Lok Sabha Question No. 5255 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-04-04
Subject: Guidelines for Burning of Crop Residues
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Bholanath (B.P. Saroj)

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 5255

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 04.04.2022

## Guidelines for Burning of Crop Residues

## 5255.   SHRI BHOLANATH (B.P. SAROJ):

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

- (a) the details of the guidelines issued by the Government for compliance by respective State Governments  towards  prevention  of  burning  of  crop  residues  by  farmers  in  their agricultural fields;
- (b) the extent to which the pollution level has increased in various cities due to burning of crop residues;
- (c) whether  it  is  a  fact  that  techniques  for  making  many  items/products,  like  cardboard, paper,  husk,  grain  chaff  and  animal  fodder  out  of  crop  residue  are  available  for  which experts have been giving their suggestions from time to time; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

## (a)

The  Commission  for  Air  Quality  Management  in  National  Capital  Region  and  Adjoining Areas,  on  10.06.2021  has  provided  a  framework  to  the  states  of  Punjab,  Haryana,  Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, along with the NCT of Delhi, for control/elimination of crop residue burning and directed to draw up the state specific action plans based on the major contours of the framework. The commission on 16.09.2021 directed the Chief Secretaries of the states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, along with the NCT of Delhi to effectively implement the framework and the detailed action plan.

Further, Government is implementing a special scheme 'Promotion of Agricultural Mechanization for In-Situ Management of Crop Residue in the States of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar  Pradesh  and  NCT  of  Delhi'  to  support  the  efforts  of  the  governments  of  Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and the NCT of Delhi towards prevention of burning of crop residue and to subsidize machinery required for in-situ management of crop residue.

(b)

As  per  the  System  of  Air  Quality  and  Weather  Forecasting  (SAFAR),  Ministry  of  Earth Sciences, estimated average contribution of biomass burning to PM2.5 levels in Delhi was 13%  for  both  years  i.e.  2020  (10  October  -  03  December)  and  2021  (10  October-  23

November) with maximum estimated contribution reaching up to 42% in 2020 and 48% in 2021.

Active Fire Event (AFE) count due to paddy crop residue burning, provided by Consortium for Research on Agro ecosystem Monitoring and Modeling from Space (CREAMS), IARI, indicates reduction of AFE in 2021, by 14% in Punjab, while increase by 66.3% in Haryana, as compared to AFE count observed in 2020. Though, Net AFE count in Punjab and Haryana has decreased by 10% in 2021, as against 2020. District-wise AFE count for the States of Punjab and Haryana for 2020 and 2021 is enclosed as Annexure-I.

## (c) & (d)

Paddy straw is used as conventional animal feed in most parts of the country. However, it can be better utilized by making it nutritional feed material by treating with urea solution. The paddy straw is also used for paper making. However, it is less preferred by the paper industry due to high silica content causing chocking of  blast  furnaces, low fiber strength, less pulp yield, yellowness in pulp and requirement of large storage space etc.

A committee was constituted by ICAR to analyze various ex-situ crop residue management options  for  their  technical  feasibility  and  economic  viability  and  brought  out  document entitled 'Ex-situ Crop Residue Management Options'.

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## Annexure-I

ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (b)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA  UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  5255  DUE  FOR  ANSWER  ON  04.04.2022REGRADING 'GUIDELINES FOR BURNING OF CROP RESIDUES' RAISED BY SHRI BHOLANATH (B.P. SAROJ), HON'BLE MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT

## District-wise AFE count for the state of Punjab (15 September-30 November)

| District        |   2020 |   2021 |
|-----------------|--------|--------|
| Amritsar        |   3067 |   2174 |
| Barnala         |   5342 |   4326 |
| Bathinda        |   5239 |   4481 |
| Faridkot        |   4734 |   3953 |
| Fatehgarh Sahib |   1536 |   1724 |
| Fazilka         |   2616 |   2389 |
| Firozpur        |   8525 |   6289 |
| Gurdaspur       |   2132 |   1396 |
| Hoshiarpur      |    388 |    331 |
| Jalandhar       |   1951 |   2548 |
| Kapurthala      |   1886 |   1798 |
| Ludhiana        |   5065 |   5817 |
| Mansa           |   3786 |   3217 |
| Moga            |   7421 |   6515 |
| Muktsar         |   5072 |   4598 |
| Pathankot       |     13 |      6 |
| Patiala         |   6433 |   5426 |
| Rupnagar        |    205 |    307 |
| Sangrur         |  11727 |   9389 |
| S.A.S. Nagar    |    127 |    148 |
| SBS Nagar       |    132 |    355 |
| Tarn Taran      |   5605 |   4117 |
| Total           |  83002 |  71304 |

## District-wise AFE count for the state of Haryana (15 Sep-30 Nov)

| District     |   2020 |   2021 |
|--------------|--------|--------|
| Ambala       |    346 |    308 |
| Bhiwani      |      5 |     12 |
| CharkhiDadri |      0 |      0 |
| Faridabad    |      1 |      3 |
| Fatehabad    |    880 |   1479 |
| Gurugram     |      0 |      0 |
| Hisar        |     56 |    245 |
| Jhajjar      |      6 |      7 |
| Jind         |    347 |    919 |
| Kaithal      |    840 |   1157 |
| Karnal       |    592 |    955 |
| Kurukshetra  |    406 |    538 |
| Mahendergarh |      0 |      0 |
| Mewat        |      0 |      0 |
| Palwal       |     46 |    115 |
| Panchkula    |      0 |      0 |
| Panipat      |     55 |    254 |
| Rewari       |      0 |      0 |
| Rohtak       |     50 |     78 |
| Sirsa        |    357 |    551 |
| Sonipat      |     72 |    219 |
| Yamunanagar  |    143 |    147 |
| Total        |   4202 |   6987 |