Government Planning a Permanent Solution for Stubble Burning

Delhi was worst hit due to smoke caused by stubble burning in neigbouring states of Haryana and Punjab. The Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi had reached emergency levels few days back, forcing authorities to shut down schools for 3-4 days. The situation is better now because of continuous efforts by governments as well as various institutions.

The Central government is now formulating a scheme to find a permanent solution for stubble burning by farmers and for this it has constituted a committee that will come out with a report on the matter in a month or two, informed the Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Parshottam Rupala in Rajya Sabha on 29 November 2019.

Responding to a supplementary question on the 'Effect of Stubble Burning on Fertility of Land' during the Question Hour, the Agriculture minister said currently there is no provision of any financial assistance to farmers for stubble or farm waste.

Rupala said, "A meeting was chaired by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) secretary and a committee has also been formed to prepare a new scheme" for the long-term permanent solution to stubble burning by farmers in North India”.

The MoS further told that the new committee will come out with a new scheme within 1 or 2 months.

The minister said in some states farmer’s burn stubble because they have to prepare the land for sowing the next crop. The Centre is also planning to educate farmers about diversification of crops, which will definitely be helpful to them.

Besides this, the government has provided machines worth Rs 1,151 crore to the farmers for managing stubble and also launched awareness programmes.

He said that a total of 55,000 machines have been given to three states and added that the National Capital is not managing it well.