Clear the air

Come October end, and the National Capital Region is enveloped in a noxious smog. The Air Quality Index, developed by the Central Pollution Control Board, in Delhi is in the region of 300 now — which is considered ‘poor’. The immediate reason for the AQI spike at this time of the year is the hectic burning of rice straw to clear the fields as soon as possible for the sowing of wheat. While satellite images suggest that straw burning has reduced, following a punitive ‘ban’ by the National Green Tribunal in December 2015, the practice continues for compelling economic reasons. For one, the wheat crop is ideally sown by mid-November; burning is fast and costs nothing at all. The Economic Survey 2017-18, citing studies, explains that “once the machine has harvested the cost of getting the stubble removed is ₹3,500 per hectare...it is more economic for the farmers to just burn by using one rupee match box and clear the fields.” The residue problem is a result of rampant use of mechanised harvesters, which reap the grain and leave a stubble of about 40 cm. These harvesters come cheap even as labour is scarce. The Survey observes: “It takes barely an hour and ₹1,000-1,500 to cover an acre of paddy using combines. The same job through manual methods requires “about 10 men working a full day, and costing ₹4,500 or upwards.” If rice straw burning is to stop, the Centre and States need to offer both economic and technological solutions.

The promotion of the so-called ‘happy seeder’ machine, which facilitates sowing without removing the straw, is a step forward. However, reports suggest that the machine, priced at about ₹1.7 lakh, works out expensive even after a 50 per cent subsidy to individual farmers. Besides, its usage for only a few months in year makes it unattractive. The Centre and States need to devise a fresh approach, which includes generating power, ethanol and manure out of crop residue by incentivising the farmer, instead of banking just on the ‘happy seeder’. Merely doling out higher subsidy may not help, in the absence of innovative, long-term approaches.

Farmers in Punjab and Haryana must be weaned away from the rice-wheat cycle towards horticulture and pulses. Hefty increases in paddy MSP do not suggest sufficient resolve in this regard. However, urban citizens need to shoulder some responsibility. While the Survey cites an IIT Kanpur study to point out that crop residue burning accounts for 26-29 per cent of the Capital’s toxic air at this time of the year, it also says that vehicular emissions too account for 23-28 per cent of such emissions. Dust from construction activity and power plants emissions are major factors as well. A shift towards renewables and mass public transport needs urgent attention. Air quality control is about collective lifestyle choices.

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