NEW DELHI -- It is a seemingly intractable annual problem: India's capital is engulfed in a toxic haze so severe that schools are closed and residents are advised to stay indoors.
The smog spreads as farmers in the northwest of the country burn stubble, setting fire to leftover paddy straw after harvesting rice. Despite repeated official clampdowns, this burning across an estimated 2 million farms releases harmful pollutants that experts say increase the risk of death from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, not just for Delhi's roughly 35 million residents but other parts of South Asia.
