India Air Quality Index 2020
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Burning paddy field stubbles in October and November in rice growing states of India Haryana, Punjab, & Utter Pradesh pollutes air to hazardous level and risk lives of millions of people. Recurring smog episodes in Delhi are alarming and constitute public health hazard. Being the 2nd worst hit country affected by Covid-19 India needs to check the stubble burning for a clean & healthy future.
India Air Quality Index 2020
- 1. Air Quality Index Delhi, Gujrat, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, October & November 2020 Dr. S. Shafiqur Rehman Peshawar, Pakistan
- 2. Following the traditional two crop system in a year, Rabi & Kharif, farmers in Indian states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, harvest their rice crop around mid-September mechanically by cutting the straw a few inches above the ground. The crop residue left in the fields is usually set alight in October to save time for tillage and sowing the next wheat crop. Thousands of farmers across India burn an estimated 60 mega tons of paddy stubbles in fields that produce dense clouds of smoke and soot (black powdery carbon) resulting in acute and intense rise in air pollution across most parts of northern India. Although technology is available to manage crop residue without burning and state governments have imposed a ban on burning but the poor economic conditions of farmers do not allow them to make use of it, even if they are caught and fined for violating the ban.
- 3. Since burning of paddy stubbles in the field in October is pretty much a regular phenomenon in most rice growing states of India, air quality index worsens to very poor or even hazardous state and remains so through November and December. Living conditions become miserable for millions of people across India and quite often result in smog, which Delhi has been regularly experiencing during this decades. In this presentation satellite images of NASA (FIRMS) showing live fires, and AQI status of Central Indian Pollution Control Board for selected Indian cities are shown for October and November 2020 to see the impact of stubble burning.