Stubble burning: SC to examine plea suggesting to withhold MSP for farmers who burn crop

The Supreme Court has agreed to examine a suggestion of withholding a portion of Minimum Support Price (MSP) from farmers indulging in stubble burning, a source of pollution in the Delhi-NCR and bordering states.

The proposal said that the portion could be released only after a verification that farmers didn’t burn the crop residue.

The Centre has however objected to the idea saying that “tinkering with the MSP may not be in the interest of the farmers”.

The suggestion came on October 6 before the bench comprising Chief Justice SA Bobde, Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramaniun in a fresh application moved by Vikrant Tongad - a Noida-based farmer.

Tongad urged the court for “an alternative incentive mechanism be formulated for tweaking the amount of Rs 100 per quintal and its payment be deferred from within the MSP until it is verified that no stubble has been burnt,” livelaw.in reported.

"For forest fire, there is already a system, by which satellite images are captured, and messages are sent to the concerned forest officials for remedial measures. Why can't such measures be adopted with respect to stubble burning? The second suggestion is that a portion of Minimum Support Price should be withheld to verify if the farmer has indulged in stubble burning," livelaw.in quoted Shyam Divan, senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for Tongad.

“Who is going to supervise and verify if a farmer has indulged in stubble burning?” the bench asked in response while agreeing to examine the plea.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Union Environment Ministry objected to the proposal saying that it may not be in the interest of the farmers to tinker with MSP. The matter was posted for next hearing on October 16 after Mehta told the Court that the Centre would file a reply.

The Court asked chief secretaries of Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana and Punjab, be present before this Court on the next date of hearing.

Last November, the Supreme Court of India pulled up the Punjab and Haryana governments for their inability to prevent pollution caused by stubble burning despite previous orders.

The Court had directed the state governments to grant financial assistance of Rs 100 per quintal within seven days to small and marginal farmers for handling crop residue of non-basmati rice to ensure that they do not burn stubble to clean their fields.

But, the farmers have started burning the crop residue, despite a ban. In absence of alternatives such as machines, the farmers indulge in this old practice to clear the fields for the next crop deteriorating the already-spiked pollution level in Delhi-NCR ahead of the harvesting season that runs through September and November.

In 2019, stubble burning accounted for at least 44 percent of air pollution in Delhi, according to the government data. Of the 20 million tonnes of paddy crop produced in Punjab last year, 9.8 million tonnes of crop residue was burnt. Likewise, in Haryana, of the 7 million tonnes of paddy crop produced, 1.2 million tonnes of residue was reduced to ashes.