Opinion | Governments must be more proactive to clear the smog around crop burning

Crop Burning

Ashutosh Kumar

Farmers in India have been in news of late, mostly for the wrong reasons.

In recent years, sitting in our drawing rooms we have read about farmers’ chronic indebtedness, their dependency on moneylenders, their agitations for an increase in the minimum support price (MSP), decelerating production of food grains despite input costs increasing, and diminishing landholdings.

Then there are suicides and rise in the social crimes like the drug menace that seem to have entangled the farming community.

Villages in India are getting farther from the Gandhian dream of the village republic which he envisioned in Hind Swaraj and in the weekly journal, Harijan.

Significantly, most, if not all bad news is coming from developed states such as Punjab and Haryana. Not long ago, they were hailed as model states or granaries of India. Now, farmers in these states routinely commit suicides or they fall sick of deadly diseases, the fallout of contamination of water and soil due to the excessive use of pesticides/fertilisers/hybrid seeds.

There is hardly any surprise when you hear farmer union leaders in these two states -- this is not the case in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra or even the National Capital Region (NCR) of Haryana, i.e. Gurugram and Faridabad) as they are no longer a one-sector economy like Punjab -- complaining about being used to make India self-sufficient in food grains.

Arguably, the ‘Green Revolution’ was a flawed technical solution to the food crisis. It was bound to have long-term adverse effects on these states but was nevertheless adopted because the alternative solution of land reforms was given up due to the inherent political cost.

As the Green Revolution has run its course, there has been a persistent talk of a second green revolution by effecting crop diversification/organic farming, but precious little has happened. As input costs increase every year, farmers, especially the ones going for cash crops, are caught in a debt trap.

For the last few years, farmers of Punjab and Haryana have faced public wrath and governmental action as one crop season ends and stubbles are burnt by them, causing massive air pollution not only in these two states but also in the nearby national capital.

The problem becomes more acute for big cities like Delhi, Gurugram and Ludhiana as they already have an unacceptable level of contaminated air due to heavy traffic, unplanned growth, polluting industries and depleting green cover.

Every year, state governments announce measures to check this menace but to no avail. These measures have included the introduction of restrictions on heavy vehicles, pollution control measures and awareness drives among farmers about the health hazards and damage to the soil due to stubble burning.

Under pressure from the green tribunal, state governments have even imposed penalties on farmers who do not adhere to the ban.

Unfortunately, stubble burning continues unabated. The farmers instead of being apologetic, are belligerent in their defiance as they point to the cost involved if they have to buy or engage farm equipment required for crop residue management.

They also refer to the prevalent three-crop economy in these two states, which means they have a very small time window before the next crop is planted.

The increase in wages for farm labour and the decrease in migrant labour also prompts farmers to continue with stubble burning.

Can Punjab and Haryana be expected to take penal action against erring farmers who, led by the Bharti Kisan Union (BKU), are defiant in not complying with the order banning stubble burning?

It is not likely to happen, given the social basis of power structure in the two states. The land holding in the two states are overwhelmingly under the ownership of the numerically strong Jat community and the leadership of the major parties in the two states come from this community.

As a result, no political regime can afford to alienate the landowning community, which already is nursing the grudge of being neglected by the Centre, be it in the issue of MSP or waiving off loans.

Farmers have been asking for the monetary compensation in lieu of agreeing to use the technology for transporting the stubble to thermal plants for sale or for converting the crop residue into manure or mixing the crop residues into soil.

The state governments, especially Punjab, instead of managing the finances on their own to pay the farmers compensation for compliance or providing soft loans to enable them to purchase agri-implements, have instead been seeking the Centre’s assistance which does not seem to be coming, despite pressure from the media, environmentalists and farm experts.

There are other alternatives. For example, the two states can purchase the residues from the farmers and handle it for their benefits in a cost-effective way. Focus should also be on year-long awareness programmes on the benefits of managing crop residues. The farmers need to be made aware that it is not just an urban problem, but, smog and its related dangers kills their own people, and deteriorates the soil quality.

The State’s activism should be focused on generating resources by seeking assistance from the global agencies created under the Paris agreement on climate change, such as the Global Climate Fund, or by involving corporate houses through CSR.

Media can also play a role in creating awareness among farmers about the long-term benefits of becoming willing partners in putting an end to this harmful practice.

(Ashutosh Kumar is professor, department of political science, Panjab University. Views expressed are personal)