Farm fires: Curbing pollution demands more than policing

WITH the paddy harvest season underway, Punjab once again finds itself at the centre of the farm fire crisis. Despite the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) deploying over 10,000 field staff and the government’s mass outreach campaigns, the spectre of stubble burning remains. The Supreme Court’s stern observations on pollution add urgency, but the question persists: are current measures enough? On the face of it, there is progress. Farm fires in Punjab have declined over the past few years and the state has targeted an ambitious 80–85 per cent reduction. FIRs have been lodged against violators, environmental fines imposed and flying squads dispatched to vulnerable districts. The administration hopes these deterrents, coupled with awareness campaigns, will keep incidents low.

Yet the persistence of fires, particularly concentrated in Amritsar and Tarn Taran, shows the challenge runs deeper. For farmers, stubble burning is not simply a matter of defiance but a question of livelihood and timing. Clearing fields quickly for the next crop leaves them with little practical alternative. Subsidised machinery for stubble management, though distributed, is often expensive to operate and difficult to access for small landholders. Compensation packages and incentives remain patchy, failing to outweigh the short-term convenience of burning.

This is where enforcement collides with empathy. Criminalising farmers may provide a temporary dip in numbers, but without a viable economic model, the practice will resurface. What Punjab and neighbouring states require is a coordinated national strategy — one that links financial support, mechanisation and market innovation. For example, incentivising industries to use paddy straw as raw material could transform waste into wealth. The SC’s pressure is justified, for the surrounding areas — leading up to Delhi-NCR — cannot be left to choke. But only when policies reflect farmers’ constraints as much as the environment’s needs will the cycle of smoke finally be broken.