It may not be incorrect to say that the smog across the National Capital Region and other parts of Northern India can be attributed to the depleting water table in Punjab and the State government’s policy response to it. The policy response came form of a law in 2009 — Punjab Preservation of Sub-Soil Water Act, 2009 — that prohibits farmers from sowing paddy seeds in nurseries and transplanting the sapling prior to the notified dates. Initially, the dates notified were May 10 for sowing paddy seeds and June 10 for transplanting. For the current year, the dates notified for the purpose were pushed back to May 20 and June 20, as a measure to reduce extraction of ground water. Prior to the enactment of this law, farmers would begin the sowing cycle in April for the crop which can typically take up to 120 days to maturity. Haryana too implemented a similar law in 2009, soon after Punjab.

The forced delay in the sowing cycle has reduced time for farmers get to prepare their fields for sowing wheat after harvesting paddy. For thousands of small farmers with limited means, burning the paddy stubble is the cheapest and quickest way to clean up their fields late October to sow wheat in November. Not many can afford to employ Happy Seeder to get rid of the stubble and sow wheat simultaneously. Yet, policy-makers assume narrower window between harvesting of paddy and sowing of wheat will encourage faster adoption of technology by poor farmers.

The Punjab and Haryana governments need to analyse if delaying crop sowing is the only way to arrest drawing of ground water in summer months when evaporation rates are also high. Would it not be better to incentivise farmers to diversify from paddy to less water-intensive crops? The two state governments need to support farmers to make this shift, especially in areas that are at risk of desertification.

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