Stubble burning: incentives, technology and measurement
Quick dive
- The article identifies paddy-wheat incentives, delayed paddy cultivation and a 10–15-day sowing window as drivers of residue burning in northwest India.
- Punjab and Haryana together produce about 29 million metric tonnes of paddy straw; burning releases particulate matter, carbon monoxide, VOCs and carcinogenic substances.
- The Punjab Preservation of Sub-Soil Water Act, 2009 delayed paddy sowing, while assured procurement and subsidised power continue to favour water-intensive paddy and wheat.
- CREAMS estimates based on MODIS and VIIRS detect active fires only at satellite overpass times; a 2025 study using multiple and geostationary satellites suggested a smaller reduction in affected land than fire counts imply.
- exam_relevance: tests the crop-residue–air-quality–groundwater nexus, the PPSSWA 2009 policy and limits of MODIS/VIIRS fire detection; the article’s 29-million-tonne, 10–15-day and measurement figures provide the concrete environment-and-agriculture angles UPSC repeatedly uses.
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