Suffocating scene: A tractor passing by burning stubble in a rice field at a village in Karnal, Haryana. — Reuters
At least 16 farmers have been arrested in India’s northern state of Haryana for illegally burning paddy stubble to clear fields, a practice that stokes air pollution in the region around New Delhi at the onset of winter, authorities said.
India’s national capital region battles pollution at this time each year as temperatures fall and cold, heavy air traps construction dust, vehicle emissions and smoke, much of which authorities say travels from the neighbouring breadbasket states of Punjab and Haryana.
