New Delhi: A parliamentary standing committee led by Rajya Sabha MP Milind Deora has recommended introducing a minimum support price (MSP) for paddy residue to discourage stubble burning, one of the main causes of air pollution in Delhi.
The panel suggested that a benchmark price be announced well ahead of the Kharif season, alongside real-time mapping of crop acreage and crop maturity forecasting for better residue management.
Additionally, it proposed setting up crop residue collection centres and providing incentives for short-duration paddy varieties to reduce stubble burning in states adjoining Delhi.
In a report tabled in the Rajya Sabha, the Subordinate Legislation Committee examined the stubble-burning issue and concluded that penalising farmers should be a last resort. Instead, it said it was essential to establish a robust redressal mechanism to address farmers’ concerns.
The committee recommended that the minimum price should ensure farmers receive guaranteed returns for selling stubble, with the benchmark price reviewed and notified before the Kharif season to reflect residue collection costs, including labour and machinery.
In its submission to the committee, the Environment Ministry emphasised the link between paddy stubble burning and Delhi’s air quality, noting that the impact depends on the location and intensity of farm fires, wind speed and other contributing factors.
The ministry observed that Haryana generates only 4.04 million tonnes of non-basmati paddy straw a year, much less than Punjab’s 16.1 million tonnes.
This difference is also reflected in the number of stubble-burning incidents in the two states recorded by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), with Punjab reporting 10,990 incidents in 2023-24 compared with 1,406 in Haryana.
The ministry also observed that in addition to a Central government paddy residue management scheme, Haryana also offers more incentives to farmers than Punjab.
Haryana provided Rs 7,000 an acre for crop diversification and Rs 4,000 for direct seeding of rice while Punjab offers only Rs 1,500 for direct seeding.
The ministry noted that Punjab has promoted the better quality low-straw-generating PR-126 variety of paddy seed as part of its efforts to curb stubble burning.
Deora told the Rajya Sabha that farmers rushed to burn their farm stable because they had a small window between harvesting and sowing the next crop.
“Since farmers do not have much time, they want to dispose of the stubble as soon as possible,” said Deora.
“There is an average period of 25 days between two crops. Hence farmers burn it as soon as possible and start preparing for sowing the next crop. Therefore, it would be better if an early-maturing paddy crop could be used. Then a solution can be found.”
Real-time forecasting of crop maturity and yields
The committee also recommended the establishment of real-time mapping of crop acreage and forecasting of crop maturity and weather patterns to estimate land under cultivation and assess district-wise crop yields for better planning.
It said the efficient use of technological and human resources to manage harvesting and crop residue management would go a long way in addressing the stubble burning issue.
The committee also proposed setting up interim storage facilities in districts where industries or end users are not available within a 20–50 km range as transport costs are a major barrier to crop residue management.
These facilities will enable agricultural aggregators to collect and transport crop residue efficiently and on time.
Unified national policy for energy generation
The committee has called for a unified national policy to integrate agricultural residue into bioenergy generation.
This policy should ensure coordination between the agriculture, renewable energy, petroleum, health and environment ministries for the adoption of bioethanol, compressed biogas and biogas pellets.
The agriculture ministry informed the committee that the Central government’s crop residue management scheme has been implemented, providing subsidised machinery to manage paddy straw.
Under the scheme, farmers get a 50 percent subsidy for machinery and 80 percent for establishing centres for renting out machines for managing paddy straw.
The ministry also offers project-based support for ex-situ management of paddy straw, covering 65 percent of the machinery costs.
But the high cost of fuel discourages many farmers from using these machines. Many farmers sell their paddy straw to biomass plants but
the absence of a fixed price has limited its effectiveness in overall crop residue management.
The petroleum ministry suggested using technological advancements to tackle stubble burning.
A ministry official said that even after using combine harvesters and cutters, 10-15 cm of stubble is still left in the field, which cannot be manually harvested due to a shortage of farm labour.
The ministry recommended developing technology that combines the work of both harvesters and cutters to completely clear stubble from fields, reducing the need for burning.
It also proposed planting more early-maturing crop varieties, which can mature in the first week of September, giving farmers sufficient time to sow wheat by late October.
It suggested offering incentives for the transportation of stubble to discourage in-field burning.
“Compressed natural gas can be manufactured and two plants have been established in the National Capital Region (NCR) region for biomass production,” said a ministry official.
The power ministry said a sustainable agricultural mission on the use of agricultural residue in thermal plants has been implemented and the ministry is promoting the creation of a biomass and pellet manufacturing chain to use agricultural residue.
The commerce ministry said straw had huge potential as a raw material for cement, paper and furniture manufacturing. It suggested using agricultural waste, especially rice straw, as feedstock to support the transition from timber-based products.
Delhi experiences severe air pollution every winter, largely due to stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana, triggering a blame game between state governments over the capital’s worsening air quality.
During the recent Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) slammed the Punjab and Delhi governments for failing to act.
Last year, the Delhi government announced a 21-point winter action plan to counter pollution, which included real-time monitoring of pollution using drones, deploying special task forces and emergency measures such as artificial rain and vehicle rationing to tackle rising air pollution levels in the capital.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)