Lok Sabha Question No. 601 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-07-24
Subject: Pollution caused by Stubble Burning
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Vivek Narayan Shejwalkar

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 601

TO BE ANSWERED ON 24.07.2023

## Pollution caused by Stubble Burning

## 601. SHRI VIVEK NARAYAN SHEJWALKAR:

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

- (a) the details of the schemes being implemented by the Government to prevent air pollution caused by burning of stubble in various States;
- (b) the  details  of  the  facilities  provided  by  the  Government  to  the  State  Governments  for management of stubble; and
- (c) whether the Government is assisting the State Governments to set up paddy straw pellet units in various areas including in thermal plants?

## ANSWER

MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE

(SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

(a) to (c)

To support the efforts of the Governments of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi  to  prevent  air  pollution  caused  due  to  stubble  burning  and  to  subsidize  machinery required for management  of  crop  residue,  a central sector scheme  on  crop  residue management has been implemented since 2018-19. Under this scheme, financial assistance @ 50% is provided to the farmers for purchase of crop residue management machinery and @ 80%  is  provided  to  Coop.  Societies,  FPOs  and  Panchayats  for  establishment  of  Custom Hiring  Centres  (CHC).  Financial  assistance  to  the  States  and  ICAR  is  also  provided  for undertaking  information,  education  and  communication  activities  for  mass  awareness  of farmers on crop residue management.

During the period from 2018-19 to 2022-23, Rs. 3138.17 crores have been released (Punjab Rs.1426.45 crores, Haryana - Rs. 916.71 crores, Uttar Pradesh - Rs. 713.67 crores, NCT of Delhi - Rs. 6.05 Crores and ICAR- Rs. 75.29 crores). The states have distributed more than 2.40 lakh machines to the individual farmers and to more than 37000 CHCs in these 4 States, which also include more than 4500 Balers & Rakes which are used for collection of straw in the form of bales for further ex-situ utilization.

In  2022,  the  Scheme  has  been  merged  with  Sub-Mission  on  Agricultural  Mechanization (SMAM) and SMAM has been merged with Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana. The state-wise and  year  wise  funds  and  the  number  of  crop  residue  management  machines  supplied  to individual farmers and Custom Hiring Centersare given at Annexure 1.

The  Government  has  framed  guidelines  for  providing  one-time  financial  assistance  for establishment  of  paddy  straw  based  pelletisation  and  torrefaction  plants.  Under  these guidelines, individual entities /entrepreneurs / companies, interested in setting up pelletisation and  torrefaction  plants,  using  only  paddy  straw  generated  in  the  NCT  of  Delhi,  States  of Punjab, Haryana, NCR districts of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh can obtain a one-time grant on capital investment. An initial corpus of Rs. 50 crores have been earmarked for utilisation through the guidelines. A total of 5.27 crore have been sanctioned for setting up of 06 paddy based straw pelletisation and torrefaction plants with total capacity of 23.75 TPH. The pellet produced from these plants could be utilized by industries including thermal power plants.

*****

## State-wise and year-wise funds released

| Year    | Funds Released (Rs. in Crores)   | Funds Released (Rs. in Crores)   | Funds Released (Rs. in Crores)   | Funds Released (Rs. in Crores)   | Funds Released (Rs. in Crores)   | Funds Released (Rs. in Crores)   |
|---------|----------------------------------|----------------------------------|----------------------------------|----------------------------------|----------------------------------|----------------------------------|
| Year    | Punjab                           | Haryana                          | Uttar Pradesh                    | NCT of Delhi                     | ICAR &Others                     | Total                            |
| 2018-19 | 269.38                           | 137.84                           | 148.60                           | 0.00                             | 28.51                            | 584.33                           |
| 2019-20 | 273.80                           | 192.06                           | 105.28                           | 4.52                             | 18.48                            | 594.14                           |
| 2020-21 | 272.50                           | 170.00                           | 120.20                           | 0.00                             | 8.00                             | 570.70                           |
| 2021-22 | 331.94                           | 193.35                           | 159.59                           | 0.00                             | 6.02                             | 690.90                           |
| Total   | 1147.62                          | 693.25                           | 533.67                           | 4.52                             | 61.01                            | 2440.07                          |

## Number of crop residue management machines supplied to individual farmers and Custom Hiring Centers

|   S. No. | Parameters                                                                       |   Punjab |   Haryana |   Uttar Pradesh |   NCT of Delhi |   Total |
|----------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------|-----------|-----------------|----------------|---------|
|        1 | Number of machines supplied to individual farmers                                |    30695 |     27661 |           34072 |            247 |   92675 |
|        2 | Number of machines supplied to Custom Hiring Centres                             |    54691 |     31446 |           21639 |              0 |  107776 |
|        3 | Number of Custom Hiring Centres Established                                      |    25403 |      6775 |            7213 |              0 |   39391 |
|        4 | Grand total of machines supplied to individual farmers and Custom Hiring Centres |    85386 |     59107 |           55711 |            247 |  200451 |

| State/ Agency   | Number of Machines delivered to the individual farmers and Custom Hiring Centres   | Number of Machines delivered to the individual farmers and Custom Hiring Centres   | Number of Machines delivered to the individual farmers and Custom Hiring Centres   | Number of Machines delivered to the individual farmers and Custom Hiring Centres   | Number of Machines delivered to the individual farmers and Custom Hiring Centres   | No. of Custom Hiring Centres Established   | No. of Custom Hiring Centres Established   | No. of Custom Hiring Centres Established   | No. of Custom Hiring Centres Established   | No. of Custom Hiring Centres Established   |
|-----------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------|
|                 | 2018- 19                                                                           | 2019- 20                                                                           | 2020- 21                                                                           | 2021- 22                                                                           | Total                                                                              | 2018 -19                                   | 2019 -20                                   | 2020- 21                                   | 2021 -22                                   | Total                                      |
| Punjab          | 2774 7                                                                             | 2306 8                                                                             | 2454 0                                                                             | 1003 1                                                                             | 85386                                                                              | 3888                                       | 5140                                       | 1210 0                                     | 4275                                       | 2540 3                                     |
| Haryan a        | 1062 7                                                                             | 1407 8                                                                             | 1535 0                                                                             | 1905 2                                                                             | 59107                                                                              | 1194                                       | 1685                                       | 1345                                       | 2551                                       | 6775                                       |
| Uttar Pradesh   | 2330 6                                                                             | 7054                                                                               | 1365 1                                                                             | 1170 0                                                                             | 55711                                                                              | 2300                                       | 1650                                       | 1652                                       | 1611                                       | 7213                                       |
| NCT of Delhi    | 0                                                                                  | 111                                                                                | 51                                                                                 | 85                                                                                 | 247                                                                                | 0                                          | 0                                          | 0                                          | 0                                          | 0                                          |
| Total           | 6168 0                                                                             | 4431 1                                                                             | 5359 2                                                                             | 4086 8                                                                             | 20045 1                                                                            | 7382                                       | 8473                                       | 1510 6                                     | 8437                                       | 3939 1                                     |