ABSTRACT
The hot-spots of atmospheric pollutants over the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) and a thick layer of haze advecting towards the Bay of Bengal (BoB) during the wintertime have been documented through MODIS (MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) imageries (Ramanathan et al., 2007). This has led to the suggestion on the impact of aerosols (particularly black carbon) and warming trend (heating rate: 0.15-0.30 K/decade) in Northern India (Ramanathan et al., 2007). The IGP occupies ~15% of the geographical area in south Asia, holds about 42% of the total population and accounts for 45% of food production (Gupta et al., 2004; Badarinath
et al., 2006). The two major crops of paddy (rice) and wheat grown in the IGP contribute nearly 85% of the entire production in south Asia. On a regional scale, 90-95% of rice and wheat crop rotation in India [total area under rice-wheat cultivation is ~20 million hectares (m ha)] are located in Punjab, Haryana and western part of Uttar Pradesh in the IGP. The burning of agricultural-waste in open fields for crop rotation is a common practice on annual and seasonal basis in north-west region of the IGP (Gupta et al., 2004; Badarinath et al., 2006; Punia et al., 2008).
