00:00Okay, let's turn then back home to our special focus today and our special focus today
00:05is an issue that recurs year after year with seemingly no real solutions because
00:14in this first week of November, just days ahead of Diwali, the national capital's air pollution
00:22has once again worsened. The AQI, the air quality index on October 29th was 222 which is considered
00:32poor. There were two days of relief October 30 and 31st due to rains. On 1st November, AQI back at
00:39261
00:40poor category. Today it has jumped up further 350 which is considered very poor. So the country's
00:50national capital, very poor air quality index, some of the most polluted cities remain in the
00:56country at the moment. The Delhi Environment Minister though is saying don't blame us, blame the previous
01:03Kejriwal government in Delhi which was in power for 10 years and is also blaming farm stubble burning
01:11in Punjab. Smaller farmers in Punjab are claiming they have no option but to burn the stubble to get
01:20their fields ready for the next harvest season. While the data does show that there is a dramatic
01:27fall in the number of farm fires in Punjab since 2020, NASA's satellite images continue to reveal
01:36that the farm fires haven't entirely gone away and they are also in Pakistan's Punjab area from where
01:43they could move here to India. So we are going to discuss that in a moment but first take a
01:50look at
01:50this ground report from Kamaljeet Singh Sandhu, the stubble burning and its impact on worsening air quality.
02:04Delhi chokes again. Over 400 kilometres away, the paddy fields of Punjab have started to burn. Satellite data and ground
02:13reports show the number of fires is climbing.
02:16As of November 2nd, Punjab has already recorded 1,612 farm fires. Making matters worse is stubble burning across the
02:26border in Pakistani Punjab,
02:27which recorded 13,241 fires. The fire hotspots in Pakistan are concentrated in districts around Lahore.
02:37As the next season draws closer, small and marginal farmers say they are forced to burn stubble.
02:44There is no issue of pollution, it is a political issue of governments.
03:03Farmers say Punjab is being blamed unnecessarily.
03:28Meanwhile, there has been a big reduction in stubble burning. Roughly 90 to 94 percent drop from the 2020 peak,
03:35which saw 83,000 fires to 5,114 in 2025.
04:06Several farmers still resort to stubble burning, leading to pollution not just in Punjab and Haryana,
04:11but also in Delhi. Now, many, especially in the Ahmadi Party say, how is the stubble burning reaching way back
04:19in Delhi?
04:20There is Haryana in between, but the instances of stubble burning have reduced.
04:24However, they still continue to happen. For instance, there are 700 cases, many of them being hotspots,
04:31especially in Tarantaran and Amritsar area, but also in far-flung areas like Sangroor is where stubble burning is taking
04:38place.
04:38With camera person Gunjeet, this is Kamaljeet Sandhu in Sangroor for India Today.
