From the archive record
A salon and spa is advertised in front of this Sikh’s tractor, even as he drinks his hot malai walah doodh in a stainless steel glass! He coolly lines up his tractor alongside the massive Crop Star NSG 930 combine harvester which creates agricultural magic by instantly converting mature paddy stalks from the fields into harvested rice grains that pour through a chute into the large silo sack in the tractor. It is this crop residue waste that leads to crop burning and the hazardous air pollution levels of early winter in north India. India’s capital is choking under off-the-charts smog, with some parts of the city reporting levels almost five times of those considered "unhealthy". One of the greatest contributors to this smog is ‘stubble burning’ in Northern states like Punjab and Haryana.