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Delhi battles pollution during the winter.
Farmers burn crop stubble in India's capital Delhi during the winter. The fires don't stop. Why? Climate expert Mridula Ramesh writes that the answer is in water.
Air pollution in India is estimated to cost the country an estimated 95 billion dollars a year.
During the months of March to October, when the air quality in Delhi varies from good to moderate, chatter on air pollution and its causes is low.
Then comes winter. In the winter, pollution mixes vertically in the atmosphere, and the height at which this happens shrinks, raising the concentration of pollution. Two new sources join the mix. When the rains stop, the winds blow in from the northwest, carrying fumes from burning fields. Millions of people burst fire crackers to celebrate the festival of lights called the Diwali.
The spike in pollution is caused by both of these. In the first week of November 2021, stubble burning accounted for 42% of the city's PM 2.5 levels, which are tiny particles that can enter the lungs.
Governments have banned the practice, imposed fines and suggested alternate uses for the straw. Farmers burn stubble. Why?
The fields are on fire. They get between 500 and 700mm of rain a year. Many of these fields grow both paddy and wheat. Farmers use water from the ground to bridge the gap between paddy and rainfall.
India's annual municipal water requirement is 56 bcm, but the northern states of Punjab and Haryana take out roughly 48 bcm of water a year. The levels of water in these states are dropping quickly. An official estimate shows that Punjab will run out of water in 25 years.
The relationship between India and its water has deteriorated.
Farmers used to grow crops based on available water. India's tempestuous water was smoothened by tanks, inundation canals and forests.
The land began to change in the late 19th century as the British wanted to keep Russia out of India. The canals brought water to a dry land. They cut down forests to make way for railways that could carry produce from the fields. Farmers were eager to grow crops that could be sold easily because of the fixed tax. The changes made farmers believe that water could be shaped regardless of where it comes from.
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Farm fires are a major cause of air pollution.
The Indian government succumbed to the lure of the "green revolution" after independence.
Rice was a marginal crop in Punjab. It was grown on a small percentage of the fields. paddy cultivation was encouraged by showing farmers how to cheaply and conveniently tap into a new, seemingly-endless source of water that lay underground.
The flat power tariffs to run borewells were cheapened and never paid. Farmers were taught to extract water. India became food-secure in the first years of the revolution as fields began to produce paddy and wheat. The water began to stop.
Farmers were not allowed to sow and transplant paddy before the start of the monsoon due to a law. The borewells were supposed to run less in the summer.
The gap between paddy harvest and wheat sowing was shortened by the delay in paddy planting. The easiest way to clear the fields was to burn them.
India's relationship with its water is a visible symbol of the toxic smog.
The image is from the same source.
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India's water resources are drying up.
After decades of neglect, Indians need to respect their water again.
Take people's choices in farming. The hardy millet was eaten by most Indians a century ago. millets are an unattractive crop for farmers to grow due to the fact that Indians eat rice and wheat flatbreads.
Pricing water directly or through electricity that powers the borewells is seen as political suicide. As air quality improves, people, courts and political leaders have moved on.
The time bomb is still going on. The air in November might be cleaner once that runs out.
What will India do with food?
Mridula Ramesh is the author of Watershed: How We destroyed India's water and how we can save it and The Climate solution: India's Climate-Change crisis and what we can do about it.
Follow her on social media.
Asia.
The capital of India, Delhi.
India.
Air pollution.
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