{"id":31324,"date":"2024-10-24T17:44:03","date_gmt":"2024-10-24T12:14:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=31324"},"modified":"2024-10-24T17:44:04","modified_gmt":"2024-10-24T12:14:04","slug":"stubble-burning-violates-article-21-sc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/24-10-2024\/stubble-burning-violates-article-21-sc","title":{"rendered":"Stubble Burning Violates Article 21: SC"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/ Environment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Supreme Court emphasized that stubble burning violates citizens&#8217; fundamental right to live in a pollution-free environment, guaranteed under<strong> Article 21<\/strong> of the Constitution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The court raised concerns regarding the actions taken by the <strong>Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM).<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It also pointed out that a proper machinery for collection of fines under Section 15 of the <strong>Environment (Protection) Act, 1986<\/strong> had not been formulated.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is Stubble Burning?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It is the practice of<strong> intentionally setting fire to the crop residue (stubble) <\/strong>that remains in the fields after the harvest of grains like rice, wheat, and other cereals.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The method is commonly used in North India, especially in <strong>Punjab and Haryana<\/strong> to quickly clear their fields and prepare them for the next sowing season.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The smoke from stubble burning contains harmful pollutants like <strong>particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), carbon monoxide, and greenhouse gases,<\/strong> contributing significantly to air pollution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Reasons for Stubble Burning<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Cost-effectiveness: <\/strong>It is a quick and cheap method of clearing large fields.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Time-saving: <\/strong>Especially in areas with short windows between harvesting and sowing seasons.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Limited Alternatives:<\/strong> Farmers may lack access to affordable machinery that can remove stubble effectively.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why is Delhi more Polluted than other Metropolitan cities?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>First, Delhi&#8217;s location in the<strong> Indo-Gangetic plain traps pollutants<\/strong> due to its geography and surrounding mountains prevent dispersal of pollutants.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Second, <strong>Stubble burning <\/strong>by the nearby states releases massive amounts of smoke, which drifts towards Delhi and worsen air quality during late autumn and early winter.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Third, <strong>Industrial and vehicular emissions<\/strong> worsen the atmosphere more.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fourth, Delhi experiences<strong> temperature inversion during winters<\/strong>, where cooler air traps pollutants close to the ground.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ebecf0\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM)<\/strong><br>&#8211; <strong>CAQM<\/strong> was constituted under the <strong>Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Act, 2021.<\/strong><br>&#8211; <strong>Objective: <\/strong>The Act provides for the constitution of a Commission for better coordination, research, identification, and resolution of problems related to air quality in the National Capital Region (NCR) and adjoining areas.\u00a0<br>&#8211; <strong>Powers<\/strong> of the Commission include;<br>1. <strong>Restricting activities<\/strong> influencing air quality,\u00a0<br>2. <strong>Preparing codes and guidelines<\/strong> to prevent and control air pollution,<br>3. <strong>Issuing directions<\/strong> on matters including inspections, or regulation <strong>which will be binding<\/strong> on the concerned person or authority.\u00a0\u00a0<br>4. The Commission <strong>may impose and collect environmental compensation<\/strong> from farmers causing pollution by stubble burning prescribed by the central government.\u00a0<br>5. The Commission issues orders to combat air pollution in NCR under the <strong>Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).<\/strong><br>&#8211; In case of <strong>any conflict<\/strong>, the orders or directions of the Commission will prevail over the orders of the respective state governments, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), state PCBs, and state-level statutory bodies.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/suprene-court-pulls-up-centre-for-making-environmental-laws-toothless-says-penalty-provision-not-implemented\/article68786230.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Supreme Court emphasized that stubble burning violates citizens&#8217; fundamental right to live in a pollution-free environment, guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31324"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31325,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31324\/revisions\/31325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}