About 84 Mt (23.86%) of the stubble is burnt on-field each year immediately after harvest.

In November 2019, Delhi recorded a peak AQI of 487, Ghaziabad reported an AQI as high as 493, and Greater Noida recorded 480.

health effects of air pollution ranges from skin and eyes irritation to severe neurological, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), bronchitis, lung capacity loss, emphysema, cancer, etc.

ome of the alternative management practices include the incorporation of the stubble into the soil, use of stubble as fuel in power plants, use as raw material for pulp and paper industries, or as biomass for biofuel production

common farming system in the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) is the rice-wheat rotation system.

Geographically, it occupies about 20% of the total land area of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal.

The use of Combine harvesters for harvesting grains is common among Indian farmers especially in the northern parts of the country

According to the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), approximately 14 million tons (Mt) out of the 22 Mt of the rice stubble (about 63.6%) generated each year in India is set to fire (IARI, 2012). Haryana and Punjab, two of the key agricultural states of India, alone contribute 48% to this amount

Rice is usually planted in the summer season, around May/June, and harvested around October/November. On the other hand, wheat is normally planted during the winter, mostly in December and harvested during the summer of the subsequent year, around April/May.

The average time interval between the harvest of rice and sowing of wheat was reported to be 15 days, and that of rice sowing after wheat harvest was relatively higher, up to about 46-48 days.

The farmers, therefore, do not have sufficient time to appropriately manage the crop stubble especially after rice harvest

It is worth noting that stubble burning is not the only cause of post-monsoon deteriorated air across the IGP; meteorological conditions such as ambient temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction and ambient pressure also play important roles