Farm fire share drops after reaching peak but NCR cities remain most polluted, data shows

While the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology’s (IITM) Decision Support System (DSS) was not updated for Sunday, the latest available figures showed a dip in farm fire contribution.

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As of Saturday, transport sector emissions remained high at around 14%, while the share of farm fires in PM2.5 levels in the Capital fell to the season’s lowest at 2.6%, down from 16% on November 17.

This time of the year typically witnesses a mix of low wind speeds, cold temperatures, and Westerlies carrying transboundary pollution, worsening local air quality.

According to Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) data, a steep fall in stubble-burning incidents was recorded on Sunday, with Haryana reporting only one and Punjab three cases.

In contrast, 522 fires were detected in Uttar Pradesh, 607 in Madhya Pradesh, and 21 in Rajasthan. Between September 15 and November 23, a total of 27,720 burning events were detected across six states — distributed as 5,088, 617, 5,622, 5, 2,804 and 13,584 in Punjab, Haryana, UP, Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, respectively.

According to experts, the peak farm fire activity has also come to an end. “From here on, Delhi’s pollution is largely driven by year-round sources. As predicted, Delhi’s AQI entered the ‘severe’ category from November 11 to 13, 2025. This period coincided with the peak stubble-burning contribution on November 12, which has dropped sharply since. Unlike last year, its overall impact this season has been much lower from a maximum of 38% last year versus 22% this year. The haze we see now is largely from year-round sources such as vehicles, industries, power plants, waste burning, etc,” said Dr Manoj Kumar, air quality analyst at the Centre for Research, Energy and Clean Air, citing DSS data.

Every year, the farm fire contribution to the pollution levels in Delhi-NCR reduces by the third week of November after reaching a peak, he noted.

According to Dr Kumar, the excess monsoon did not delay the peak as expected.

“Even if the fire count has reduced, the farm fire share reached the peak at 22% for one or two days, which is very high. Delhi’s air quality also remained highly polluted because of local and transboundary sources,” he added.