Air pollution: How stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana, UP is choking Delhi

The Punjab government has been trying to encourage the setting up of biomass power plants which can put crop stubble to good use

Mahendra Kaur, 75, has been suffering from a recurring respiratory problem for the last few years. Her trouble becomes acute in the winter, especially in the days after Diwali. That’s also the time when her husband, Joginder Singh, 80, burns the crop stubble on his 15 acres of farm land in Mohal Gwara village in Nabha Tehsil in Punjab’s Patiala. In other words, Kaur lives slap bang in the middle of the lethal smoke from farm fires that severely pollutes the National Capital Region at this time of the year. 

“My wife’s dependence on medicines has increased in the last