Incidents of paddy stubble burning are being reported from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, and Uttarakhand. According to a bulletin released on October 6, 2026, by the Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modelling from Space (CREAMS) of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), crop residue burning incidents were observed at a total of 287 locations across the seven states between September 15, 2026, and October 6, 2026.
These incidents were 88, 04, 65, 01, 10, 01 and 118 in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh respectively. According to the bulletin, cloud cover in east-southeast Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and dense clouds in the higher reaches of Uttarakhand hampered the detection of crop residue burning incidents. Active fires associated with paddy residue burning are monitored using satellite remote sensing to estimate crop residue burning incidents using satellite data.
The satellite recorded 33 incidents of crop residue burning across seven states on October 6, 2026. Punjab recorded four incidents, Haryana zero, Uttar Pradesh two, Delhi zero, Rajasthan three, Uttarakhand zero, and Madhya Pradesh 24. This means Madhya Pradesh alone accounted for 73 per cent of the stubble burning incidents on October 6.
CREAMS has been recording incidents of paddy stubble burning since September 15 and provides timely data through bulletins and dashboards. Data shows that Punjab, notorious for stubble burning, recorded a total of 88 incidents between September 15 and October 6, the lowest number of incidents recorded in the state during this period in the last seven years.
On the other hand, Madhya Pradesh, which has been at the top for paddy stubble burning for some years, has recorded 118 incidents so far. This is the highest number recorded by the state during this period. Statistics also show that stubble burning incidents in Punjab have not reached double digit figures on any day this season, while in Madhya Pradesh, incidents have reached double digit figures on five days.
Statistics show that there has been a significant decline in the incidents of paddy stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana, whereas such incidents are increasing in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. In 2025, between September 15 and November 30, 33,028 incidents of stubble burning were recorded in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, of which 17,067 incidents were in Madhya Pradesh alone. In other words, Madhya Pradesh had a share of more than 50 per cent in the incidents recorded in the six states. Last year, 5,114 incidents were reported in Punjab, 662 in Haryana, 7,290 in Uttar Pradesh, 5 in Delhi and 2,890 in Rajasthan.
Experts have linked the rise in stubble burning incidents across Madhya Pradesh to the climate crisis and changing agricultural trends. They say Madhya Pradesh has followed Punjab’s path. Farmers in the state are increasingly opting for paddy instead of soybean, black gram, and other Kharif crops, as extreme weather conditions pose challenges to crops other than paddy. Farmers in the state are also setting fire to stubble after harvesting the paddy crop as an easy way out.
