Explained: Why it is unfair to blame Punjab farmers alone for the pollution in Delhi

It is just that paddy stubble is burned in Punjab and Haryana at the onset of the winter season, when there is a rise in the moisture in the air, wind speed is very slow or calm, and the height of the boundary layer is less.

Experts have, however, repeatedly underlined that the health emergency in the region is owed only in part to the actions of farmers in Punjab and Haryana — and is in fact, the product of a complex mix that includes, apart from stubble-burning, meteorological and atmospheric factors, road and construction dust, and automobile emissions, etc. (File)

As a vast swathe of the North Indian plains gasp for breath and the search for a solution to the air quality problem is lost in the fog of allegations and fingerpointing by rival political parties, much of the blame has come to be placed on Punjab and the stubble-burning in the fields ahead of the rabi sowing season.