[ramzsys]

Originally Posted by RM Motorsports

There are also farmers who are super-duper rich too, but majority of them are on poorer side. Again in contract farming if the produce is not upto buyers mark, everything is rejected or bought at dirt cheap price.

The chorus in the society about farmers being poor and getting raw end of the deal - while it's certainly true that they are suffering, there is another aspect to this.

Food is cheaper in India- MSP is the base price that decides; market prices are slightly above MSP and at a blessed day when price of a commodity soars, the farmer who timed it right or by co-incidence makes a good profit.

Why/how is food cheaper?

In my zone, a 4 acre farmer makes about 2.5 Lakh per annum in an average year. On a lucky year there's a huge profit, sometimes excess rain/drought wipes everything.

That's like 20k per month, while a migrant laborer earning (300-500 per day); heck, even an unskilled assistant to the plumber demands that rate. Why is then this small farmer who does physical labor throughout the day, not giving up and take a salaried (low pay, but steady) in the service sector? The pride of land owning. Unless this broken farm holding - which happened when a sizable acreage is divided between 5-6 heirs - is reversed into large land holding and mechanization/high skilled farming practices are applied, the idea of farming being a profitable venture is only a distant dream.

The present government's attempt to make India a manufacturing hub by harnessing the disguised (un)employment in the rural sector has resulted in evaporation of low cost labor availability- add to this NREGA initiated by the previous disposition which has to be sustained because of vote bank politics.

So we have a country where the tax paying, urban citizens aren't given a quality infrastructure in accordance to the taxes they pay, thanks to vote bank related social support and corruption, while the rural farming community remains stubbornly fragmented- which would mean you can't mechanize and hence stubble burning; while there's a parasitic informal economy that leaches from both of them but who won't pay any direct tax and deal only with cash; any attempt to bring a semblance of order would mean getting called 'suit boot sarkar'

Such is the state of affairs.

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by AirbusCapt

Shocking to say the least. Stubble burning farmers are holding ransom to a nation's health and yet we do nothing. I spent a weekend in Delhi on a layover, and I witnessed first hand how I felt there. Inside an AC room with air filters on, I had a runny nose, burning eyes and a constant cough.

Our modern lives fueled by consumption philosophy to achieve the economic growth compromises on the delicate environmental balance at each and every stage.

Where do you want to draw the line? And will your line be the same as wished upon by all other human beings?

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by alpha1

Where do you want to draw the line? And will your line be the same as wished upon by all other human beings?

Here is exactly where, lies the problem. Today, there is no "my line" or "others line", there is only a line between life and extiction.

Both sides are into petty squabbles today saying "how dare you?" to each other.. one trying to reason against ecological damage by saying things which would seemingly be against economic progress (the only criticism in this case is that some go so overboard that they protest the need for mankind at all on earth) and the other side responds by flatly rejecting their theories, calling them conspiracies/fatalism and fighting for their right to continue great economic progress at the cost of ecologocal damage.

If we were simple minded beings who work solely for enriching our own lives, there'd be a lot more people who'd burst crackers every Diwali, afterall they're thinking only for the moment, we'd also buy huge gas guzzling cars, waste water, throw garbage and plastics around freely and continue to forsake the future for our daily convenience, but most these days do not do so.

As much as I'd like to bash our country for any reason (and there are a billion+), today I see more people prudent with their purchases, choosing to reduce plastic, recyling, disposing of trash responsibly, buying smaller cars, trying to reduce water wastage etc.. I know they're doing it to make a better place on earth, choosing to sacrifice unconditionally by bearing a small inconvenience day-to-day.

In my friends circle, I know a hedonist, bon vivant, who surprisingly, takes quite a conservative, nature friendly approach at times, then we have a tree hugging, Social Justice Warrior who sometimes does things so ridiculously opposite of her general beliefs and then there is me, who struggles to straddle the line without being labelled as anything, I still struggle. We sometimes try to be contrarian to find an identity of our own, but therein lies the selfishness of mankind.

Until we all strive to adhere to the old world values of reduce, reuse & recycle and shun capitalist materialism to a large extent, we can watch the environment turn into our biggest threat. Either that or we indulge in full scale consumerism and go down with the ship when it's time.

Disclaimer : I support neither extremes, and only practice minimalism to the point where convenience is achieved in line with modern life but not extravagance. Sadly I know all idealogies have holes and mankind will ride them to cataclysm and back to justify their own motives.

[sgiitk]

We are in Gurugram and the situation was obnoxious for three days. For the past three days the situation is far better. With some rains (drizzles) things are improving. I have been coming here for the past decade, never seen anything like it. I guess it an effect of the snow in Kashmir & Himachal

[BoneCollector]

That's such a sad state of affairs. Children have not gone to school in Delhi NCR because of pollution and that too on Children's Day!

[Pancham]

The second wave of pollution is back and surprisingly no news channel is talking about it. I was fine during the last week, but since Tuesday I am suffering from chest burns with a sore throat. I am heading back to Kolkata for a week to detox.

[KPR]

One word to describe the situation 'pathetic'. I remember I had laughed out when one of my teacher said me 20 years back that one day you will have to purchase air in cans to breathe. It seems the time has arrived!

[RiGOD]

I'm to attend a week long training at Noida starting next Monday. Considering that I'm moving to a place that has AQI almost ten times worse than where I come from, any special precautions to be taken so as to keep health issues minimal?

[roy_libran]

Originally Posted by RiGOD

I'm to attend a week long training at Noida starting next Monday. Considering that I'm moving to a place that has AQI almost ten times worse than where I come from, any special precautions to be taken so as to keep health issues minimal?

If it is impossible to defer your visit by at least a month, I suggest you:

1. get a high quality Anti-pollution mask (N99) and use it religiously while commuting, in open areas or even inside buildings that aren't purified! Suggested brand - Decathlon Reusable Mask

2. wash your eyes 3-4 times a day

3. gargle your throat with warm saline water or Hexidine mouthwash 2-3 times a day

But I reiterate - defer the trip if it is possible. :(

[alpha1]

All this reminds me about the greatest thing about democracy: law won't bother if enough people do the wrong thing.

[RiGOD]

Originally Posted by roy_libran

But I reiterate - defer the trip if it is possible. :(

That's not an option buddy. Thanks a lot for the suggestions

[Turbanator]

I was in Chandigarh and some interiors in Haryana as well as Punjab in the last week. What intrigues me that the Air Quality in most of the places (should say ALL except like Ludhiana) I visited was normal.

I googled and found some results including ones from Harvard that puts the blame on the burning but I am not able to understand how come all the particles that originate from the burning come to Delhi NCR specifically and stay here? Even when I was coming from Chandigarh via Road to Delhi I found Air quality changing considerably somewhere around Panipat. So why does everything accumulate here and it's clean where the fires originate?

[am1m]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

So why does everything accumulate here and it's clean where the fires originate?

This is a great question! I would like to know the answer too.

Also, it's great that there is increasing awareness about air pollution and that figures are being monitored. Would be great to understand more about what really affects the measures of each component of pollution.

For example, since this thread came up, I've been tracking the AQI numbers around my home and office almost everyday. The variation is really puzzling. There are days when it seems really bleak, and then the next day the numbers will be on par with places like Havelock Island in the Andamans! Which really does not make much sense at all! (For example, right now the same AQI website is telling me that the air quality at my densely populated, dusty neighborhood in Bangalore is better(!) than the air in Havelock!) Either the data monitoring is off, or there are other factors that affect the numbers.

Just to clarify, I'm not one of those who lean towards denying that our cities have serious air pollution problems or that we all contribute to that. That is just too obvious to anyone living here. But would certainly like to learn more about the methodology behind measuring pollution.

[mercedised]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

I was in Chandigarh and some interiors in Haryana as well as Punjab in the last week. What intrigues me that the Air Quality in most of the places (should say ALL except like Ludhiana) I visited was normal.

Originally Posted by am1m

This is a great question! I would like to know the answer too.
Just to clarify, I'm not one of those who lean towards denying that our cities have serious air pollution problems or that we all contribute to that. That is just too obvious to anyone living here. But would certainly like to learn more about the methodology behind measuring pollution.

Delhi has a problem of temperature inversion due to which the smog is trapped for a longer duration. Please read the article below to understand it fully.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weath...ly-toxic-haze/

[Piyadassi]

Originally Posted by mercedised

Delhi has a problem of temperature inversion due to which the smog is trapped for a longer duration. Please read the article below to understand it fully.

Plus very high population density, heavy industrialisation, rampant urbanisation for the last 100 years all due to a combination of varied geographical features, of which two - River Yamuna and River Ganga are very important. The boon of fertile Indo-Gangetic plains has now turned into a bane.