Air Pollution in India is Driven by Politics, Not Stubble Burning. Here's Why

“I can’t breathe” has been a synonymous feeling with people of North India, especially in the National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi, every winter for almost a decade. The issue flares up when smog makes the air unbreathable but it subsides once pollution level drops. 

In this context, Delhi environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa on March 1, 2025, declared a series of measures to combat pollution in the capital. From denying petrol to vehicles above 15 years old, to making installation of anti-smog guns mandatory in high-rise buildings, hotels and commercial complexes and replacing 90% of CNG buses in Delhi with electric buses in a phased manner.

However, the question that remains to be asked and is critical for any honest policy making and execution is: who is responsible for the pollution in Delhi NCR and other cities in India? Every year as winter sets in and air quality index (AQI) levels soar in Delhi, the media’s narrative around air pollution gets narrowed down to farmers from Punjab and Haryana accusing them of parali/stubble burning. 

Television debates, media reports and government advisories shift their attention on regulating farm fires around NCR, reinforcing the ‘same old’ narrative: “Had the farmers stopped burning crop residue, Delhi’s air quality would improve significantly”.

This study examines broad parameters of air pollution and the uniformity of media coverage, which often attributes rising AQI levels primarily to stubble burning while overlooking critical geographical and structural factors. Using AQI data sourced from the CPCB website, we analyse how the media’s overwhelming focus on farmers sidelines other major contributors to air pollution.

Rather than dissecting pollutant composition (such as PM2.5 concentrations), this study uses AQI trends to challenge the dominant narrative. Despite severe pollution across multiple urban centres, media coverage remains disproportionately fixated on stubble burning, raising some key questions: why does the media narrative ignore regional variations and diverse pollution sources? Why is there little engagement with factors like geography, vehicular and industrial emissions, which significantly impact AQI levels? By failing to acknowledge the complexity of pollution sources, this narrow focus distorts public understanding and policymaking, reinforcing a misleading blame game.

What if stubble burning isn’t the sole cause?

A comprehensive examination of AQI data collected through CPCB website, from the month of October 2024 to January 2025 across five major cities in India – Delhi, Mumbai, Bhopal, Lucknow and Hyderabad – presents a very different picture. 

The AQI in India categorises polluted air into six categories:

• Good (0-50 AQI)
• Satisfactory (50-100)
• Moderate (100-200)
• Poor (200-300)
• Very Poor (300-400)
• Severe (400-500) 

Cities such as Bhopal, Lucknow and Mumbai, with practically no stubble burning cases, have been experiencing poor air quality as well. Moreover, Delhi’s AQI remains tremendously high even after the stubble burning season gets over, proving that pollution is unrelated to farm fires and farmers aren’t the major cause behind it.  

Vehicular emissions, unregulated construction dust, thermal-power plants and poorly planned urban development – these year-round factors degrade air quality far more than farm fires, yet receive far less media and policy attention. Instead, farmers, already vulnerable and disadvantaged, become the easy target.

In order to address the air pollution crisis, we need to shift our focus on structural issues; blaming farmers is not the solution.

For our study, we collected reports from October 15 to December 15, 2024. Our findings highlight a media bias with many articles from reputed organisations repeatedly framing stubble burning as the primary contributor to Delhi’s pollution. 

Here are a few of such headlines:

‘Punjab, Haryana commit to eliminate stubble burning this winter’: This frames farm fires as a major pollution problem, with government pledges to address it. (Source: The Hindu, October 15, 2024).

‘What is parali and why is it linked to Delhi’s air pollution?’: This explains stubble burning’s role in Delhi’s pollution but does not address other major contributors. (Source: Times of India, October 15, 2024)

‘Stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana haunts national capital’: This uses strong language to depict farm fires as a crisis for Delhi. (Source: India Today, September 24, 2024)

‘Padosi, parali & pollution problem, haze thickens, Delhi’s despair deepens’: This poses stubble burning as the principal cause for Delhi’s pollution crisis (Source: Mirror Now, October 16, 2024)

Meanwhile, reports by Down to Earth and Scroll have presented an alternative narrative focusing on the real contributors. Here are the headlines:

‘Delhi cannot hide behind its smokescreen anymore’: A pre-winter analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) reflects Delhi’s air pollution is caused by vehicles and not stubble burning (Source: Down to Earth, October 30, 2024). 

‘Law to curb air pollution made toothless by Centre, says SC in stubble burning case’: The article questions the effectiveness of existing policies in addressing pollution beyond stubble burning. (Source: Scroll, October 23, 2024). 

‘Air pollution responsible for 16 lakh deaths in India in 2021: Lancet report’: This broadens the conversation on air pollution beyond stubble burning, linking it to serious health impacts nationwide (Source: Scroll, October 30, 2024).

Exposing the bias

The tables below shows the number of days falling within specific AQI ranges based on

India’s AQI classification. For instance, in 2024, Mumbai had only one day in October when the AQI fell within the ‘good’ category till January. Similarly, this dataset is a collaborative effort to illustrate the AQI levels across various cities between October to January.

Good (0-50 AQI)

Satisfactory (51-100 AQI)

Moderate (101-200 AQI)

 Poor (201-300 AQI)

Very Poor (301-400 AQI)

Severe (401-500 AQI)

Source: CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board)

An oversimplified narrative across TV debates has been played a role in falsely presenting stubble burning as the principal cause for Delhi’s pollution crisis. However, an analysis by CSE highlighted that 50.1% of the pollution is contributed through transportation, while stubble burning contributes only 8.9% to it. 

Vehicular emissions take up 14% of the pollution contributors. As a result, while cities like Mumbai, Bhopal and Lucknow, which have zero to no farm fires, stay out of the pollution debate, they too struggle with poor air quality. 

This shows that the media’s narrative on air pollution is not only unbalanced but it is also deprived of data-backed investigation, and selectively targeting farmers. 

Interestingly, while news articles between October and November modestly blamed farmers of Punjab and Haryana with headlines like “Stubble burning on the rise in Punjab and Haryana; Delhi’s air quality dips” (The Hindu) and “Stubble Burning Season Starts: Get ready for bad air in Delhi-NCR from next month” (The Economic Times), from December to January, the blame shifted elsewhere. 

Then, the headlines were like, “Farm fires rise in M.P., drop in Punjab, Haryana”(The Hindu), “Delhi air pollution: As contribution of stubble burning declines, local emissions need better management”(Down To Earth) and “Delhi’s air crisis is not just due to farm fires. It’s our own garbage, cars”. (India Today)

Although parallel reports were highlighting that as Punjab and Haryana reported a decline in farm fires, Delhi’s AQI remained alarmingly severe​. This proves that pollution is not due to stubble burning alone but a result of systemic urban pollution. Yet, over the years, mainstream media has reduced the problem to mere blame-game.

As September approaches along with the stubble burning season, the media starts tracking AQI levels of Delhi and once farm fires extinguish so does their coverage of air pollution.

It ignores major pollution sources such as vehicular emissions, which account for 52% of the national capital’s pollution levels. Delhi has 1.2 crore registered vehicles, including 33.8 lakh private cars. Industries contribute 11% and the dust-heavy construction sector adds 7%. In contrast, data from the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology shows stubble burning contributes just 1.3% to Delhi’s pollution.

Moreover, a study by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air found that NCR’s thermal power plants emit 281 kilotonnes of sulphur dioxide annually – 16 times more than the emissions from burning 8.9 million tonnes of paddy straw in Punjab and Haryana. With coal still supplying over 70% of India’s electricity, EV adoption targets for cleaner transport are undermined by the fact that 33.6% of Delhi’s electricity – and a staggering 95% of Mumbai’s – comes from coal-fired power plants.

In recent years, other cities like Mumbai (AQI 208 in November 2024), Bhopal (above 300 in winter months) and Lucknow (AQI 306 in November 2024) reported severe air pollution too but the national media outrage remains fixated on Delhi. 

Reports even suggest farmers adjusted burning times to evade NASA satellite detection. If similar methods were known in Madhya Pradesh, media scrutiny might have shifted. Yet, Punjab and Haryana farmers remain the default scapegoats for NCR’s pollution crisis.

AQI trends across cities

Our AQI analysis, which was accessed through CPCB’s official website, for cities such as Bhopal, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Mumbai and New Delhi from October 15 to January 31 reveals air pollution as a major urban problem which can only be tackled by addressing core systemic mechanisms. Band-aid solutions for a certain time/season is not going to resolve the crisis neither whopping AQI a winter only problem.

The focus should be on eliminating more localised sources of pollution by implementing anti-pollution measures year-round. A report by Outlook Business, highlighted that GRAP (The Graded Response Action Plan) has effectively managed air quality in the NCR, demonstrating that primary pollution sources – vehicular emissions, construction activities, and industrial operations – must be controlled. Implementing GRAP-III and GRAP-IV measures is essential for maintaining stable air quality in large urban centres. 

Mumbai, despite its coastal location, too experienced severe AQI levels in November, primarily due to post-Diwali firecracker emissions, vehicular and construction-related pollution. This reinstates that factors beyond stubble burning contribute to pollution spikes. 

Data between October and December 2024 reveals that Mumbai’s AQI levels ranged from 120 to 258, placing it in the ‘very poor’ category, as per a report by Deccan Herald. The identification of specific high-pollution zones within Mumbai underscores the role of local sources rather than external and seasonal factors like stubble burning.

Bhopal garnered attention this November but unlike Delhi it did not feature in national TV debates. Reports highlighted a rise in stubble-burning cases in Madhya Pradesh – which surpassed Punjab, recording over 10,000 incidents, while there was a reduction in Punjab and Haryana. However, Bhopal’s air quality issues stem from vehicular emissions, construction dust, and industrial pollutants, similar to Mumbai. 

According to UNICEF data, one in five of all infant deaths in the region in 2021 were linked to air pollution, and therefore, taking urgent measures is the need of the hour. The problem is more political than environmental and by shifting blame on farmers and benefiting a handful of people, we are risking more lives year after year. 

Hyderabad emerged as an urban city that consistently recorded better AQI levels last year, mostly ranging between 60-100, with the highest only reaching 120. This indicates that proactive pollution control measures, better urban planning and natural geographical advantages which play a crucial role in maintaining air quality. 

A recent study highlighted that Hyderabad’s air quality has improved over the past five years, reinforcing the impact of sustained governance efforts. Unlike other metropolitan areas, Hyderabad benefits from lower industrial emissions, better green cover and relatively favourable geographical conditions, all of which contribute to its relatively stable AQI. However, despite these improvements, the city’s air pollution levels are still above WHO’s recommended limits, signalling that no single factor can entirely eliminate urban pollution. 

Hyderabad’s case underscores the need for a more nuanced understanding of pollution. If media discourse were to reflect this complexity, public perception and policy priorities would shift toward a more holistic and effective approach to air quality management.

The politics of pollution looks out for an easy villain conveniently targeting the farmers but in reality it willingly ignores the sources of pollution. It is not very hard to interpret and analyse the existing literature that points towards the reasons for the air we breathe. 

However, by ignoring it, the policy makers and governments have indicated whose side they are on. This is the precise reason why the air pollution problem is just a smoke screen where the government names a villain for media circus, while shielding the real culprits. 

No policy can succeed if the root cause is not identified and designing responses like anti-smog guns, purifiers and EVs are only enough to delay the inevitable – air that we cannot breathe anymore. 

Note: The CPCB monitors air quality in collaboration with State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs), Pollution Control Committees (PCCs), and other agencies while revealing an average AQI of a city.   

N Sai Balaji, Independent Climate Researcher and Seemantika Satee, Research Associate.