Stubble Burning: Threat to Health & Environment. Management Practices & Central and State Regulations
Introduction
Introduction
A particular cropping
pattern is being followed in every country for effective land cultivation throughout
the year, which refers to the growing of different crops at different points of
time and focusing on environmental and weather parameters, the cropping pattern
is planned.
As per the Ministry of
Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, 26.21 million tons of straw were
generated in the year 2021 in Punjab, Haryana and U.P. The principal cropping
pattern is the rice-wheat crop rotation which is followed in most of the South
Asian countries including India. The requirements of both crops are completely
different concerning irrigation and soil condition requirements, which leads to
stubble burning during the transit of harvest of rice crops and sowing of the
wheat varieties in the month of October.
What is Stubble Burning?
Stubble Burning is the quick
method farmers adopt to set a controlled fire to the crop residues and make the
land ready to sow the next crop. These residues are created over the fields
where the combined harvester was being used to harvest and process the rice
crops. The machine can’t extract the rice crops from roots but can cut close
enough to the ground creating crop residues.
What are the effects on the environment and health?
The impact is severe
during the rice stubble burning season which is in Winter. The cold winds and
low temperatures create a stable atmosphere with inversion conditions. The rice
stubble burning causes a severe level of atmospheric pollution with carbon
dioxide and methane gases as the amount of rice paddy stubbles is more than the
wheat stubbles and pollutants stay for a longer time due to atmospheric
inversion, results of which cause poor dispersion, an increase of ambient air
aerosol, and decrease the rate of smoke diffusion. The accumulated smoke causes
damage to the environmental health and releases a high amount of greenhouse
gases which may potentially damage the layers of the atmosphere causing Global
Warming and health hazards.
The health effects of the
affected area can be skin rashes, eye infections, neurological issues,
cardiovascular and intra-molecular problems, respiratory infections such as
asthma, bronchitis, and Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases etc.
What are the solutions from the research done?
As per the suggestions
from various agricultural research, the stubbles into the soil can improve the
soil nutrient level and the next crop’s productivity as the stubble straws contain
plant growth nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium.
The machines used for
tillage operations can be helpful to boost soil fertility and increase carbon
sequestration. The effective
decomposition can be done through microorganisms converting crop stubble into
cellulose and lignin. The anaerobic process helps in increasing soil fertility.
Vermicomposting can be considered as an another highly effective method to
stabilize organic bi-products of crops with oxidization methods.
In continuation, the Indian
Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) developed “Pusa Decomoser”, a micro
digestion capsule that can help the stubble to decompose within a short period
of time and at a low cost of around Rs. 1000 per acre. Pyrolysis (thermos
chemical conversion in anaerobic conditions) can be followed as an alternative
method to produce Bio-char which helps biomasses can generate energy and heat
as a source of renewable source.
To prevent the direct
emission of toxic pollutants, the indirect method of biofuel production can
also be adopted which promotes cleaner air production and the use of biofuels as
they produce low carbon footprints than fossil fuels.
Other researchers have
suggested various other ways to mitigate the stubble, like in alcohol
refineries, production of bio-lubricants, non-silica-based applications, use in
pulp and paper industries, concrete and brick making industries as well as in
solar cells, nanomedicines, and cosmetics industries.
What are the benefits for crops and farmers?
The conventional practice
for harvesting crops was through manual labor, but due to the lack of manual
labor and technological advancement, farmers have started using machines with a
cheaper cost. The multi-utility combined harvesters are very popular in the Northern
parts of the country. The machine can do three different operations at one time
such as reaping, threshing, and winnowing. The machine is efficient with less
to no wastage of grains during the process in a short span of time and
generates huge tonnes of stubble. In addition, stubble burning is a quick
process and increases soil fertility leading to decreases in the rate of
fertilizer applications.
Another reason for the
farmers to process the next cultivation without giving any rest to the lands
can be the cause of water supply for one month only, October-November as per
Government of India regulations and afterward the water supply stops from till
the month of March. The stubble burning destroys the pests, weeds, maggots, and
insects and increases soil fertility with nitrogen bonding.
How does Stubble burn affect the Economy of the country?
Apart from health hazards,
stubble burning also affected the economy of the country drastically in recent
years. The tourist inflow rate has decreased to 25-22% in Delhi and nearby
states due to an increased level of particulate matter and a high Air Quality
Index (AQI). The projected rate of loss in the economy due to air pollution is
7-9% of GDP and is increasing exponentially year by year. Not only, in the
country, but the world bank also reported that air pollution costs more than
$224 billion nearly 2% of GDP which comes from developing countries like India.
In addition, the central pollution control departments outlined the cost of air
pollution control and management as around $15 billion yearly. The cost of air
pollution particulate matter management costs $76-$950 per annum depending on
rural and city areas.
What are the Regulations and amendments followed?
Union Environment
Ministry formed a statutory authority commissioned in the year 2020 to tackle
the air pollution due to stubble burning. The violations of the commission’s
order can put the person in prison for up to 5 years and a fine of up to
1crore.
In the year 2016, Delhi
high court amended the state laws directives for the states of Delhi, Punjab,
Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Rajasthan to curb the air pollution and stubble
burning issues. The directives include fines on stubble-burning states. Following
the law, 1406 farmers were fined a total of around 1.4 million rupees in the
year 2016.
What are the Central Government Initiatives?
The “JI-VAN” (Jaiv Indhan- Vatavaran Anukool
Fasal Awashesh Nivaran) Pradhan Mantri Scheme has focused on liquified biofuels and 2G Ethanol. Ministry
of petroleum and Gas supported the scheme to achieve the hybrid target of 20%
by 2030 through Viability Gap Funding. Several agencies like the Centre for
High Technology (CHT) under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoP&NG)
are implemented for the scheme. There are two phases of Viability Gap Funding (VGF),
Phase I (from 2018-19 to 2022-23) and Phase II (2020-21 to 2023-24).
In 2018, MoP&NG has launched a scheme “Sustainable Alternative
towards Affordable Transportation (STAT)” to produce around 3,000 tonnes of Bio-CNG
per year with the use of approximately 33,000 tonnes of paddy stubble per year.
What are the State-Level Initiatives as per Bio-Fuel Policy 2020?
Uttar Pradesh
To minimize the rate of stubble burning in UP, the state policy promotes
incentives for power generation plants set up and makes the state thermal power
plants mandatory to use agricultural waste products to generate power. In
addition, the state government provides more than 250 crores of annual grants
to UP Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) to buy power from these thermal power
plants. The proposed initiatives can limit stubble burning up to 10-12 million
tonnes every year.
Punjab
In the year 2017, the Punjab state government distributed direct seeders
for paddy implantation in the paddy fields, and in 2020, the Punjab state
government reduced the paddy cultivation areas by 10% than in 2019.
Haryana
Haryana State government proposed Custom Hiring Centers (CHCs) to help assistance to farmers and manage straw and stubble burning issues by providing subsidies through banks to by machines.
