Soon after the newspaper headlines screamed '38 per cent pollution in New Delhi region due to straw burning', the daggers were out. At every TV debate that followed, the panellists, including doctors, lawyers and experts, were up in arms against farmers, blaming them for the thick layer of the pungent smog that engulfs the capital city.
Why is no action being taken against farmers, a panellist asked? Why has no FIR been filed against them, asked another. Even newspaper editorials wanted FIRs to be filed against the perpetrators. One can understand why the panellists were furious, but to call farmers criminals and demand the Punjab Pollution Control Board to take them into custody is unbecoming of the educated and elite. Such indignant behaviour is not only a reflection of their own ignorance, but also a clever way of deflecting attention from their own behaviour and responsibility.
The day Delhi reported 'severe' pollution, strangely Punjab had 'moderate' air quality. Even on days when stubble burning increases to exceptionally high levels, the fact that Delhi itself is responsible for 62 per cent of the pollution load is glossed over. In October, a study by the Centre for Science & Environment said 14 million vehicles in Delhi were responsible for 51 per cent of the air pollution. Of this, while it is easy to restrict the entry of diesel trucks, the fact that the growing numbers of SUV cars, which are globally known to produce more greenhouse gas emissions than the aviation industry, has never been questioned. SUV cars are the second-worst polluters globally, the first being the power sector.
Although Delhi’s air quality worsens during the time of paddy harvest in the north-western region, the pollution levels remain high across the year. So much so that 15 years ago, even sitar maestro Ravi Shankar said driving in the city was like driving through a 'gas chamber'. In these 15 years, the air pollution load has only increased.
It is not as if Punjab farmers don't know how harmful it is to put fire to paddy stubbles. They know their families are the first ones to be smothered by pollution. They are aware that burning crop residues destroys valuable soil nutrients as well. But knowing all the devastating impacts, how come they seem helpless?
Punjab is the food granary. The intensive cropping pattern -- paddy, followed by wheat -- leaves a short window of two weeks, wherein farmers have to harvest the standing crop, take it to mandis and then undertake the wheat-sowing operations. With the state producing nearly 200 lakh tonnes of paddy straw every harvest season, its disposal becomes a problem. There are not many biomass power units that can absorb the huge biomass that is produced. The decomposer solution too has failed as it takes much longer for the stubbles to degrade in the soil. Given that paddy stubbles contain silica, it isn't suitable as fodder either. Burning of paddy straw, thus, is the easiest way out.
Over the years, Punjab has been provided with 1.05 lakh machines for in-situ management, at 50 per cent subsidy for farmers and 80 per cent for cooperatives and aggregators. Machines like Happy seeder, Super seeder, Straw reaper, Chopper, Rotavator etc. are required to effectively manage stubbles. It also needs a tractor with a higher horsepower to operate the machines. Since these machines are used for not more than three weeks in a year, Punjab is staring at another problem in the years to come -- fast turning into a junkyard for machines. Already, the state is overloaded with tractors -- five lakh against the required one lakh.
News reports say, given the high fuel cost, farmers prefer not to use these machines. With the average farm income being less than that of a chaprasi, and with Punjab farmers carrying a cumulative debt of Rs 1 lakh crore, they realise that these machines eat into their meagre profits. For years now, farmers have been demanding an incentive of Rs 3,000 per acre or enhancing the paddy Minimum Support Price by Rs 200 per quintal to enable them to manage the stubbles. If only the Centre had earlier provided for an adequate incentive package, the monumental health and environmental consequences arising from farm fires could have been avoided. Denial of an incentive all these years is primarily the reason for the failure to douse stubble-burning.
Instead of coercing the farmers with legal action, the effort should be to understand their compulsions and help them overcome the crisis.
Devinder Sharma is a noted food policy analyst and agriculture specialist. He is on twitter: @Devinder_Sharma.