India, Oct. 10 -- The annual stubble-burning season has started. In this widely dreaded practice, farmers set fire to crop residue - the thick remnants left rooted in the soil after paddy harvest - in the field. Rising labour costs, a narrow window between paddy harvest and sowing period for the next crop, and declining farm incomes have pushed farmers in several states, from Punjab to Madhya Pradesh, to treat stubble burning as routine.

This year, however, there is a silver lining amid the dark clouds of carbon that threaten the air, most noticeably in the national capital and abutting cities. It comes from process innovation and collaborative governance in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

Shahjahanpur district was once infamous for record...