A video capturing stubble burning in Punjab last year is being shared online with a false claim that it is recent and is being blamed for alarming levels of air pollution in Delhi and its suburbs this year.
BOOM found that the video was published by ANI in 2024 and showed stubble being burnt in Punjab's Moga district.
Delhi and its surrounding areas woke up to toxic air after Diwali, after the Supreme Court gave in to a plea by the Delhi government to burst green crackers during the festival, reversing its almost seven-year-old absolute ban on firecrackers. The Air Quality Index (AQI) in several parts of the national capital fell to the 'very poor' category, posing potential health risks. As residents voiced their concerns on social media, it triggered a political slugfest with the BJP and its supporters blaming stubble burning in neighbouring states.
The Claim
A verified user on X shared the video with the caption, "This is the level of Stubble Burning going on in Punjab. This is a perennial cause of air pollution in Delhi and its suburbs."
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
The video was also shared by the verified X handle The Jaipur Dialogues with a similar misleading claim.
What We Found: Video Is From November 2024
1. The ANI News Report: We ran a keyword search and found that the news agency had posted the video on its official X handle on November 1, 2024. The caption with the post read, "Punjab: An incident of stubble burning seen in a field in Dagru village of Moga district."
2. Reports on 2024 AQI Conditions: We also found several news articles from 2024 describing similar poor air quality levels in Delhi. The Hindu, in a report published on November 1, 2024, stated, "After people in Delhi burst firecrackers on Deepavali night, openly flouting an existing ban, air pollution in Delhi on Friday (November 1, 2024) morning was about 14 times the limit prescribed by the World Health Organization (WHO)."
An India Today report from December 2024 stated that Delhi experienced its most polluted November in seven years, recording 22 days in the 'very poor' air quality category.
