Pollution: How To Reduce Stubble Burning

The pollution haze in North India & the corresponding brouhaha in NCR has become a yearly malady, during the winter months, impacting citizen health & India’s international image.  Construction dust, vehicular pollution, industrial fumes, stubble burning in neighbouring states & tandoor & DG set exhausts are some of the prime culprits. Shift to CNG buses in 2001, vide a Supreme Court ruling, issued in 1998 & launch of Metro rail in 2002 were transformational initiatives but there is now a need for more policy measures. Stubble burning – a regular phenomenon during Oct- Nov - gained headlines since the Delhi CM Kejriwal has written to his counterparts requesting their support to quell the practice.

Punjab passed a law (Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act), in 2009, making sowing of crops before May 10^th & transplantation before June 10 punishable by law with an intention to prevent excessive use of groundwater during summer months; sowing in June & the onset of monsoon soon after helped in improving the ground water situation; Haryana too followed suit in replicating the law the same year. Water usage dropped from 4500 litres per Kg of paddy production, planted in April- May to 1500-2000 litres of ground water usage when planted later. Farmers too shifted to planting sunflower or grams during April – May followed by rice thereafter. However the gap between rice, the Kharif crop (Apr- Oct) & wheat, the Rabi crop (Nov- Mar) leaves only a 15 – 20 day interlude forcing stubble burning as a cheaper & quicker option.

Greater prosperity leads to a shift of people away from agriculture & migration induces labour shortages forcing wage increases & later mechanization.  The use of “combine harvesters” leaves a longer stubble. Moreover, wheat stubble is preferred over rice stubble as animal feed in states like Punjab. Since it generally costs about Rs 2000/- per acre to remove the stubble farmers would prefer using a match stick - costing less than a rupee- to set the same on fire rather than expend labour to remove the same despite crop residue burning being banned by the National Green Tribunal on Dec 10, 2015 & the ruling is further supported by the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981. However, taking action against the farmers is difficult since they form an important vote bank & today have the support of militant unions. Unless they are compensated substantially more than their costs, stubble burning would persist.

Biomass burning – stubble, forest etc. - which was largely concentrated in the North western states of Punjab & Haryana is now spreading to UP, MP, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Rajasthan & small pockets of South India as per the NASA satellite images; increased irrigation leads to greater crop intensification – 3 crops yearly - & greater mechanization trends point towards an increased geographic spread of the malaise of residue burning & hence a national policy would be in order.

Policy Alternatives

Stubble can be used for producing power in boilers at 99% efficiency that leaves less ash than coal plants; it is also cheaper than coal. However, this might necessitate capital costs in building a 10-20 MW plant in each taluka to use the stubble generated in the catchment area.  Cost, hence, will be the key since the latest renewable energy price bids have dropped to as low as Rs 2.5/-per unit. Many states today have annulled the long term power purchase agreements – concluded at a rate between Rs 4-5.5 /- per unit - from thermal power plants & buying from exchanges instead, will be loath to purchase power produced vide stubble power plants at a higher cost.

Today, stubble is bought at Rs 100/- per quintal at factory site; the farmer who spends about Rs 2000/- per acre, on labour costs to remove stubble incurs additional cost to transport the same to the site. Since he barely recovers his costs, there is disinterest. Unless he is compensated to the extent of Rs 4- 5000 per acre, residue burning, would persist.

Stubble can be used to make cardboards, paper or ethanol; the sugarcane lobby, though, has a stranglehold on ethanol production - used to blend with petroleum fuels - & there is a need for greater democratization. This might be a better alternative to power production & a medium term plan since it involves capital cost & time to put up the plants.

Appeal to the Farmer & his Family Health

Even while the economic incentives model is launched, education campaigns need to be run simultaneously to convince the farmers that their own health is suffering, because of crop residue burning, increasing their healthcare expenditure in the bargain for particulate matter hits their lungs before affecting the people of NCR. Prompting them to use the stubble for organic farming practices would be a sound long term solution. 

Use of rotavators to remove stubble is a solution as are ‘Happy Seeder” machines that allow planting the wheat crop without removing the stubble with the added advantage of the stubble serving as mulch for dew. However demand for these machines has been low, despite subsidies, since India has a predominance of marginal farmers - about 85% of the total nos. - having less than 2 hectares (5 acres) holding; co-operative societies too haven’t shown enough urge. If the health appeal is bought by the farmers, the use of these machines would automatically increase.

The other alternatives are use of low gestation rice crops like PR121 or 126; if the gap between 2 crops thus increases, burning could reduce. It is also important to note that Punjab – a wheat producer & consumer - moved from the traditional crops like maize, pearl millet, pulses and oilseeds to the rice- wheat cycle in the 1970's, lured by the MSP support offered by the govt. With rice cultivation increasing in the rest of the country it may be time to revert to the traditional crops & govt. intervention on MSP & buying assurance for those crops is the policy intervention desired.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, legislative & executive inaction is forcing judicial intervention on policy. While the Delhi govt. has requested the neighbouring states for help, the Punjab CM has blamed the centre for not providing the requested subsidy to undertake the stubble buying option; farmers organization, BKU, had launched a protest in Haryana threatening to take 50 tractor-trollies of paddy stubble to the city & if the govt. makes no arrangements, for purchase, they would burn the same under protest.  The Delhi govt. which had provided for buying 2000 buses in the 2015-16 budget finds their request to the DDA – which falls under the central urban development ministry – to release land for building bus depots unacknowledged; the tussle with the LG puts decisions in a limbo.  AAP launched the odd-even scheme but has not taken much action on the construction dust issue while the solid waste disposal plans of the Municipal corporations of Delhi, that falls under the BJP,  have left much to be desired.  It is time we transition from political filibustering & work on concrete solutions with time lines. Else, the “gas chamber” will devour us. Isn’t it time to make “Right to breathe clean air” a fundamental right?