The active fire events due to wheat residue burning were monitored using satellite remote sensing, following the new “Standard Protocol for Estimation of Crop Residue Burning Fire Events using Satellite Data”. They were reported to be 3,463 on April 22, taking the total number to 32,630 since April 1. This is 23 per cent higher than 26,574 in the year-ago period.
According to the daily bulletin issued by the Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modeling from Space (CREAMS) under the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Madhya Pradesh had 22,475 wheat stubble burning incidents during April 1-22. This was followed by 9,952 in Uttar Pradesh, 108 in Haryana, 88 in Punjab and 7 in Delhi. It is not monitored in Rajasthan.
Compared to the number of incidents in the year-ago period, Uttar Pradesh has reported more than double while Madhya Pradesh has seen a 4 per cent rise and Haryana an 8 per cent increase. Punjab had the same 88 stubble burning incidents during April 1-22, 2025.
The official data also show that in Madhya Pradesh, the maximum crop residue burning incidents have been reported from Vidisha (2,491), Raisen (2,179), Ujjain (2,096), Hoshangabad (1,705) and Seoni (1,639) districts. Similarly in Uttar Pradesh, the top contributing districts to stubble burning cases are seen in the eastern region. These include Siddharthnagar (3,042), Gorakhpur (1,277), Deoria (952), Maharajganj (928) and Santkabirnagar (847).
“These states have to be proactive by involving local representatives to persuade farmers and generate more awareness. It is very unfortunate that no one wants to share the responsibility and such cases are spreading in these two states,” said an agriculture scientist working at a Krishi Vigyan Kendra in east UP. He also said that after getting groundwater irrigation a few years back, many farmers in the ‘Terai’ belt are taking up short-duration maize as a third crop before paddy sowing starts in July.
Published on April 23, 2026