Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Tuesday, 16 June 2026 held a detailed inter-ministerial review with Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to assess strategies for in-situ and ex-situ crop residue management and the prevention of stubble burning in Delhi-NCR and adjoining areas.

Context

Yadav stated that the review 'focused on ways and means to efficiently and effectively manage and monitor crop residue in a bid to combat air pollution in the Delhi-NCR region.' The joint session brought together the two ministries most directly responsible for both the agricultural source of the problem and its environmental consequences, alongside the statutory body mandated to coordinate regional air-quality action.

Stubble burning — the practice of setting paddy crop residue alight after harvest — is a well-documented seasonal driver of severe air pollution across Delhi-NCR every October–November. Smoke from fields in Punjab and Haryana routinely pushes the region's air quality index into the 'severe' category, triggering public-health advisories and school closures.

Policy Backdrop

The CAQM was constituted by ordinance in 2020 and granted full statutory status in 2021, specifically to bring a coordinated, multi-state approach to air-quality governance in the National Capital Region. The commission has powers to issue binding directions to state governments and agencies across Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Punjab.

A central scheme launched in 2018 has provided subsidised machinery — including happy seeders, super-SMS attachments, and bio-decomposer solutions — to farmers in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi to encourage in-situ incorporation of paddy straw rather than burning. Ex-situ alternatives, such as using crop residue as feedstock for biomass power plants and industrial boilers, have also been promoted in parallel. The Supreme Court has issued successive directions on stubble burning since 2015, including a strengthened enforcement order in 2019.

Stakeholders and Impact

Farmers in Punjab and Haryana are the primary stakeholders on the agricultural side: many continue to burn residue because it is the fastest and cheapest way to clear fields between the paddy and wheat cycles. Subsidy access, awareness of alternatives, and ground-level machinery availability remain persistent implementation challenges.

For the estimated 3 crore-plus residents of Delhi-NCR, crop-residue smoke compounds urban emission sources to produce some of the world's worst seasonal air quality. The joint review signals that the central government intends to align monitoring and enforcement protocols ahead of the 2026 paddy harvest season.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to whether the CAQM issues updated directions on machinery deployment, monitoring grids, or penalties for violations ahead of the October–November 2026 harvest window. Any expansion of subsidy coverage or introduction of new bio-decomposer programmes would need to be operationalised before the kharif harvest begins.

The inter-ministerial format of Tuesday's review — pairing environment and agriculture at the cabinet level with the CAQM — reflects a recognition that durable solutions require simultaneous action on farm economics and regulatory enforcement. How that coordination translates into field-level outcomes will be the critical test as winter approaches.