It appears unlikely that despite the lack of agricultural residue management equipment, tens of thousands of farmers in Ludhiana choose not to burn paddy straw. The number of farm fires reported from certain other districts of Punjab, such as Amritsar, Tarn Taran, and Muktsar, is astoundingly low.
Source: One India
Haryana’s scenario is not any better. Approximately 56,000 farmers in Karnal, one of the state’s principal paddy-growing districts, registered on the Meri Fasal Mera Byora portal in order to sell paddy, and about 12,000 of them applied for an incentive of Rs 1,000 per acre for not burning stubble.
But thus far this season, the district has only recorded 100 cases of stubble fire. This raises the obvious question of how the enormous amount of stubble that roughly 44,000 farmers have grown has been disposed of. Punjab and Haryana are asserting a notable decrease in the quantity of stubble burning occurrences in comparison to the same period previous year, based on this underreporting.
Source: CNN- News 18
Nonetheless, it is obvious that the air quality has been worse this time around in a few places as compared to Octoberu2013November 2022.The authorities’ over-reliance on satellite imagery is a faulty strategy since it may overlook smaller or more dispersed flames that are invisible to sensors.
Field inspections are essential for cross-checking the data in order to minimise or eliminate the disparity between the statistics. A crucial first step in determining the scope of the issue is to diligently document agricultural fires. The juggling of statistics needs to end immediately, just like the farm fires.
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