The annual stubble-burning season has started. In this widely dreaded practice, farmers set fire to crop residue — the thick remnants left rooted in the soil after paddy harvest — in the field. Rising labour costs, a narrow window between paddy harvest and sowing period for the next crop, and declining farm incomes have pushed farmers in several states, from Punjab to Madhya Pradesh, to treat stubble burning as routine.

This year, however, there is a silver lining amid the dark clouds of carbon that threaten the air, most noticeably in the national capital and abutting cities. It comes from process innovation and collaborative governance in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

Shahjahanpur district was once infamous for recording the highest number of stubble-burning incidents in Uttar Pradesh. Since 2021, such incidents have fallen by 67%. Ramji Mishra, a rural reporter who investigated this small miracle for ON AIR, our monthly bilingual webzine on air quality, travelled from village to village in the district and sent us the details, including block-level fire count data. As we checked and cross-checked the evidence, we identified three key innovations that changed the game.

First, the administration worked closely with local farmers — small and marginal, as well as well-off farmers. The........

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