New Delhi, March 16 -- The Centre has taken several measures to curb crop residue burning in North India, a key contributor to deteriorating air quality in the Delhi-NCR region during winters.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Kirti Vardhan Singh, Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, said the government has been supporting farmers with financial assistance, machinery and policy interventions to promote alternative crop residue management practices.

Singh said that "active fire events due to crop residue burning are monitored using satellite remote sensing, following the 'Standard Protocol for Estimation of Crop Residue Burning Fire Events using Satellite Data' by the Consortium for Research on Agroecosy...