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Some specific points that may be lost in the headline / cursory reading of the article: 1) India as a whole is overpopulated and has a pollution problem. This

Some specific points that may be lost in the headline / cursory reading of the article: 1) India as a whole is overpopulated and has a pollution problem. This particular issue is limited to Delhi, however. 2) From the perspective of the magnitude and extreme levels of pollution, this is a seasonal issue whose primary contributor, by a large margin, is farmers burning off their crop stubble after their harvest ends. This has been happening every year for some time (more on this below). 3) Political ideologues have hijacked this issue to push their pet issues like automobile emissions and firecrackers. These are obviously important issues which most reasonable people will agree ought to be curbed. Sadly a lot of otherwise intelligent folks have a blind spot when it comes to these issues, so there is a temptation to let it slide when these kinds of politics are being played dishonestly, even though their motivations are different. By emphasizing one's biased issues, the root cause is ignored, which helps nobody. On stubble burning: There was a time when sowing paddy in the neighbouring state of Punjab began during the first week of June. Harvest season would be mid October, and sowing would resume in late November. During the period between October and November, farmers would let the stubble decompose over time. This required a lot of water and time. Unfortunately this took a toll on groundwater levels. Government intervention led to a reduction in water supplies to the fields during the summer (June), when there was a shortage of water across the state. This led to a delay in the sowing season (moved to July). The entire crop cycle got moved up, and so the time previously available to allow decomposition of stubble had reduced to barely a few days. Their solution to this problem was to burn all the stubble.

harryxps 7y ago
A nice overview of what recently (2009) changed and what's changing now (2018-19) and the related politics by Shekhar Gupta: https://youtu.be/OAnSS6rdJCA https://youtu.be/OAnSS6rdJCA
gus_massa 7y ago
Have you tried "no-till farming"? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-till_farming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-till_farming It's very popular here in Argentina, and it reuse the stover. [Disclaimer: I live in a city (Buenos Aires), but at least I have a few flowerpots.]
- primitivesuave 7y ago
  I travel to India every other month for my job. Most agriculture happens on small farms by poor and uneducated people. Introducing new technology and agricultural practices is difficult but is certainly underway in parts of the country. There is also a lack of political will to solve the problem in the particular case of Delhi and its neighboring state of Punjab, and as the parent comment suggested, there is very much a tendency to sow disinformation by those highest up.
  - luckydata 7y ago
    Introducing new technologies is difficult with the supposedly highly educated American farmers. Reality is, farmers worldwide are awfully anti-intellectual with a strong contrarian streak and rarely listen to science, even if ironically science has given them their way of life in the form of fertilizers, GMOs etc... Source: I worked for an ag-tech company and I will never EVER have anything to do again with anything that has to do with that world.
    - briandear 7y ago
      American farmers are anti-intellectual and rarely listen to science? Citation is really needed, because that’s not what reality shows. It’s very true that farmers are risk adverse, but that’s for good reason: it takes years for “discoveries” to be vetted and people aren’t going to literally bet the farm on trendy tech until it’s proven. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/06/business/farming-technology-agriculture.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/06/business/farming-technolo...
      - mycall 7y ago
        American farmers are extremely innovative, today and throughout history. Hell, they invented TV.
        luckydata 7y ago
        American farmers are grease monkeys, they like big machines but know approx. jack squat about agronomy. If I could have a dollar for all the nitrogen farmers waste because they don't know how to manage soil properly I would be a goddamn trillionaire.
krtkush 7y ago
> This particular issue is limited to Delhi Great write-up! But, this issue is not limited to Delhi; the whole of north India is under severe pollution. Delhi gets highlighted the most because it's the capital of the country.
- fareesh 7y ago
  Yeah that is true I should have been more accurate
paulsutter 7y ago
South Korea and Taiwan have higher population density than India, and Japan is not far off (517/km, 652/km, 412/km, and 334/km, respectively) > 1) India as a whole is overpopulated...
- BurningFrog 7y ago
  Yeah, I've come to believe that the word "overpopulation" just doesn't mean anything. I would rather say Indian society is badly organized.
  - Peckingjay 7y ago
    And a lot poorer overall, which certainly doesn't help. GDP(PPP) per capita for India was 7874 in 2018. Versus 41351, 44227 and 53023 for South Korea, Japan and Taiwan respectively. These countries that manage their high population density pretty well are also much smaller (Japan is around 10 times smaller than India) and it is much easier to optimize/organize on a smaller scale.
    - BurningFrog 7y ago
      The way I think of it, India's pollution and poverty are both caused by their society not organized well. I believe South Korea was poorer than India in living memory!
      - rayiner 7y ago
        When my dad was born in what was then Pakistan in 1951, South Korea was about as poor as India and Pakistan. Today, it’s as rich as France.
        pen2l 7y ago
        Just curious: Have you visited China in recent time? The past few years it's made incredible gains, and it continues moving at a blazing speed. I think one force that can encourage Pakistan to move forward is China. I don't know if Pakistan can have its own Samsung, but it can maybe 'modernize' with China's help. Would you agree?
kamaal 7y ago
>>This particular issue is limited to Delhi, however. Not anymore. Pretty much a huge chunk of North India is in trouble now. Delhi is where the peak problem is manifesting. Our media has other pointless issues to rant on than show problems in smaller towns and cities, that doesn't mean the problem is only in Delhi.

harryxps 7y ago

A nice overview of what recently (2009) changed and what's changing now (2018-19) and the related politics by Shekhar Gupta: https://youtu.be/OAnSS6rdJCA https://youtu.be/OAnSS6rdJCA

gus_massa 7y ago

Have you tried "no-till farming"? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-till_farming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-till_farming It's very popular here in Argentina, and it reuse the stover. [Disclaimer: I live in a city (Buenos Aires), but at least I have a few flowerpots.]

primitivesuave 7y ago
I travel to India every other month for my job. Most agriculture happens on small farms by poor and uneducated people. Introducing new technology and agricultural practices is difficult but is certainly underway in parts of the country. There is also a lack of political will to solve the problem in the particular case of Delhi and its neighboring state of Punjab, and as the parent comment suggested, there is very much a tendency to sow disinformation by those highest up.
- luckydata 7y ago
  Introducing new technologies is difficult with the supposedly highly educated American farmers. Reality is, farmers worldwide are awfully anti-intellectual with a strong contrarian streak and rarely listen to science, even if ironically science has given them their way of life in the form of fertilizers, GMOs etc... Source: I worked for an ag-tech company and I will never EVER have anything to do again with anything that has to do with that world.
  - briandear 7y ago
    American farmers are anti-intellectual and rarely listen to science? Citation is really needed, because that’s not what reality shows. It’s very true that farmers are risk adverse, but that’s for good reason: it takes years for “discoveries” to be vetted and people aren’t going to literally bet the farm on trendy tech until it’s proven. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/06/business/farming-technology-agriculture.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/06/business/farming-technolo...
    - mycall 7y ago
      American farmers are extremely innovative, today and throughout history. Hell, they invented TV.
      - luckydata 7y ago
        American farmers are grease monkeys, they like big machines but know approx. jack squat about agronomy. If I could have a dollar for all the nitrogen farmers waste because they don't know how to manage soil properly I would be a goddamn trillionaire.

krtkush 7y ago

> This particular issue is limited to Delhi Great write-up! But, this issue is not limited to Delhi; the whole of north India is under severe pollution. Delhi gets highlighted the most because it's the capital of the country.

fareesh 7y ago
Yeah that is true I should have been more accurate

paulsutter 7y ago

South Korea and Taiwan have higher population density than India, and Japan is not far off (517/km, 652/km, 412/km, and 334/km, respectively) > 1) India as a whole is overpopulated...

BurningFrog 7y ago
Yeah, I've come to believe that the word "overpopulation" just doesn't mean anything. I would rather say Indian society is badly organized.
- Peckingjay 7y ago
  And a lot poorer overall, which certainly doesn't help. GDP(PPP) per capita for India was 7874 in 2018. Versus 41351, 44227 and 53023 for South Korea, Japan and Taiwan respectively. These countries that manage their high population density pretty well are also much smaller (Japan is around 10 times smaller than India) and it is much easier to optimize/organize on a smaller scale.
  - BurningFrog 7y ago
    The way I think of it, India's pollution and poverty are both caused by their society not organized well. I believe South Korea was poorer than India in living memory!
    - rayiner 7y ago
      When my dad was born in what was then Pakistan in 1951, South Korea was about as poor as India and Pakistan. Today, it’s as rich as France.
      - pen2l 7y ago
        Just curious: Have you visited China in recent time? The past few years it's made incredible gains, and it continues moving at a blazing speed. I think one force that can encourage Pakistan to move forward is China. I don't know if Pakistan can have its own Samsung, but it can maybe 'modernize' with China's help. Would you agree?

kamaal 7y ago

>>This particular issue is limited to Delhi, however. Not anymore. Pretty much a huge chunk of North India is in trouble now. Delhi is where the peak problem is manifesting. Our media has other pointless issues to rant on than show problems in smaller towns and cities, that doesn't mean the problem is only in Delhi.