Measuring Stubble Burning: The 'Fire Count' vs. 'Burnt Area' Debate
UPSC Relevance
Prelims: Environment (Air Pollution, Stubble Burning, Particulate Matter); Science & Technology (Remote Sensing, Satellites - MODIS, VIIRS, Sentinel-2); Agriculture; Government Schemes.
Mains:
General Studies Paper 3 (Environment): "Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment." (Air pollution from stubble burning is a core topic).
General Studies Paper 3 (Science & Technology): "Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life"; "Awareness in the fields of Space" (Application of remote sensing technology for governance and monitoring).
General Studies Paper 3 (Economy/Agriculture): "Major crops cropping patterns in various parts of the country"; "Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies" (The paddy-wheat cycle is the root cause).
Key Highlights from the News
Stubble burning (burning of agricultural residue) in Punjab's paddy fields continues to be a major cause of air pollution in North India, especially Delhi.
Farmers are forced to burn residue due to the short time window between harvesting paddy and sowing wheat.
Government figures show a 70% decrease in the number of fire counts.
A significant contradiction: Although the number of incidents decreased, satellite data indicates that the total burnt area is not decreasing; in fact, it is slightly increasing.
Reason for this contradiction: Technical limitations in data collection.
The government primarily uses thermal sensors to count the number of fires. These are ineffective in the presence of clouds and fog and may not detect small, low-intensity fires.
However, examining burn scars after a fire using optical sensors (e.g., Sentinel-2) provides a more accurate estimate of the total area burnt.
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