SC: Blaming farmers for smog misleading, demands accountability from Central govt

In a sharp intervention during a hearing on Delhi-NCR’s deteriorating air quality, the Supreme Court on Monday questioned the Centre and the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) over the continuing failure to improve pollution levels despite years of action plans and emergency measures. The bench, led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, stressed that the narrative blaming farmers for the National Capital’s hazardous smog has become “misleading and counterproductive”.

- AIMAN FATIMA

The court noted that stubble burning was prevalent even during the COVID-19 lockdowns, a period when Delhi's skies were remarkably clear. This, the bench said, proves that crop-residue fires cannot be singled out as the primary cause of the region's annual pollution crisis. “Farmers are hardly represented in these proceedings. It is incorrect to make them the face of the problem,” the CJI observed.

The judges emphasised that the issue must not be turned into a political contest or an “ego battle,” and added that farmers must be assisted with machinery and sensitisation rather than vilified.