Madhya Pradesh tops in paddy residue burning, incidents dip in Haryana, UP

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The stubble burning incidents is linked with paddy harvesting, and it varies from year to year due to the transplanting period selection and local weather factors

By BL New Delhi Bureau

Updated - October 17, 2026 at 04:53 AM. | New Delhi

Driven by a twofold rise in farm fires, Madhya Pradesh now leads the country in stubble burning, which is a key driver behind the rise in air pollution during this season in northern India. Haryana and Uttar Pradesh reported a drop in incidents, Punjab remained virtually unchanged, and Rajasthan saw a spike of more than 30 per cent.

After paddy harvesting started from September 15, as many as 793 incidents of crop residue burning have been reported until October 15 against 724 in the year-ago period, according to IARI’s Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modeling from Space (CREAMS), which monitors it on a daily basis until November 30.

Total incidents in Madhya Pradesh in the past month reached 350 against 138, whereas Punjab has seen 185 against 176 a year ago, and 134 stubble burning incidents, compared with 271 a year ago, have been reported from Uttar Pradesh. Rajasthan’s total paddy straw burning cases are up at 99 from 75.

Real challenge

On the other hand, Haryana has reported 8 cases, down from 25 year-ago and Uttarakhand 16 incidents against 36 last year until October 15. Delhi has only one case so far on September 19 in north areas of the city, bordering Haryana.

Paddy harvest is delayed this year in some parts of Uttar Pradesh due to rains received in September and also subsequent floods.

The stubble burning incidents is linked with paddy harvesting, and it varies from year to year due to the transplanting period selection and local weather factors.

It gets delayed or preponed so many experts do not accept the year-ago comparison. Nevertheless, the number of incidents itself shows the missing link between farmers’ action and government’s schemes.

The real challenge will come when paddy harvesting picks up after Diwali that will be celebrated November 8, said an expert adding the winter will also set in by then in the northern states. Wheat sowing activities normally start from first week of November in Punjab and Haryana and any delay in paddy harvesting normally results in stubble burning due to less time to prepare the field and also to save cost on manual labour.

Cautioning complacency

Expressing concern over the increase in stubble-burning incidents in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on October 13 directed both States to identify the affected districts and villages and immediately implement special action plans to address the situation.

He had emphasised that even states that had achieved a reduction in incidents must not become complacent and should maintain complete vigilance as a substantial portion of harvesting was still pending.

Chouhan had co-chaired a meeting with Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav where both had made it clear that very little time remained between the completion of crop harvesting and the sowing of rabi crops.

“Therefore, the administrative machinery must move beyond files and take action directly on the ground on a war footing. They issued firm directions for district-level collectors to convene meetings promptly, strengthen monitoring and ensure that practical solutions were implemented without delay,” an official statement had said.

The Centre has so far provided states with more than 3.54 lakh crop residue management machines, including 26,109 new machines during current fiscal. The Centre has also released ₹430.87 crore out of an allocation of ₹592.57 crore to States under the Crop Residue Management (CRM) scheme in 2026–27 fiscal.

Chouhan has also stressed on the need to encourage improved, short-duration paddy varieties, such as Pusa 2090 and PR126, in place of longer-duration varieties like Pusa-44 as that would allow farmers to harvest their crops earlier and provide sufficient time to clear their fields for wheat sowing.

Published on October 16, 2026

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