Come October, the capital experienced more than a few instances of déjà vu as the Supreme Court admonished the states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan for yet another tragic year where the states were nothing but sitting ducks as they failed to implement policies to curb stubble burning, and instead indulged in their annual tradition of blame game, with the BJP accusing AAP of failing to address the recurrent issue despite this being their ninth year in the office, while the AAP alleged that BJP-ruled Haryana and UP saw more cases of stubble burning than Punjab. This, coupled with the cracker-burning season, has led to a spike in air quality meters in the city into the ‘very poor’ and ‘severe’ category. The solution to the problem could lie in a technology which was first introduced five years ago by the Indian Council of Agri Research – PUSA bio-decomposer. While the enzyme is still not as effective in getting rid of the ‘parali’ as simply burning it, it does serve to kill multiple birds with one stone by naturally decomposing the stubble and converting it into manure. The primary hurdles? An acute lack of awareness and unrelenting governments to counter that. The north-westerly winds would once again blanket the city in smog, with urgent policy intervention being the only deterrent for Delhiites suffocating in the smoky cocktail.