Airpocalypse coming stop farm fires prioritise public health & economy

Airpocalypse coming stop farm fires prioritise public health & economy

All eyes are on GoI’s Commission for Air Quality Management in Delhi-NCR and adjoining areas, which secured parliamentary backing last month to tackle the stubble burning menace that vitiates north India’s air quality during winter. Already late, much rests on state government-led action plans overseen by the Commission to reduce stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana and UP and localised pollution in NCR. Delhi will reportedly finalise its action plan only by September 30.

More farm fires were logged in 2020 than in preceding years. Nothing in official actions this year indicates corrective measures to control the fires. If anything, poll-bound states like Punjab and UP are in a mood to appease farmers. Weak politics aside, the stubble burning imbroglio is a toxic product of bad farm policy cocktails. Subsidies have turned Punjab and Haryana, neither traditional paddy-growing areas, towards this water-intensive crop. Then to prevent groundwater depletion, both states enacted laws delaying paddy sowing towards mid-June.

The resultant delayed kharif harvest was uncomfortably close to rabi sowing. This prompted farmers into stubble burning instead of other labour- or machine-intensive methods to remove paddy stalk residues left by combine harvesters (better suited for western monocropped lands), saving them money, effort and time. Machines like happy seeders, balers, mulchers, rotavators introduced for stubble management aren’t finding enough takers despite being heavily subsidised. Farmers complain these still incur significant operational costs. Delhi NCR is north India’s largest economic powerhouse and one of Earth’s largest urban agglomerations. Few other democracies will let such policy tangles linger when they hurt economic interests, quality of life and public health outcomes. Carrot-and-stick approaches to incentivise and penalise farmers were implemented haphazardly earlier. With time running out, the GoI Commission mustn’t dash hopes raised by its birth.