Punjab Stubble Burning: IIT Mandi Study Warns of Deadly Pollution by 2040Paddy area in Punjab rose to 31.4 lakh hectares between 2000 and 2020The record increase in paddy cultivation in Punjab over the past 20 years gave the country food security, but it has now become an environmental curse for the state. Between 2000 and 2020, the area under paddy cultivation in Punjab rose to nearly 31.4 lakh hectares. Roughly 90 lakh tonnes of stubble is burned in fields across Punjab every year. Every year, about 8.24 lakh tonnes of essential nutrients (nitrogen, phosphate and potash) are reduced to ash from the soil, destroying the land's fertility. If the practice of stubble burning is not stopped, the situation will spiral out of control by 2040.