 In New Delhi, India, extreme air pollution is creating a deadly gas chamber for the city's citizens again. The pollution problem is entirely blamed on the country's farmers and their practice of stubble burning. But the real picture is quite different. What is stubble burning? Paddy or rice is grown at massive scales in the states of Punjab and Haryana in North India. When this is harvested, it leaves behind fields of very long straw. This paddy stubble is difficult for farmers to clear. To clear their fields, farmers set fire to this stubble. A large number of fields are set on fire every year around this time. The pollutants from this stubble burning aggravates the already polluted air in North India. But the number of stubble burning incidents in October this year was much lower compared to the same time last year. But stubble burning did not stop. It was only delayed due to the late monsoons this year. A lot of the burning is happening now. Despite the delay, the air quality was still extremely poor in October. So the question is, how much is stubble burning responsible for Delhi's pollution was? And is it right to blame the farmers? There are a number of causes behind Delhi's winter air. Let's take a look at the two major ones. First, the cold weather leads to something called temperature inversion, which results in a higher concentration of pollutants closer to the ground. Second, Delhi air is already extremely polluted around the year. These pollutants come from a variety of sources which remain unaddressed. Let's first take a look at temperature inversion. Hot air rises, cool air sinks. That's simple science. In winters, the simple science causes certain complications. In the summer, the air close to the ground remains warm. So the air rises up along with the pollutants and disperses. Because of this, pollutants don't get concentrated near the ground. But in the winter, there is less sun. The earth's surface loses heat rapidly, causing the air just above the ground to become cooler. And the air in the upper layers remains warm. This is inversion. The layer of cool air is then unable to rise upwards and disperse. This results in a higher density of pollutants remaining stuck in the lower layers of the atmosphere and choking the air quality. So the level of pollutants in the air is extremely high all year round. But in winters, the pollution becomes much worse because of inversion. That is not to say that stubble burning does not play any role at all. But the amount of pollutants it contributes is smaller compared to other factors. Also, stubble burning happens for only a few days every year. Unfortunately, this coincides with the winter temperature inversion conditions. So the industries and others who are primarily responsible for this situation conveniently escape while the blame is focused on the farmers instead. Pollutants from stubble burning can be as low as 12% of the total pollutants in the air. In certain localized areas closer to stubble burning sites, this concentration can go up to 60%. Industries, private vehicles, real estate giants performing constructions, all of them contribute much more to the pollution problem. But the state has only outlawed stubble burning with limited action against other responsible parties. So the ones penalized are the powerless farmers who are already burdened with huge deaths and a host of other problems. We also need to see why stubble burning is happening. Farmers have repeatedly said that they have no other option but to burn the stubble. Escalating fields in any other way costs too much money. In response to this, state and central governments have announced joint subsidies to ease the financial burden. But the practice continues. Traditionally, paddy was not grown at such massive scales in Punjab and Haryana. It was only after the Green Revolution that paddy became one of the major crops in this region and one of the main export crops. Green Revolution came to India in the 1960s with the motive of industrializing farming and increasing food grain production. This movement brought in technologies developed primarily by private multinational corporates. But this proved to be very costly for Indian farmers and caused heavy damage to the environment over the years. Coming back to paddy farming, when harvested manually, the paddy stubble left behind is only a few inches high. This can easily be plowed back into the soil while sowing of the next crop. But mechanized harvesting techniques soon replaced manual harvesting as a part of the Green Revolution. The combined harvesters used now leave behind stubble which is much higher in length. This is not easy to clear. It cannot be plowed back into the soil. Hiring manual labor to remove the stubble is too expensive for farmers already burdened with debt. Mechanical equipment for removing paddy stubble is also very costly. Farmers are unwilling to spend so much money on equipment they only require for a few days each year. While the government has announced some subsidies, these are not enough to make the equipment affordable. And these subsidies are only reaching a limited number of farmers. It has also been reported that the cost of equipment has gone up since these subsidies were announced. The government and students in different universities have come up with a number of alternative uses for the paddy stubble. It can be given to paper manufacturers for making paper or power generators for converting into biomass-based energy. These solutions sound great on paper and can also bring additional income to the farmer. But so far there's not been much success in implementing them. Even if the rest of the supply chain is established and the stubble is successfully collected from farms and delivered to industries which can use them, the first step of removing the stubble is yet to be solved. So while it's easy to blame farmers for the pollution and impose fines on them, it does not solve the problem of stubble burning. And even if the problem of stubble burning is somehow completely tackled, the other pollutants in Delhi's air will not let its citizens breathe easy anytime soon.