New NASA data worrisome

The satellite data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) claiming this year’s cases of stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana for the period September to November being the highest in five years has only confirmed that the problem not only continues but that efforts to find a solution to it are yet to prove enduring. Despite attempts to create awareness and extend technological assistance to the farmers to check the burning of paddy straw, not much success has been achieved, partly because of the scale on which paddy cultivation takes place and also the logistics and economics of procuring equipment to manage the stubble and ensure its accessibility to every tiller. Instead of looking at the data closely and ensuring deterrent action, poll-bound Punjab has decided to quash all cases related to stubble burning after claims that the ISRO protocol to count farm fires had been adopted, but the high incidence of fires will continue to raise questions over such claims.

Part of the problem lies in the process of transition in agriculture that has seen manual labour being substituted by mechanisation and also lack of action by governments to make agricultural practices sustainable to check adverse environmental effects. It is about finding viable management practices for agricultural waste. MS Swaminathan had suggested the setting up of ‘Rice BioParks’ to generate both income and employment for farmers from paddy crop residue. Punjab had plans for food parks which might need a review. States have been making efforts to promote industry based on crop stubble, with Jind district in Haryana manufacturing briquettes made of crop residue for bio-fuel in power plants, breweries and brick-kilns. The cost of collection, transportation and processing vis-a-vis the revenue earned should be made viable for such units to grow.

Punjab and Haryana have formed special task forces and panchayats have taken the pledge to refrain from the practice, yet the realisation has to dawn that smoke and smog caused by farm fires are injurious to health, not just of the general public, but of the farmers themselves, especially amid the pandemic.

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.