-The Indian Express Discussions of rural poverty fail to factor in multi-dimensional changes in the sector in the last five years Rural poverty in India has been the subject of discussion in recent times. Low increase in prices of agricultural commodities and the slower increase in rural agricultural wages have been seen by some as signs of a crisis for the rural poor. Many acknowledge the role of pro-poor public welfare...

-National Herald Until a few years ago, when farmers in Punjab burnt the remnants of the rice crops in their fields in preparation for sowing wheat, the smoke from such fires was confined to Punjab. The delay in burning stubble is why Delhi is enveloped in smoke today. Earlier, the smoke was confined to Punjab. According to a report in The Sunday Guardian, the delay in burning stubble is due to pressure...

-News18.com As the capital chokes in a toxic haze that was described by the Supreme Court on Monday as “worse than the Emergency”, and politicians across parties blame each other, experts point out that the 2009 Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act changed the “timing of the burning”. New Delhi: Behind the burning of crop waste, or stubble, that poisons Delhi’s already-polluted air, is a story of changing agricultural practices, a...

-Hindustan Times Instead of paddy, farmers have to be incentivised to move to millets It feels like a war. The hapless farmers of Punjab and Haryana pitted against the angry, breathless urbanites of the National Capital Region. The farmers are burning paddy stubble, contributing to between a fifth to a third of the air pollution in Delhi these days. This has pushed the air quality to unliveable levels. It is endangering...

  Air quality in North India in general and Delhi National Capital Region (Delhi NCR) in particular plunged to its lowest point in recent years during October-November thanks to a variety of factors. Through media reports one comes to know that stubble burning (also called paddy straw burning/ crop residue burning) is chiefly responsible for the public health crisis in India's capital and its nearby regions. Data accessed from the website...