In a bid to discourage stubble burning, the Bihar government has initiated strict action against 900 farmers in the last three months post paddy harvesting season by blocking government incentives and subsidies paid through direct benefit transfer( DBT) for three years in 11 districts.
Bihar is the only state in India where such a system has been put in place since last year, linking government incentives for farmers with compliance to the ban on stubble burning– a major factor for air pollution. Total 1.64 crore farmers are registered with the State agriculture department for DBT transfers.
With 462 penalised farmers, Rohtas district tops the list of offenders who have been denied the DBT assistance, followed by 133 in Kaimur and 100 in Nalanda, shows data assessed from the agriculture department. Rohtas and Kaimur are the major paddy growing districts in Shahabad region.
Other districts where farmers have faced action include Buxar (93), Bhojpur (21), Patna (33), Gaya (40) and Jamui (7). The blocking of subsidy transfers by the government means the farmers will not get aid for procuring farm equipment, input subsidy etc, which are directly transferred to the accounts of farmers registered with the state agriculture department.
“The aim of blocking the DBT to farmers is to disincentivise the practice of stubble burning. The exercise has been undertaken by strict monitoring of the farm lands by our agriculture coordinators and kisan mitras, who report about erring farmers from remote areas,” said, secretary, agriculture, N Saravana Kumar.
Kumar said the government was not in the favour of filing FIRs against erring farmers but the blocking of DBT could turn out to be an effective method.
“We are doing awareness programmes in the districts to tell the farmers how burning of crop-residue not only causes air pollution but is also bad for the soil as it damages the micro nutrients in the soil,” Saravana said.
Last year, DBT to 376 farmers were blocked after the post-Kharif season and this year, post Rabi season in February- March, 625 farmers were blocked.
“This system of blocking DBT to farmers is only in practice in Bihar. It is proving effective as farmers cannot get benefits for three years, which is a long time,” said a senior agricultural officer.
Stubble burning is rampant during the post Kharief and Rabi crop season harvesting, when farmers burn the waste to dispose of the crop residue, causing air pollution. Delhi and other cities, especially in north India, have been grappling with extreme air pollution caused by stubble burning.
In Bihar, the problem of stubble burning may not have reached alarming levels like in Haryana and Punjab but farmers have been using the practice more in the last few years due to huge residue left in the farms after the harvest due to wider use of combine harvesters.
“In Bihar and other states, the growing mechanisation of farming has led to heavy stubble burning in the last few years as the waste generated is huge post harvest by equipments, Besides, farmers are not much interested in keeping husk for sale as there is less demand for it in rural areas these days due to less focus on animal rearing,” said Dr Bihari Singh, environmentalist and co-ordinator, environmental sciences, Nalanda Open University.
He listed the ill-effects of stubble burning. “Smoke from the crop residue emits heavy quantities of carbon dioxide, suspended particulate matter and other harmful particles that affect the air quality index (AQI). It is one major reason for air pollution in cities and towns in the state,” Singh added.
Singh said the practice of burning of crop residue could be checked if the government encourages farmers to make compost through short-term methods after harvesting as it would enrich the soil and cause less air pollution.
