Hello friends, in today's post, you will know about the cause of the Delhi pollution problem, so let's know what are its causes, and what are the problems?? Let's analyze this topic here, we are focusing only on Delhi. But the truth is that air pollution is a national issue. Which covers the entire North Indian region – from Punjab, Haryana, Delhi to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and even West Bengal. If you look at the Central Pollution Control Board data as of October 20, 2019, Varanasi becomes the city of the country. Call it luck or bad luck of Delhi, the most polluted city of India.
What is SAFAR?
There is a government agency called SAFAR which comes under the aegis of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, whose full form is System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting (SYSTEM OF AIR QUALITY AND WEATHER FORECASTING) This government agency monitors air quality and much more about it. He does all the research.
The main reason for pollution in Delhi:
As of November 1, 2019, according to SAFAR data, 46 percent of the pollution in Delhi today is attributed to stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana. Incidents of stubble burning have declined between 2016-18 but increased by 40% in 2019. And every time there is a lot of pollution due to stubble burning.
Have you ever wondered that what is the reason for burning the stubble and why before that the stubble was not burnt in Punjab, Haryana?
The reason behind this is simple: when the harvesters did not come, farmers had to harvest their crops, so they used to harvest them manually. The farmers harvested the crops one by one. Mechanical harvesters became popular in the 1990s. When they harvest, they leave behind crop stalks that are about 2 feet high.
They do not cut the crops near the ground. They cut it from above 2 feet. This leads to the presence of stalk residues inside the soil. Farmers set the whole field on fire, instead of cutting off the remaining stalks to save their time and money. In order to grow a new batch of crops as soon as possible, stubble burning became even more popular after 2009.
When the Punjab and Haryana governments passed a law for water conservation, they directed (farmers) to sow crops till the monsoon season. If farmers delay sowing, then the time between the harvesting of the previous crop and the sowing of the next crop is also delayed.
Then the farmers thought that the easiest way is to set fire to the stubble because there is a gap of a few days between the harvesting of the last crop and the season for sowing new crops.
People raised the issue due to pollution
When the issue of pollution started being raised in the last few years, and people realized that stubble burning causes pollution, the governments of Punjab and Haryana tried different ways to curb stubble burning. It was a fine of 5000/acre but it proved to be ineffective and unsuccessful as many farmers felt that it would be cheaper to pay the fine than not to set fire to their fields.
Another solution proposed is that instead of burning all the stubble, we could plant it in a biomass plant and generate electricity. It is estimated that if we don't burn all the stubble, about 2500 GW of electricity a year can be produced but this solution is also not being implemented properly and no incentive is being given that will help it to be implemented in some places attempts have been made to do so. But it is not being adopted on a large scale.
Another reason for high pollution in Delhi
Problems caused by pollution in Delhi:
- Shortness of breath
- Asthma
- People getting sick often