Punjab and Haryana farmers pollute Delhi or is it the other way around

K Yatish Rajawat

 Expecting others to the right thing is always a losing expectation. People want everybody else to keep the city clean, everybody else should not honk, everybody else is wasting and polluting and they are creating the problem, not them. This expectation always meets with frustration, hence smart politicians sometime harness it and direct it to people not like ‘them’.   

 The nip in the Delhi air has turned into chilly winds and smog is starting to smother Delhi with pollution. The city politicians are talking about pollution plaguing again. The first blame is always on the farmers in Punjab and Haryana. Why them you may ask one because they are not part of the Delhi politicians constituency. Second, the fires that the farmers light to burn the stubble left after paddy harvesting creates smog in Delhi.

The smoke from the fire in farms blows over Delhi combines with existing pollutants already present in the air to create the deadly smog. Remember it combines with existing pollutants and smog does not allow dispersion it stays choking the citizens slowly and surely. If you want to understand all the pollutants, their source and contribution to the smog see this link here . Where do pollutants created by the denizens of city disperse, they either convert into complex pollutants and enter the water, soil or air. When they enter they air or water they move to neighboring states and areas. Delhi pollutants also travel to other states but we don't see the other states complaining or blaming the city.

Fashionistas among Delhi dwellers who need an SUV to travel 500 meters to a market in Delhi will explain to you in great earnestness that it is those farmers who are causing the pollution. By burning the rice stubble in the fields and it is choking them and their children. Their impassioned pleas crumble under data, transportation contributes 41%, industry 18%, wind blown dust over 21%. Yes, Stubble burning exacerbates the situation by preventing dispersion, but the major contributors of pollution do not go away. But Delhi politicians want the people to focus on the 15 % of the problem not the 85% as there are too many entrenched lobbies there, while the farmer does not have a voice or vote in Delhi. And he is an easy target to tar as seen fit.

Experts predict that vehicle ownership rate to grow at a staggering pace, from 22 cars per 1000 people in 2018 to 175 cars per 1000 people by 2040. According to a study by Center of Science & Environment, stubble burning reached its peak in 2016, since then it has been coming down every year, including in 2020. Punjab still has 5- 8 times more active stubble burning hotspots as compared to Haryana. This means that farmers have changed their behaviour and reduced stubble much more in Haryana than in Punjab.  

Stubble burning results in smog according to fashionistas, but it’s not so simple. Only if the stubble burning is concentrated that is a lot of farmers burn on the same day, wind is blowing towards Delhi does it result in a smog. If they disperse the stubble burning over several weeks, it may not actively contribute to the smog. But the bigger question that is still unanswered is why is the smog caused only in the city. Does the rural area also get the same level smog, a high level of concentration of PMI 2.5 concentration in the air showing toxic pollution. There is no data for the pollution in rural areas where stubble burning happens and even the adjoining areas of Delhi which are rural. The agencies which collect pollution data do not think its worthwhile to record or report data in the rural areas, as rural lives don’t matter.

If there was data on rural pollution, farmers can be told that their stubble burning is affecting the health of their family members they may make some efforts to reduce stubble burning. Instead, the state uses coercion, threats and fines to prevent stubble burning. The assumption among the policy makers is that the farmer is stupid, does not care for self-preservation and the only way to make change his behaviour is to threaten him. The government works through threats; it does not nudge change in behaviour, especially for people they don’t know. Or people that are not like them.

A farmer does not look like a policymaker or a citizen of Delhi therefore it is easy to threaten and blame him. But pollution is not a smog issue. Pollution or its indicator PMI 2.5 builds up. There is always pollution in the air it is called baseline pollution. Because of cOVID-19 lockdown, factories, industry, construction activity, and even vehicular traffic came to a stop. This was a great time to do a study on baseline pollution in Delhi, and a scientist did it.

 Gufran Beig, scientist with the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, along with DPCC, and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) analyzed data from February 20 to April 14 and prepared base level of seven pollutants for PM10, PM2.5, NO2 and SO2 among others. They published their research on October 10th, 2020.

During the lockdown period, pollution remained below the 40μg/m3 mark on most days and even touched 20μg/m3. On October 10th with the lockdown eased at 5 pm it was 95μg/m3, almost five times of the baseline.

“The baseline levels of PM10 and PM2.5 were found to be 38μg/m3 (± 8) and 22μg/m3 (± 6) respectively. They found the baseline value of NO2 to be 8ppb (± 3), which is considered being very high,” states the research paper, published on October 10.

The high baseline figures show that stubble burning is not the only issue, Delhi can raise its baseline pollution by five times without the smog or the stubble burning. Smart politicians do not want to threaten Delhites with penalties, fines, or imprisonment to change their behaviour. They want Haryana and Punjab to threaten their citizens to change.

--To be updated as and when data gets updated.