost \u20b91,500\u2013\u20b92,500 per acre \u2014 a significant expense for many farmers.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Policy Responses: Punjab vs Haryana<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>National Green Tribunal (2018)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Ruled that farmers who burn stubble could be excluded from MSP policy. The Supreme Court upheld this in 2023.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2025, CPCB deployed 31 flying squads across 18 districts of Punjab and 13 of Haryana, involving 10,500 field functionaries in Punjab and 10,000 in Haryana.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CAQM has directed complaints to be filed against officials for inadequate monitoring.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, the Parliamentary Committee on air quality recommended that penalising farmers should be a last resort, instead suggesting a minimum price covering all costs for selling stubble for ex-situ use.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Punjab\u2019s Approach<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Relied mostly on in-situ CRM-based measures, with limited ex-situ initiatives.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CAQM noted in 2025 that Punjab still needs improvement in timely CRM machinery availability, support for CBG (compressed biogas) plants, and better enforcement.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Haryana\u2019s Approach<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Adopted an incentive-based model, aligned with the Parliamentary Panel\u2019s recommendations:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u20b91,000\/acre for CRM use.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u20b94,000\/acre for direct seeding of rice.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u20b97,000\/acre for diversification to alternate crops.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Additional incentives to panchayats for good performance.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The Measurement Problem<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Punjab and Haryana reportedly achieved a <\/span><b>90% reduction<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in stubble-burning incidents during 2025 paddy harvesting compared to 2022. But this figure needs caution.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Why The Data May Be Misleading<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The CREAMS protocol (Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modeling from Space) relies on NASA\u2019s MODIS and VIIRS satellites \u2014 polar satellites observing India only between 10:30 am and 1:30 pm, capturing only active fires at that moment, not total fires over 24 hours.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A 2025 report, using multiple satellites, found the actual reduction was more gradual \u2014 around 30%, not 90%.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A November 2025 study, led by ISRO scientists, found farmers have shifted to burning stubble in the evening specifically to avoid polar satellite detection windows.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stubble burning survives not because farmers lack alternatives, but because the system rewards exactly the behaviour it then punishes \u2014 assured procurement and free power push farmers toward paddy, while a water-conservation law compresses their harvest window to days.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Haryana\u2019s incentive-based model shows a more promising direction than Punjab\u2019s penalty-heavy approach, but even the headline \u201c90% reduction\u201d may be a measurement artifact, not a real one.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A lasting fix needs genuine crop diversification, better residue economics, and satellite monitoring that farmers can\u2019t simply outrun by burning after dark.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/energy-and-environment\/is-punjabs-stubble-burning-problem-really-declining-explained\/article70193551.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">TH<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ceew.in\/blogs\/why-wheat-stubble-burning-rising-india\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CEEW<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stubble burning persists due to crop incentives, groundwater laws, costly machinery and narrow harvesting windows. Explore policy solutions in Punjab and Haryana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":128157,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[60,3368,22,59],"class_list":["post-128146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","tag-mains-articles","tag-stubble-burning","tag-upsc-current-affairs","tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128146"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128164,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128146\/revisions\/128164"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}