Lok Sabha Question No. 130 (STARRED), answered on 2023-12-12
Subject: Stubble Burning Incidents
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Ritesh Pandey

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 130

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 12 TH  DECEMBER, 2023

## STUBBLE BURNING INCIDENTS

* 130. SHRI RITESH PANDEY: Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ͪष एवं ͩकसान कãयाण मंğी be pleased to state: (a) 29th October, 2023, the total stubble burning incidents in Haryana, Punjab, NCR- UP, NCRreduction of 54.2% & 44.3% respectively'; (b) controlling stubble burning in the region; (c) if so, the details thereof; and (d)

the details of raw data and materials on the basis of which the Commission for Air Quality  Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas has relied on to reach its finding that 'during the 45 days period in the current paddy harvesting season i.e., 15th September to Rajasthan and Delhi have come down from 13,964 in the corresponding period in 2022 to 6,391 in 2023 and from 11,461 in the corresponding period in 2021 to 6,391 in 2023 i.e., a whether the Government has taken any concrete steps towards further reducing and if  not,  the  reasons  therefor  along  with  an  indicative  timeline  for  future  planned actions? ANSWER MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ͪष एवं ͩकसान कãयाण मंğी (SHRI ARJUN MUNDA) (a) to (d): A statement is laid on the Table of the House

## STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (d)  OF  LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 130 DUE FOR REPLY ON 12 TH  DECEMBER 2023.

(a): The active fire events due to rice residue burning are monitored using satellite remote sensing,  following  the  "Standard  Protocol  for  Estimation  of  Crop  Residue  Burning  Fire Events using Satellite Data" by the Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modelling from Space (CREAMS) Laboratory, Division of Agricultural Physics, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) - Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi. As per their report, the burning events detected between 15 September to 29 October during 2021, 2022 and 2023 are indicated in below table:

| State              |   Paddy stubble Burning Events detected between 15 September to 29 October |   Paddy stubble Burning Events detected between 15 September to 29 October |   Paddy stubble Burning Events detected between 15 September to 29 October | Percentage Reduction in Paddy Stubble Burning events during 2023   | Percentage Reduction in Paddy Stubble Burning events during 2023   |
|--------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
| State              |                                                                       2021 |                                                                       2022 |                                                                       2023 | In comparison to 2021                                              | in comparison to 2022                                              |
| Punjab             |                                                                       9001 |                                                                      12112 |                                                                       5254 | 41.6                                                               | 56.6                                                               |
| Haryana            |                                                                       2413 |                                                                       1813 |                                                                       1094 | 54.7                                                               | 39.7                                                               |
| NCR- Uttar Pradesh |                                                                         45 |                                                                         33 |                                                                         39 | 13.3                                                               | +18.2                                                              |
| NCR - Rajasthan    |                                                                          2 |                                                                          1 |                                                                          2 | 0                                                                  | -                                                                  |
| NCT of Delhi       |                                                                          0 |                                                                          5 |                                                                          2 | -                                                                  | 60.0                                                               |
| Total              |                                                                      11461 |                                                                      13964 |                                                                       6391 | 44.2                                                               | 54.2                                                               |

For the period from 15th September to 29th October, 2023, the total stubble burning incidents in Punjab,Haryana, NCR- Uttar Pradesh, NCR-Rajasthan and Delhi have come down  to 6,391 numbers as compared  to 11,461 numbers  in 2021 and  13,964 number in 2022 as reported for corresponding period. The percentage reduction for the corresponding period in 2023 was 44.3% and  54.2%  when compared with the corresponding period 2021 and 2022, respectively.

(b) to (d): The  Commission  for  Air  Quality  Management  (CAQM)    through  statutory directions dated 10.06.2021 had provided a framework for control/elimination of crop residue burning,  based  on  which  the  State  Governments  of  Punjab,  Haryana  and  UP    prepare detailed  and  monitorable    state  specific  action  plans.  The  action  plan  includes  proper implementation of in-situ and Ex-situ management of paddy straw, IEC activities, effective monitoring / enforcement and prohibition of stubble burning

The  Department  of  Agriculture  &  Farmers  Welfare  is  implementing  Crop  Residue Management Scheme from 2018-19  in order to support the efforts of the Governments of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi to address air pollution and to subsidize machinery required for management of crop residue The scheme promotes the usage of machines such as Super Straw Management Systems, Happy Seeder, Super Seeder, Smart Seeder, Super Seeder, Zero Till Seed cum Fertilizer Drill, Mulcher, Shrub Master/Rotary Slasher, Paddy Straw Chopper, Hydraulically Reversible Mould Board Plough, Crop Reapers and Reaper Binders for in-situ management of paddy straw and Balers & Straw Rakes for ex-situ management of paddy straw. Financial assistance @ 50% of the cost of machinery is provided to the farmers for purchase of these identified machinery and financial assistance @ 80% of the project cost is provided to the RuralEntrepreneurs (Rural youth and farmer as an entrepreneur), CooperativeSocieties of Farmers, Self Help Groups (SHGs), Registered Farmers Societies,Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) and Panchayats for establishment of Custom Hiring Centres of crop residue management machinery.

The  scheme  guidelines  have  been  revised  with  a  view  to  enable  efficient  ex-situ management of paddy straw  generated in  these  States    Provisions  have  been  made  to establish  techno-commercial pilot projects for paddy straw supply chain under the bilateral agreement of  beneficiary/ aggregator (Farmers, Rural entrepreneurs, Cooperative Societies of farmers, Farmers Producer Organizations (FPOs) and Panchayats) and Industries utilizing the paddy straw. Financial assistance @ 65% on the capital cost of machinery costing up to Rs. 1.50 crores is provided by the Government.  Industry as primary promoter of the project has to contribute 25% of the project cost and the balance 10% will be the contribution of beneficiary/aggregator.The intervention aims at establishing a robust supply chain of paddy straw for various end user industries in biomass power generation and biofuel sectors.

The  use  of  Bio-Decomposer  (a  microbial  consortium  of  fungal  species),  which accelerates the in-situ decomposition of paddy straw is also promoted under the scheme. During 2023 season, the bio-decomposer was used by the States in an around 7.00 lakh hectares area.

Under CRM scheme, a total of Rs.3333.17 Crore have been released to the States of Punjab, Haryana, UP and NCT of Delhi including Implementing agencies like ICAR etc. The States have established more than 40,000 Custom Hiring Centres (CHCs) of crop residue management machines and more than 2.95 lakh crop residue management machines have been supplied to these CHCs and individual farmers of these States. The State of Punjab has sanctioned 12 projects of paddy straw supply chain and the State of Uttar Pradesh has sanctioned 90 projects.

Apart from above, the ex-situ utilization of paddy straw is supported through various initiatives of the Government which include, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) programme of  Biomass power & cogeneration which promote technologies for optimum use of  country's  biomass  resources,  Revised  policy  of  Ministry  of  Power  (MoP)  for  biomass utilization for power generation through co-firing in coal based power plants which mandates utilization of  5-7 percent biomass pellets in thermal power plants, Sustainable Alternative Towards  Affordable  Transportation  (SATAT)  initiative  of  the  Ministry  of  Petroleum  and Natural Gas (MoP&NG)aims at extracting economic value from bio-mass waste in the form of  Compressed  Bio  Gas  (CBG)  and  bio-manure,  MoP&NG  scheme  to  extend  financial assistance to biomass aggregation equipment to the CBG plant owners, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) scheme  for  grant of one-time financial support for establishment of biomass Pelletisation and Torrefaction plants.