Lok Sabha Question No. 1940 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-02-12
Subject: Management of stubble burning
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Parvesh Sahib Singh

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

## LOK SABHA UN-STARRED QUESTION NO. 1940

TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.02.2021

## Management of stubble burning

## 1940 SHRI PARVESH SAHIB SINGH VERMA:

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

- (a) the details of initiatives taken under the National Clean Air Programme during the last two years for the effective management of stubble burning;
- (b) the amount spent by the Government on the Graded Response Action Plan during the last two years;
- (c) whether the Government has identified hotspots in the neighbouring States of NCR for stubble burning pollution; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons thereof?

## ANSWER

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

## (a):

Government of India launched National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), to tackle air pollution problem across the country in a comprehensive and focussed manner to achieve 20 % to 30 % reduction in PM10 and PM2.5 levels by 2024 from 2017 levels.

The Government has taken several actions to curb air pollution even before launch of NCAP which also includes the initiatives regarding the effective management of stubble burning.

-  To manage the problem of stubble burning, Central Government in 2018 launched a Scheme 'Promotion of Agricultural Mechanization for In-Situ Management of Crop Residue in the State of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh & NCT of Delhi'.  Under the  said  scheme,  50%  subsidy  is  provided  in  case  of  procurement  on  farm Machinery and Equipment by individual farmers. Further, 80% subsidy provided on the project cost to co-operative societies of farmers, farmers producers organization, registered farmers societies and  gram  panchayats  for  establishment of  farm machinery banks for Custom Hiring of crop residue management machinery. For implementation  of  the  scheme,  funds  amounting  to  a  total  of  Rs.  1726.67  crores have been released during 2018-21.
-  Alternate avenues for the usage of paddy straw/crop residue such as use of biomass for  production  of  PraliChar,  biochar,  pellets,  briquettes,  bioCNG,  bio-ethanol  etc are also being attempted.
-  Coordination with ISRO for a regular availability of remote sensing monitoring data for crop burning by the farmers.

## (b):

The Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) was notified by the Ministry vide dated January 12, 2017. Actions as stated under GRAP to curb air pollution related issues in Delhi-NCR are being implemented through concerned state agencies.

A Task Force consisting of members from State Pollution Control Boards/Committee- Delhi, Haryana,  Uttar  Pradesh,  Rajasthan,  IMD,  a  Health  Expert,  and  Central  Pollution  Control Board  was  constituted  for  initiating  action.  Task  Force  had  conducted  68  meetings,  and initiated appropriate actions.

## (c)&(d):

Active Fire Events (AFEs) are monitored regularly to identify hotspots of stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana.

In  2020,  Sangrur,  Bhatinda,  Firozpur,  Moga  and  Muktsar  were  identified  to  be  top  05 districts out of 22 districts of Punjab in terms of AFE counts. The total AFE counts of these districts correspond to more than 45% of total AFE counts of all the districts. Fatehabad,  Kaithal,  Karnal,  Jind  and  Sirsawere  identified  to  be  top  05  districts  out  of  22 districts of Haryana affected in terms of AFE counts. The total AFE counts of these districts correspond to more than 65% of total AFE counts of all the districts.

The  directions  regarding  enforcement  of  ban  on  stubble  burning  were  issued  to  all  the concerned State Government in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019. Further, States were asked to saturate  the  hotspots/villages  and  districts  with  high  burning  events  with  machineries  on priority.

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