Every winter, capital Delhi and surrounding areas battle a haze of pollution

Every winter, capital Delhi and surrounding areas battle a haze of pollution

As pollution levels grow, so has the chasm between the country's farmers and policy-makers, who are trying to fix a broken 

system that has incentivised bulk production over the decades.

Experts say it's partly due to policies that encourage farmers to grow more and not less. A spate of farmer-friendly decisions and cheap subsidies in the 1960s turned Punjab and Haryana into India's biggest contributors of food grains.

But unlike then, India's granaries are no longer empty and the system, which has changed little, is now at loggerheads with strained efforts to clean up the air.

The solutions that haven't stuck

What complicates matters is that farmers are a crucial vote bank. That's why court orders like bans and heavy fines often remain unenforced. "The politicians who need to enforce it would have to risk the ire of thousands of farmers - which they won't do," says agricultural economist Avinash Kishore.

Meanwhile, farmers continue to avail free electricity and heavy subsidies on paddy fertiliser.

"The behaviour of farmers depends on the policies you put into place. Things like free electricity and cheap fertilisers are causing havoc," says agricultural economist Ashok Gulati.

But farmers say they get the lion's share of the blame, although their stubble is only one of many sources of Delhi's air pollution. Others include dust, industrial and vehicular emissions, and incineration.

Weather plays a role too. Farmers burn stubble twice a year - in summer and at the onset of winter. The first time they do it, the warm breeze disperses it quickly. But the second time, in September or October, plummeting temperatures and low wind speed spread the smoke far and wide.