THE RIGHT TO CLEAN AIR AND STUBBLE BURNING: EVALUATING STATE ACCOUNTABILITY UNDER ARTICLE 21 OF THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION

Abstract

Air pollution in northern India, particularly during the winter months (October-December), has become a persistent environmental and public health crisis. The deterioration in air quality during this period is the result of a complex interaction of multiple factors, including industrial emissions, vehicular pollution, construction activity, biomass burning, unfavourable meteorological conditions, and seasonal agricultural practices. Among these, stubble burning in many north indian states such as Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh has attracted significant legal, administrative, and judicial attention due to its temporal concentration and trans-boundary impact. However, it would be analytically incomplete and normatively unsound to attribute the entirety of winter air pollution to agricultural residue burning alone. This paper contends that the persistence of stubble burning must be examined within the wider context of multi-source air pollution and fragmented regulatory responses. While agricultural residue burning constitutes only one component of the problem, its predictable recurrence and known environmental impact imposes a heightened duty on the State to act in a constitutionally compliant manner. By analysing the right to clean air under Article 21, the paper evaluates whether State action and inaction, across agricultural, industrial, and environmental governance frameworks meet the standards of accountability required for the effective protection of fundamental rights. In doing so, the study reframes stubble burning not as the sole cause of winter pollution, but as a critical test case for assessing the State’s capacity to address environmental harm through holistic, data driven and integrated approach towards rights-oriented governance.

KEYWORDS: Air Pollution, Right to Life, Clean Air, Stubble Burning, Environmental Governance.