Come October and November, Delhi’s air turns into a toxic chamber. Visibility drops, schools are forced to shut, and doctors report a surge in respiratory illnesses. A few years ago, even the Chief Justice of India admitted that his own disabled children were suffering because of the poisonous air. That confession spoke for millions in the National Capital Region who are condemned to breathe poison for at least two months every year, if not more.
The immediate trigger is no secret. Farmers in Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh burn the stubble left behind after the paddy harvest to clear their fields quickly for the wheat crop. The Supreme Court has been seized of the matter for years, but its directives have gone largely unheeded. A recent bench of Chief Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice K. Vinod Chandran even asked why the government could not arrest some farmers to set an example.
The suggestion reveals the court’s exasperation, but it raises troubling questions of fairness. Yes, arrests may deter some farmers, but is it just to criminalise them? Farmers are not ignorant of the environmental havoc stubble-burning causes. They know it harms their own families. But the alternatives are costly. Labour for manual removal or specialised machinery for clearing fields are beyond the means of small farmers.
Farming is already a precarious occupation—unseasonal rain, hailstorms, and floods can wipe out months of labour overnight. This year alone, thousands of acres of land were left submerged under floodwaters in Punjab. Arresting farmers will not solve Delhi’s problem; it will only deepen rural distress. Jail terms mean broken families, legal expenses, and further impoverishment of people who already live on the margins.
There is some hope: the Punjab government’s counsel has pointed out that stubble-burning cases have been declining. Awareness is spreading, and gradual change is underway. What is required is not punishment but more effective state support—affordable alternatives, subsidies for machinery, and community-level initiatives.
Moreover, stubble-burning is only part of the pollution story. Vehicles contribute far more to Delhi’s smog. The sight of DTC buses running half-empty while the city adds more cars and two-wheelers every day underlines the real crisis: lack of a strong public transport culture. The odd-even vehicle rationing experiment worked, but was abandoned under pressure from those unwilling to sacrifice their own convenience.
To scapegoat farmers while ignoring urban polluters is simply unjust. Delhi-NCR needs a holistic, long-term plan, covering agriculture, transport, industry, and waste management. There are no quick fixes here. But without political will and public cooperation, the capital will remain a gas chamber, and blaming farmers alone will clear neither the stubble nor the air.
https://www.freepressjournal.in/analysis/delhis-air-crisis-stubble-burning-alone-isnt-the-villain-holistic-solutions-are-needed
