Govt panel visits Punjab and Haryana for on-ground assessment, recommends machine-based solution instead of labour-based one.
New Delhi: The problem of crop stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana, a major source of the early winter smog across northern India, cannot be curbed through MGNREGA, a government panel has concluded.
The governments of both Punjab and Haryana had suggested incentivising labour through MGNREGA job cards and wages to help dispose paddy straw so that farmers would not resort to stubble burning.
However, after a recent round of field visits to the states, the committee appointed at the behest of the NITI Aayog found this was not a feasible solution because there isn’t enough casual labour available in the region. It visited Ludhiana, Patiala and Sangrur districts in Punjab, among others, for an on-ground assessment.
Instead, the panel has recommended a machinery-based solution, ThePrint has learnt.
Under close monitoring of the Prime Minister’s Office, the NITI Aayog had constituted a task force and held inter-ministerial consultations in October and November to find ways to address the annual problem of stubble burning.
The recommendations of the government panel will be considered soon by the NITI Aayog for further action, sources told ThePrint.
State govts’ appeals
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is a livelihood security scheme that assures 100 days of minimum wage employment per year to one adult per household for unskilled manual work.
With air pollution levels in the National Capital Region hitting dangerous levels and strict advisories sent out to Punjab and Haryana, the states had demanded that MGNREGA wages be offered to labourers to enable paddy straw disposal.
Haryana agriculture minister Om Prakash Dhankar had last month written to his central government counterpart Radha Mohan Singh, and union rural development and panchayati raj minister Narender Singh Tomar. He had requested the Centre to allow a one-month MGNREGA window in which labour could be utilised to dispose of paddy straw.
Punjab finance minister Manpreet Badal had also suggested farmers be given MGNREGA job cards, and be paid Rs 265 as daily wage for removing paddy straw, so that there was enough incentive for farmers not to burn the stubble.
Why machines make sense
Traditionally, farmers engaged casual manual labourers to get rid of the paddy straw in time for sowing wheat. However, over the years, there has been a shortage of labour supply, which has made it more expensive to hire manual labour. The machinery available to uproot stubble can also be expensive for farmers. In such a scenario, burning stubble turns out to be the quickest and most cost-effective solution to the concern.
The government panel’s recommendation favouring a machine-based solution is also said to have found favour among younger farmers in Punjab. The feedback given to the government also prefers a governmental procurement regime rather than a subsidy-based one.
Farmers are learnt to have told the government panel that a bulk procurement of high quality machines by the government would be more helpful, provided the same equipment can then be sold at cost price to farmers.