To beat the time factor, ‘high-value’ farmers — who have merrily taken advantage of subsidies meant for marginal ones — should be made responsible for implementing solutions in specific villages, with the whole area coming under heavy fines, if not in a kind of CSR programme with teeth. But solutions have to be decided locally, while bureaucrats only turn their energies to ensuring forcible implementation.
Stubble burning is back in the news. And, as always, bureaucrats and politicians are scrambling to find a solution to the huge amount of pollutants released and moving towards highly populated areas in Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi.
This time, however, the scrambling is a little more energetic. Experts warn that pollutants, including sulphur, particulate matter and carbon dioxide, will worsen the already serious Covid-19 situation. That conclusion should have been logically arrived at by even non-experts in the government, since it doesn’t need an Einstein to make the connection between bad air and a virus that hits the lungs. Given that ‘solutions’ offered have clearly failed, it is necessary to clean the slate and look for solutions that combine a little arm-twisting, political points and practicality.
Warning of stubble burning began around September 12, rising steadily as the weeks passed. NASA imagery provided enough early warning, even indicating exact locations. Even assuming a comatose bureaucracy, there was an additional wake-up call from the Supreme Court-mandated Environment Pollution (Control and Prevention) Authority or EPCA on September 22, advising ‘early action’.
Also read: Curbing stubble burning: Farmers need incentives to discontinue the practice
Given that the time for early action had run out months ago, this was a clear case of passing the buck. EPCA chief Bhure Lal, however, can’t be blamed entirely. Created in 1998, EPCA’s mandate covers only the National Capital Region (NCR), which includes 24 districts in Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh as well as the 11 districts of Delhi.
And, as a perceptive analysis brings out, not only does it lack members from any state other than Delhi, but also that its members included the head of an automobile association, publicly opposed to restrictions on diesel cars. That’s a stark conflict of interest and an example of government indifference to the environment. So, the end effect is that setting up bodies like the EPCA, which has enormous powers, is not the solution.
There is, of course, the Environment Ministry — which has brought out a draft Environment Impact Assessment report that attempts to sideline the environment altogether — of which the less said the better.
This evidence of an almost criminal delay becomes more evident when it is considered that the solutions being talked of, like the Happy Seeder — which cuts and lifts straw, sows the seed and drops paddy straw on top — was the result of a task force set up in 2006. More than a decade later, there are still not enough seeders to go around, and are still too expensive for the small farmers, especially compared to the use of a couple of matches that ‘solves’ the issue in a few hours.
Several alternative solutions proposed by universities in Punjab and Rajasthan include turning straw into biochar, feed, and animal bedding. There are successful start-ups which use straw pellets in power production.
In theory, the farmer is literally burning money. But the reality is that few of these solutions can beat the time factor. Buying up crops takes time, and with just a three-month window to the next sowing season, farmers can’t take the risk. Incidentally, stubble burning was banned in 2015 by the National Green Tribunal (NGT). But, clearly, that doesn’t count.
It’s as well to remember that this short window is the result of the Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act 2009, which pushed the sowing of seedlings back by a month to time it with the monsoons, rather than using the rapidly depleting groundwater for the water-intensive crop. The intention was good, but the end result is this barrage of pollutants.
Depleting water tables and the resultant debt drive farmer to suicides, underlining the undeniable fact that a state predicted to turn into a desert in 25 years has to turn away from paddy. That’s actually the primary solution.
The difficulty is that the state is highly inconsistent in its approach, while the powerful arhtiyas (commission agents) have stalled any farm reform at all. Their opposition lies at the heart of the agitation against the farm laws. Sidelining this powerful group should, therefore, be priority number one.
To beat the time factor, ‘high-value’ farmers — who have merrily taken advantage of subsidies meant for marginal farmers — should be made responsible for implementing solutions in specific villages, with the whole area coming under heavy fines, if not in a kind of corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme with teeth. But solutions have to be decided locally, while bureaucrats only turn their energies to ensuring forcible implementation.
Governments could also take a leaf out of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s proposal for a free and entirely organic spray to turn stubble into manure, which is abundantly good for the soil.
Finally, urgent measures are required as pollutants reach the NCR, endangering the Covid-affected people and others in the impacted states. Armed with the powerful clauses of the National Disaster Management Act, the Centre can use the Indian Air Force to put out fires — as it has done in forest fires in Uttarakhand and elsewhere, using the media to the full, to send a powerful message of a determined leader. That also has potential political benefits.
Meanwhile, naysayers will point to the Chinese threat, and ‘waste’ of resources. But that particular war is still far away, and right now, it’s the several million downwind that count.
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/a-race-against-time-to-douse-stubble-fires-152605