Stub It Out

The dark stillness of the fields after sunset is broken by the brillia­nce of fire. On a patch of land, some two kilometers from the highway near Shahbab, a town in the Kurukshetra district of Haryana, a solitary farmer uses his pitchfork to scoop tufts of burning stubble and spread the fire. “I have to burn the field today,” he says. “Tomorrow’s prediction shows rain. I had planned to not burn my field this year and employ labour to remove the stubble, but then came this warning. If the stubble gets wet in rain, I won’t be able to plant wheat next week!” He politely declines to tell us his name. He doesn’t want to get into trouble. They’ve been imposing fines for crop burning. Follow this story and more: https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine...

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