2024 Volume 27 Issue 1 Pages 3-12
The Delhi metropolitan area experiences severe air pollution every year in late October or early November. Corresponding to this period, post-harvest rice stubble burning is widely practiced in the surrounding states of Punjab (India) and Haryana, and in some parts of Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. The Research Institute for Humanity and Nature’s (RIHN’s) Aakash Project, a cooperative project between Japan and India, has been tackling the issue of air pollution from large-scale rice stubble burning in the Indian Punjab region. The project was launched as an RIHN full research project in April 2020 and will continue until March 2025. This project scientifically examines the connection between stubble burning in the Punjab and severe air pollution in Delhi. Based on this scientific understanding, we will pursue a pathway of social transformation toward clean air, public health and sustainable agriculture. We are approaching stakeholders/involved parties to raise awareness regarding farmer/community behavior that is relevant to stubble burning and air pollution. So far, under the project, we have successfully conducted campaign-based measurements using about 30 small air-pollution measurement devices in the field in 2022 and clarified the linkage between stubble burning in the Punjab and severe air pollution in Delhi. To clarify the goals of our activities, this paper focuses on the underlying issues at stake, describes the current research and findings, and discusses possible mitigation measures. At the end of the project, we aim to make recommendations for creating a sustainable agricultural system that reduces rice-stubble burning.
