Why stubble fires keep coming back

Why in the News

Punjab and Haryana report 90% fewer stubble fires in 2025 than in 2022. The satellites that count them pass over India only around midday, and an estimate using several satellites puts the fall at about 30%. Fires persist because a groundwater law pushed the paddy harvest into the weeks before wheat sowing, and price support keeps farmers on paddy.

What is stubble burning, and why is it a winter problem?

1. What it is: Stubble burning is setting fire to crop residue left after harvest, mainly paddy straw in Punjab and Haryana, which together produce about 29 million tonnes. The smoke thickens into smog and the heat drains soil nitrogen.
2. Old practice, new timing: Burning began in Punjab in the late 1970s with combine harvesters, which leave about a foot of stubble. Burning moved into the winter months after the Punjab Preservation of Sub-Soil Water Act, 2009.
3. Why the Act: Punjab pumped out groundwater faster than it refilled. The Act bars paddy sowing before 10 May and transplanting before 10 June, so paddy waits for the monsoon.
4. Squeezed window: Later sowing delays harvest, leaving only 10 to 15 days to prepare for wheat. The slow maturing PUSA-44 rice variety adds to the delay.
5. The takeaway: A law written to save groundwater left farmers a short gap to clear fields, so burning became the cheapest way.

Why do farmers keep growing paddy and wheat?

1. Assured procurement: Government buys most of the paddy grown in these States at the minimum support price (MSP), a guaranteed rate: 87% of production in Punjab and 74% in Haryana. Wheat follows the same pattern.
2. Free power: Power is free for farmers in Punjab and almost free in Haryana, encouraging water intensive crops even as groundwater falls.

What are governments doing, and does it work?

1. Penal route: The National Green Tribunal ruled in 2018, and the Supreme Court upheld in 2023, that burners can be excluded from MSP purchase.
2. Official accountability: The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), the statutory body for the National Capital Region and neighbouring States, directed that complaints be filed against officials for poor monitoring.
3. Punjab and Haryana differ: Punjab mostly uses in situ measures. Haryana pays per acre incentives for residue management, direct seeding and diversification.

What do in situ and ex situ measures mean?

1. In situ: Managing the straw in the field, with machines such as the Happy Seeder, Super Seeder and Rotavator, short duration rice and direct seeding.
2. Ex situ: Removing the straw and turning it into energy, such as bio-ethanol and compressed biogas.

Has burning really fallen by 90%?

1. How fires are counted: The Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modeling from Space (CREAMS) protocol relies on MODIS and VIIRS sensors on polar orbiting satellites.
2. Midday blind spot: These satellites pass India only from 10:30 am to 1:30 pm, and miss fires at other hours.
3. Evening shift: A November 2025 study led by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists, using geostationary satellite data (satellites that stay over one spot and watch all day), showed farmers have shifted burning to the evening.

Challenges

1. Collusion risk: Penalising farmers gives them and officials a reason to collude and report a false reduction.
2. Machinery access: Happy Seeders need a 60 horsepower tractor that sits idle most of the year, and hiring one costs about Rs 10,000.
3. No assured buyer for straw: Ex situ options cost Rs 1,500 to 2,500 an acre, with no guaranteed market for the straw.

Way Forward

1. Mixed measures: Combine in situ and ex situ measures now with diversification away from paddy over time.
2. Straw price floor: Set a minimum price covering all costs for straw sold to ex situ units, as a Parliamentary Committee recommended, and penalise farmers only as a last resort.
3. Whole day counting: Use polar and geostationary satellite data together.

Conclusion

Stubble burning is held in place by a sowing law, price support and costly machinery, not by farmer choice alone. The next test is whether this season’s counts capture evening fires.

Key numbers

1. Groundwater stress, Punjab (2012): 73% of cropped area irrigated from groundwater, with a deficit of 14.31 billion cubic metres.
2. Groundwater loss: Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan lost 109 cubic km from 2002 to 2008 (NASA Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment study).
3. Procurement share of production, 2012 to 2024: Paddy 37% nationally; wheat 30% nationally, 70% in Punjab and 63% in Haryana.
4. Act and variety: Penalty of Rs 10,000 per hectare per month of contravention; PUSA-44 takes 150 to 160 days.

Matching Previous Year Question

“[2025] Consider the following statements: Statement I: Studies indicate that carbon dioxide emissions from cement industry account for more than 5% of global carbon emissions. Statement II: Silica-bearing clay is mixed with limestone while manufacturing cement. Statement III: Limestone is converted into lime during clinker production for cement manufacturing. Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above statements? (a) Both Statement II and Statement III are correct and both of them explain Statement I (b) Both Statement II and Statement III are correct but only one of them explains Statement I (c) Only one of the Statement II or Statement III is correct and it explains Statement I (d) Neither Statement II nor Statement III is correct ANSWER: (b)”