With the air quality index (AQI) (PM 2.5) breaching the 400 mark in Delhi for most days this week, the Supreme Court (SC) bench has come down heavily on the adjoining states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The bench has asked them to stop stubble burning in paddy fields forthwith, and then find long-term solutions. It also suggested making the local Station House Office (SHO) responsible for its implementation. How far this will be implemented is yet to be seen. However, according to reports from Punjab, when officials went to the villages to stop stubble burning, they were forced to light farm fires. This speaks of a breakdown in law and order.
Containing farm fires is critical if people in Delhi have to breathe without serious harm to their health. On November 7, as per the Decision Support System for air quality management in Delhi, biomass burning (mainly stubble burning) accounted for 37.85 per cent of pollution. Notably, Delhi’s transport accounted for just 12.67 per cent, and Delhi’s construction and dust accounted for less than 3 per cent. Clearly, the most urgent action needed is controlling stubble burning in neighbouring states, notably Punjab.
If Delhi’s pollution — stubble burning is a big culprit for that — is not controlled, people in the city are likely to lose 11.9 years of their life, as per the Air Quality Life Index report (2023) of the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute. Given that our life expectancy hovers around 71 years, losing 11.9 years of life for a population of about 22 million people in the National Capital Territory, is like killing 3.7 million people through polluted air. And this stretches to many other cities in northern India.
What are the ways to stop stubble burning? Many schemes have been tried to help the farmers in uprooting the entire stubble after harvesting paddy, from making bales for boilers to using the stubble for mulching. Smart Happy Seeders showed some promise but they have not checked stubble burning at scale. Ultimately, the area under paddy in the Punjab-Haryana belt needs to be drastically cut from 4.7 million hectares (m ha) to just 2.5 m ha. The SC rightly pointed out that it is not a suitable crop for this region and is depleting the water table fast. In a district like Sangrur, the constituency of the present Chief Minister of Punjab, the water table has gone down by 25 meters in the last 20 years. And it is in this district that there are the most farm fires.
The quantum of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from paddy in Punjab is still not counted. In a forthcoming study from ICRIER on Low Carbon Agriculture this writer has co-authored with Reena Singh, we have estimated that paddy cultivation in Punjab produces at least 5 tonnes of CO2 eq/ha. This is also a silent killer. We also estimate that Punjab farmers get a subsidy on paddy cultivation to the tune of almost Rs 30,000/ha, which comes through free power and highly subsidised urea and other chemical fertilisers. This subsidy constitutes roughly one-third of the profits in Punjab’s paddy cultivation; this is the root cause of farmers sticking to paddy even when they know they are damaging water aquifers. This is reinforced by the open-ended procurement of paddy by state agencies for the Food Corporation of India (FCI).
How do we wean farmers in the Punjab-Haryana belt away from paddy? Here are some suggestions: One, give a subsidy of say Rs 25,000/ha to farmers switching from paddy to pulses, oilseeds and millets, or even maize. This will help create a crop-neutral incentive structure and will not cost the government as it will save that subsidy from paddy cultivation. Two, incentivise the private sector to set up ethanol plants based on maize, starting from Sangrur, where water table depletion needs to be arrested as soon as possible. This will help create a market for ethanol blending with fossil fuels, and help in lowering air pollution from vehicular traffic. Three, state agencies should reduce paddy procurement from those farmers burning stubble, and also in those blocks where the water table is depleting fast. Four, FCI should make it clear that they will not pay more than 3 per cent on top of MSP for any mandi fee and commissions for arhatias. This should be uniform across states. Lastly, the PM needs to sit down with chief ministers of the states adjoining Delhi and offer a package to move towards more nutritious crops, millets, oilseeds, and pulses by assuring a procurement of these at MSP. We are short of all these crops that are more nutritious, and more nature-friendly.
Our reliance on rice and wheat in the Public Distribution System is excessive, causing diabetes and harming the environment. Of more than 5 lakh fair price shops, at least 10 per cent (50,000) can be made nutrition hubs where these nutritious crops will also be supplied along with wheat and rice. The consumers should be given a choice whether they want rice and wheat or other crops costing the same money through food vouchers. This will create a more diversified market, save water, minimise GHG emissions from the crop sector, and reduce pollution in Delhi coming from stubble burning.
But Delhi’s pollution will also have to be tackled by replacing modes of transport, from fossil-fuel-based vehicles to electric vehicles, or at least 20 per cent ethanol blending in all Delhi’s petrol pumps. We hope Delhi’s policy-makers can rise to this challenge and save us from choking deaths.
Gulati is Distinguished Professor at ICRIER. Views are personal
If Delhi’s pollution is not controlled, people in the city are likely to lose 11.9 years of their life
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11.11.2023
With the air quality index (AQI) (PM 2.5) breaching the 400 mark in Delhi for most days this week, the Supreme Court (SC) bench has come down heavily on the adjoining states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The bench has asked them to stop stubble burning in paddy fields forthwith, and then find long-term solutions. It also suggested making the local Station House Office (SHO) responsible for its implementation. How far this will be implemented is yet to be seen. However, according to reports from Punjab, when officials went to the villages to stop stubble burning, they were forced to light farm fires. This speaks of a breakdown in law and order.
Containing farm fires is critical if people in Delhi have to breathe without serious harm to their health. On November 7, as per the Decision Support System for air quality management in Delhi, biomass burning (mainly stubble burning) accounted for 37.85 per cent of pollution. Notably, Delhi’s transport accounted for just 12.67 per cent, and Delhi’s construction and dust accounted for less than 3 per cent. Clearly, the most urgent action needed is controlling stubble burning in neighbouring states, notably Punjab.
If Delhi’s pollution — stubble burning is a big culprit for that — is not controlled, people in the city are likely to lose 11.9 years of their life, as per the Air Quality........
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