Pollution:
Why the farmers alone are being made scapegoats?
Jag Mohan Thaken
Pollution:
Why the farmers alone are being made scapegoats?
Jag Mohan Thaken
Stubble burning always puts a damper on
celebrations of Diwali festival for the farmers, especially residing in Punjab
and Haryana. It is the harvest season for paddy just before the sowing of the
next crop. Farmers have to vacate the land for the wheat showing immediately
and they don’t have much time to manage the straw of paddy just harvested. In
order to quickly prepare their fields for the wheat crop, many farmers simply
burn leftover plant debris after harvesting rice. The practice is known as
paddy stubble burning.
Due to the short period for stubble management and
lack of readily available alternative means within reach of the farmers and no
proper proportionate monetary help by the governments, the farmers have to
adopt the old method of stubble burning. The surprising thing is that the
governments do not seem seriously ready to resolve their problem, rather
enforcing the farmers by inflicting the fine, depriving the farmers of MSP for
the next two crops and lodging FIR against them.
While stubble burning is a compulsive need for the
farmers, but it has become a noose around the neck for the government also.
To control the menace of this practice by ‘Rule(stick)
in the guise of Rule’, Haryana Agricultural department has issued a letter on
October 17, 2024 for lodging an FIR and restricting the farmers, who burn
stubble, from selling their crops in Mandis through the e-Kharid portal.
“Farmers who burn or have burnt stubble during the
current season i.e from 15-09-2024, an FIR should be registered against them
and a Red entry should be made in their MFMB records restricting them from selling their crops in Mandis through the e-Kharid
portal during the next two seasons, says the Department of Agriculture,
Haryana”.
To give another hammer blow to the farmers, recently
the central Ministry of Environment has also issued a notification to double
the penalty amount on stubble burning. Now, a fine of ₹5,000 will be imposed on
landowners with less than two acres, ₹10,000 for two to five acres, and ₹30,000
for those with more than five acres, if they adopt the stubble burning. The
governments of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Delhi will be
required to implement these rules.
How Polluted Air
affects health?
Around the Diwali festival season, every year, a thick
smoke layer covers up the sky umbrella almost in all the areas of Haryana,
Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, especially the NCR region, making
it very difficult even to breathe in due to the polluted air and atmosphere. Delhiites,
being the most sufferers, create much hue and cry, and as the country governing
authorities are sitting there, so the issue becomes more complicated and gets
highlighted in all spheres. Dr Ashok Dhillon, Agricultural scientist, Ambala
Agricultural Science Centre, says that due to burning of paddy residue, 70
percent carbon dioxide, 7 percent carbon monoxide along with gases like methane
and nitrous oxide etc. get dissolved in the atmosphere which is very harmful
for human health as well as animals.
World Health Organization (WHO), spreading
awareness about the ‘CLEAN AIR FOR CHILDREN’S HEALTH’, highlights – A child,
who is exposed to unsafe levels of pollution, can face a lifetime of health
impacts. Exposure in the womb or in early childhood can lead to: Stunted lung
growth, Reduced lung function, Increased risk of developing asthma, Acute lower
respiratory infections, Impaired mental and motor development, Behavioural
disorders, Low birth weight, Premature birth, Infant mortality, Childhood
Cancers, Increased risk of heart disease, Diabetes and stroke in adulthood.
It adds that household and ambient air pollution
cause more than 50% of acute lower respiratory infection in children under 5
years in lower and middle-income countries.
WHO further warns that in 2016, ambient and
household air pollution caused 543,000 deaths in children under 5 years and
52,000 deaths in children aged 5-15 years. What a horrific crisis is hovering
over the world, one can imagine easily!
Is stubble burning the sole major factor of
pollution?
Punjab farmers’ front ‘Bharatiya Kisan Union Ekta
Dakounda’, through its statement November 12,2024, strongly condemning orders
issued against the farmers, alleged that the authorities are ignoring the
ground realities and ordering coercion on the farmers who produce only 4.4% of
the pollution, while 95.6% are emitted by firecrackers, diesel generators,
factories and transport. Instead of taking any action against the polluters,
only reports are being sought about them. According to the instructions of the
National Green Tribunal, it is the responsibility of the administration to
arrange for the collection, transportation and consumption of straw. Neither
the administration has fulfilled its responsibility nor the courts have taken
any action against the administration. On the contrary, farmers are being made
the scapegoat, which is a reprehensible act.
Terming the centre government’s allegations
against the farmers as unscientific claims, All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) through
its release to media on November 8, 2024, pleads that the claim that stubble
burning in Punjab and Haryana is leading to air pollution in NCR is bogus,
because air quality in these States, which should be more directly affected has
been consistently lower than in the NCR. It is notable that vehicular
pollution, pollution from factories and brick-kilns are going on unchecked and
scientific studies point out that they are more responsible for the pollution
in the NCR Region. AIKS adds that according to NASA’s Visible Infrared Imaging
Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) data there reportedly has been a 51 per cent drop in
the total number of farm fires between 2018 and October, 2024. Data shared by
the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) indicate that between 12th
October and 21st October this year, on average stubble burning accounted for
only 0.92 per cent of the PM2.5 (Particulate Matter 2.5) levels in Delhi.
Clearly, the dominant reasons for the pollution in NCR are vehicular emissions,
emissions from factories, brick-kilns etc.
If we analyse the NASA’s data referred by AIKS,
which show that there reportedly has been a 51 per cent drop in the total
number of farm fires between 2018 and October, 2024, then why the AQI of Delhi
and NCR has not lowered 51 %, if the stubble burning is the sole major factor
for pollution?
Why the farmers alone are made scapegoats?
Punjab governor Gulab Chand Kataria, presiding
over an international conference at Punjab Agricultural University on November
12,2024, said that it was wrong to blame only farmers for the air pollution. He
underscored the need for ensuring crop residue management (CRM) machinery to
farmers in sufficient numbers in order to curb stubble burning incidents. “The
farmer won’t give up paddy unless he is given a crop that yields more profit
(than paddy). They put in so much hard work; they need profit. Farmers have no
choice. They have to sow wheat in time,” he said.
Kataria added that the state government and centre
have tried to make residue management machines available but it is still far
from the number of machines required to deal with the issue.
The All-India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) alleges that
while the urban rich and capitalists are not being fined and little is being
done to regulate the proliferation of vehicles, the poor farmers are being
targeted for their role in the historic farmers’ struggle against the
pro-corporate Farm Acts as well as the electoral set-back for BJP in the rural
areas. In fact, the farmers through Agro-forestry and protection of green cover
are doing an ecological service to the nation and the BJP led Union Government
is punishing them.
Former Union Minister and the General Secretary of
the All-India Congress Committee, Kumari Selja, also alleges that instead of
working in the interest of the farmers, the BJP government is focused on
oppressing and exploiting them.
Kumari Selja adds that following strict remarks
from the Supreme Court on the issue of air pollution caused by stubble burning,
the central government has now taken out its frustration on farmers by deciding
to double the fine for stubble burning.
In a statement released to the media, she said
that stubble burning is not a recent issue; it has been happening for years.
There is no doubt that stubble burning increases air pollution. The government
should create a system so that farmers do not have to burn stubble.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has also strongly
criticised the Central Government's decision to double the fine for stubble
burning. AAP senior leader and spokesperson Neel Garg said that the Punjab
Government had sought Rs. 1200 crore from the Centre to tackle this issue and
reduce incidents of stubble burning by providing financial incentives to
farmers to discourage the practice. He questioned why the Centre had refused to
provide this assistance if they were genuinely concerned about stubble burning?
If the Centre had provided the requested financial
support, these incidents would have dropped even further. However, instead of
offering help, the Centre has imposed a fine.
Haryana Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister
Shyam Singh Rana has said that the State Government is promoting the use of
straw as manure by encouraging farmers to incorporate it into their fields. He
added that attributing the rising pollution in Delhi solely to stubble burning
is misguided. He advised the Delhi government to implement concrete measures
similar to those in Haryana.
Head of the department of climate change and
agriculture meteorology of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Prabhjyot Kaur
Sidhu, who had compiled a study on stubble burning effects in 2020, said, “Every
paddy-growing state is suffering from factors adding to its air pollution. In
simple terms, Punjab’s smoke is not travelling 300-400 km to choke the lungs of
Delhi, rather Punjab farmers are harming their own children and brethren by
setting the fields on fire.”
Will Delhi governments stop the blame game of
alleging the farmers for each and every smoke particle hovering over Delhi and
NCR in the name of Stubble Burning? GROUND POST
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