THE SEASON OF SMOKE SIGNALS
The onset of winter marks several familiar events. For Indians across the country, this is the beginning of the festival season, with Dussehra and Diwali around the corner. For farmers, it marks the end of the kharif harvest and preparations for planting of the rabi crop. And for those in the NCR (national capital region), it has come to mark the beginning of yet another round of lamentation over air pollution, with many arguments over the relative contributions of transport, power plants, industries and stubble burning in neighbouring states in turning Delhi into a gas chamber.
Reports of the NCR’s terrible AQI (air quality index) numbers have already begun making the
