Lok Sabha Question No. 955 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-11-22
Subject: Burning of Crop Residue
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Kuldeep Rai Sharma, Jai Prakash, Rajendra Agrawal, Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, Chirag Paswan, Kaushalendra Kumar, Adala Prabhakara Reddy, Nama Nageswara Rao, Sougata Ray, Chunni Lal Sahu, Supriya Sadanand Sule, Harish Dwivedi, Khagen Murmu, Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh, Prasun Banerjee, Amol Ramsing Kolhe, Manoj Kumar Tiwari, Sunil Dattatray Tatkare, Subhash Ramrao Bhamre, Mahabali Singh, A.K.P. Chinraj

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 955

TO BE ANSWERED ON 22.11.2019

## Burning of Crop Residue

## 955. SHRI KULDEEP RAI SHARMA;

SHRI JAI PRAKASH;

SHRI RAJENDRA AGRAWAL;

SHRI MAGUNTA SREENIVASULU REDDY;

SHRI CHIRAG KUMAR PASWAN;

SHRI KAUSHALENDRA KUMAR;

SHRI ADALA PRABHAKARA REDDY;

SHRI NAMA NAGESWARA RAO;

PROF. SAUGATA RAY;

SHRI CHUNNI LAL SAHU;

SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE;

SHRI HARISH DWIVEDI;

SHRI KHAGEN MURMU;

SHRI RAJIV RANJAN SINGH;

ALIAS LALAN SINGH;

SHRI PRASUN BANERJEE;

DR. AMOL RAMSING KOLHE;

SHRI MANOJ TIWARI;

SHRI SUNIL DATTATRAY TATKARE;

DR. SUBHASH RAMRAO BHAMRE;

SHRI MAHABALI SINGH;

SHRI A.K.P. CHINRAJ:

Will  the  Minister  of  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND  CLIMATE  CHANGE  be  pleased  to state:

- (a) whether the practice of burning of paddy stubble/crop residue in various States continue unabated leading to high air pollution level in cities and metros, if so, the details and the reasons therefore indicating the levels of Air Quality Index in Delhi and National Capital Region during the last one month;
- (b) whether the Government has directed all States to formulate a comprehensive policy for providing incentives, new technologies and infrastructural assistance to farmers to stop them  from  burning  of  crop  residue,  if  so,  the  details  and  the  response  of  the  State Governments thereto;
- (c) whether any major initiatives were undertaken in the past two years in consultation with the  neighbouring  States  of  Delhi  to  check  the  pollution  arising  from  paddy  stubble burning and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether  the  Government  has  convened  meeting  of  various  States  to  work  out  a  clear mechanism on transportation and use of stubble as  fuel  in  power  plants  and  if  so,  the details and the outcome thereof;
- (e) whether  States  have  made  any  concrete  development  plan  to  identify  the  site  in  each district for removal, collection and storage of crop residue and if so, the details thereof; and
- (f)   whether  the  Government  proposes  to  seek  funds  from  Green  Climate  Fund  through NABARD to tackle the problem of stubble burning and if so, the details and the corrective steps taken/proposed to be taken to prevent/ban burning of paddy stubble/crop residue and control air pollution?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)

(a),(b), (c), and (f) Stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh is considered as one of the  contributors  to  the  poor  air  quality  in  Delhi  and  NCR  during  early  winter  months.  As  per System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) of Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, the estimated impact of stubble burning in PM 2.5 levels of Delhi ranged between 2% (07.11.2019) to 46% (31.10.2019).The levels of Air Quality Index in Delhi and major National Capital Region cities for October 2019 are attached as Annexure A .

In  order  to  prevent  stubble  burning,  a  new  Central  Sector  Scheme  on  'Promotion  of Agricultural  Mechanization  for  In-Situ  Management  of  Crop  Residue  in  the  States  of  Punjab, Haryana,  Uttar  Pradesh  and  NCT  of  Delhi'  for  the  period  from  2018-19  to  2019-20  is  being implemented  by  Ministry  of  Agriculture  and  Farmers'  Welfare  with  the  total  outgo  from  the Central funds of Rs. 1151.80 crore (Rs. 591.65 crore in 2018-19 and Rs. 560.15 crore in 201920).

Under  this  Scheme,  the  agricultural  machines  and  equipments  for  in-situ  crop  residue management such as Super Straw Management System (SMS) for Combine Harvesters, Happy Seeders, Hydraulically Reversible MB Plough, Paddy Straw Chopper, Mulcher, Rotary Slasher, Zero Till Seed Drill and Rotavators are provided with 50% subsidy to the individual farmers and 80%  subsidy  for  establishment  of  Custom  Hiring  Centres(CHCs).   The  State  Governments during 2018-19 have supplied more than 56290 machines to the individual farmers and Custom Hiring Centres on subsidy for in-situ management of crop residue. During 2019-20, it has been targeted to supply more than 46578 machines.

In compliance to the directions ofHon'ble Supreme Court vide order dated 06.11.2019, the Government of Punjab has brought out a scheme for providing compensation @ Rs. 100/-per quintal to small and marginal farmers who are cultivating non-basmati paddy and are managing the paddy residue by in-situ method without burning. The Government of Haryana also brought out the scheme to provide Rs. 1000/-per acre operational charges for crop residue management for in-situ and ex-situ purposes. The Government of Haryana will also give Rs. 100 per quintal incentive to those farmers who have sold their paddy after 06.11.2019 and till 15.11.2019 and have not burnt the crop residue.

The National Green Tribunal in the order passed on 10.12.2015, directed and prohibited agricultural  residue  burning  in  any  part  of  the  NCT  of  Delhi,  State  of  Rajasthan,  State  of Punjab, State of Uttar Pradesh and State of Haryana. Any person or body that is found violating the directions of National Green Tribunal is liable to pay Environmental Compensation which is collected by the concerned State Governments.

Further,  extensive  Information,  Education  and  Communication  (IEC)  activities  for creating awareness among farmers have been undertaken by the States. States are also taking strong measures against those who have burnt stubble by way of lodging FIRs and charging penalties.

With the efforts of the Government, overall, about 15% and 41% reduction in burning events wereobserved in 2018 as compared to that in 2017 and 2016, respectively. During 201920 season, the total burning events recorded in the three States are 19.2% less than in 2018 till 18th November. UP has recorded 36.8% reduction, Haryana recorded 25.1% reduction, and Punjab recorded 16.8% reduction, respectively, in the current season than in 2018.

(d)  &  (e)  As  per  meeting  held  with  Ministry  of  Power,  State  Governments  of  Punjab  and Haryana  to  take  effective  steps  to  ensure  that  all  coal-based  thermal  power  plants,  including those in private sector, use minimum of 5% of biomass pellets and up to 10% to be co-fired with coal.

*****

## Annexure-A

## Comparative Air Quality Index Status of DELHI and major NCR Towns for October 2019

| Date      |   Delhi | Faridabad   | Gurugram   |   Ghaziabad |   Noida |
|-----------|---------|-------------|------------|-------------|---------|
| 01-Oct-19 |      93 | 46          | NA         |          85 |      82 |
| 02-Oct-19 |      90 | NA          | 65         |          82 |     118 |
| 03-Oct-19 |     136 | NA          | 76         |         184 |     177 |
| 04-Oct-19 |     100 | NA          | 83         |         108 |     116 |
| 05-Oct-19 |      98 | 117         | 72         |         109 |     102 |
| 06-Oct-19 |     127 | 101         | 81         |         135 |     136 |
| 07-Oct-19 |     130 | NA          | 98         |         162 |     144 |
| 08-Oct-19 |     112 | 102         | 78         |         119 |     114 |
| 09-Oct-19 |     173 | 150         | 122        |         186 |     175 |
| 10-Oct-19 |     211 | NA          | 171        |         225 |     193 |
| 11-Oct-19 |     216 | 250         | 190        |         264 |     262 |
| 12-Oct-19 |     222 | 248         | 175        |         263 |     252 |
| 13-Oct-19 |     270 | 253         | 198        |         320 |     310 |
| 14-Oct-19 |     252 | 263         | 205        |         277 |     273 |
| 15-Oct-19 |     270 | 293         | 240        |         308 |     297 |
| 16-Oct-19 |     304 | 300         | 287        |         339 |     326 |
| 17-Oct-19 |     284 | 245         | 279        |         298 |     283 |
| 18-Oct-19 |     248 | 214         | 258        |         270 |     243 |
| 19-Oct-19 |     161 | 256         | 219        |         169 |     167 |
| 20-Oct-19 |     238 | 243         | 185        |         269 |     250 |
| 21-Oct-19 |     249 | 213         | 201        |         284 |     260 |
| 22-Oct-19 |     207 | 161         | 174        |         236 |     210 |
| 23-Oct-19 |     242 | 258         | 195        |         285 |     246 |
| 24-Oct-19 |     311 | NA          | 294        |         335 |     319 |
| 25-Oct-19 |     284 | 260         | 280        |         303 |     284 |
| 26-Oct-19 |     287 | 259         | 239        |         303 |     280 |
| 27-Oct-19 |     337 | 323         | 299        |         395 |     358 |
| 28-Oct-19 |     368 | 358         | 372        |         396 |     397 |
| 29-Oct-19 |     400 | 387         | 368        |         446 |     439 |
| 30-Oct-19 |     419 | 404         | 365        |         478 |     450 |
| 31-Oct-19 |     410 | 402         | 341        |         482 |     452 |

NA- AQI not available on that day

| Category     | Category   |
|--------------|------------|
| Good         | (0-50)     |
| Satisfactory | (51-100)   |
| Moderate     | (101-200)  |
| Poor         | (201-300)  |
| Very Poor    | (301-400)  |
| Severe       | (>401)     |