-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...

-The Tribune Chandigarh: The Punjab Government’s policy of delaying sowing of paddy has resulted in deteriorating air quality, a study carried out by researchers of Harvard University, US, has found. The study titled “Detection of delay in post-monsoon agricultural burning across Punjab, India: potential drivers and consequences for air quality” carried out by Tianjia Liu of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Loretta J Mickley of the School of Engineering...

  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...

-The Indian Express The state government maintains that farm fires in Punjab contribute barely over 15 per cent to Delhi’s pollution. But officials in Sangrur admit there are problems, including the slow switch to “expensive” mechanical alternatives to stubble burning. Sangrur: To know why the National Capital is choking, visit Sangrur in Punjab — the district that recorded the highest number of farm fires in a single day this year. One of...

-The Indian Express Stubble management machines, unlike tractors, lie idle for most time, making it an unviable investment “The machine works well, no doubt. But what’s the use if it runs for only 25-30 days and has to be parked in my shed for the rest of the year?” asks Palwinder Singh. The 50-year-old from Sahari village in Gurdaspur district and tehsil has not one, but three Happy Seeders. The first of...