(FE)
The government has said there has been 12% reduction so far this year in incidents of stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. It further claimed that the use of ‘happy seeder’ machines has helped bring down the practice. Citing an ICAR study, agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said in a statement that there were 331,402 incidents of crop residue burning until November 4, against 35,717 such cases in the year-ago period.
Stubble burning has been in practice in these states for the past few years as farmers prefer to burn the residues after harvesting paddy to clear the field for sowing of wheat. The main reason is attributed to the labour cost involved in clearing the stubble which is more than its market value.As Delhi and its adjoining cities have been experiencing dangerous levels of air pollution for the past 4-5 years particularly around Diwali, the current year has again put the issue on centrestage with the Supreme Court directing the government to take immediate measures for controlling pollution.
