Air pollution is one of the biggest environmental issues of our time. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 90 percent of the world population breathes polluted air and seven million people die every year because of air pollution-related causes.

India is one of the countries with worst air quality, nine out of ten most polluted cities in the world are in India. Some days, the air pollution reaches levels as high as 20 times over the safe limit set by WHO.

There are many contributing factors to India's air pollution and a major one is the burning of residue straws from rice harvests, also called paddy straws. These paddy straws are the dry stalks that are left when the grain and the chaff are removed from the plant.

A study by the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) shows that in peak burning season, almost half of air pollution in nearby areas can be attributed to straw burning.

Paddy straw burning emits poisonous gasses like methane, sulphur oxide, andcarbon monoxide as well as a large number of particulate matters — solid and liquid particles suspended in air that are very hazardous to the health of living beings including humans.