Paddy stubble burning in Punjab: An architect of breathing woes

Crop residue burning (CRB) is a persistent issue in north India, every year it engulfs the whole of North India in its fumes. CRB results in severe negative aftermaths on both human health and the environment especially now when the Covid-19 pandemic is so rampant to cause respirational distress. The current study was being conducted to assess the state of crop residue burning in Punjab. The research was based on secondary data from the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre, which spans the years 2016 to 2020. During the Kharif season, the number of stubble-burning cases decreased from 81042 to 71081 (a decrease of about 13 percent) from 2016 to 2020. This dwindling trend in cases is a good sign for environmental conservation. There has been an increase of 25% in stubble burning during the Rabi season from 2016 to 2020, incidences of stubble burning have reached an all-time high in the last five years, even during the widespread Covid 19 outbreak and may be because of labour shortages during Covid-19. The farmers who had previously embraced good crop residue management methods may resort to burning fields in the coming rice harvesting season due to additional challenges which exacerbating the problem. The government should focus on subsidizing crop residue technologies and effective behavior change approaches to tackle the problem unanimously with the help of farmers themselves. The study recommends mandatory diversification of the cropping cycle on a minimum acreage basis, shift to early-maturing rice varieties as PAU suggested, and making paddy residue management technologies like happy seeder and super seeder widely available. Farmers should be incentivized accordingly for good agricultural practices rather than punished for burning.