Not realising that much of the agrarian distress is because of the unnecessary burden of expensive farm machines, both the frontline agricultural states of Punjab and Haryana are working overtime to sell more machines to farmers. As the paddy harvesting time nears, and fearing air pollution clogging New Delhi, both the governments are working overtime to sell more machines in the name of providing a solution for stubble burning.
As paddy harvest is getting at its peak, Punjab has a target to supply 27, 972 farm machines, including Happy Seeder, paddy straw chopper, cutter, mulcher, reversible mould board plough, shrub cutter, zero till drill in addition to making it compulsory for combine harvester machines to come attached with a super straw management equipment that will cut and spread the biomass in the field. Most of the other machines will require a rotavator and a rotary slasher. In Haryana, a set of 40,000 such similar machines have already been delivered to 900 custom hiring centres and thousands of individual farmers have made direct purchases. For farmers, the Happy Seeder machine is available at 50 per cent subsidy, and for the cooperatives or a group of farmers it is available for 80 per cent subsidy.
It is a bonanza for farm equipment manufacturers. They had lobbied hard all these years to sell the machines, and stubble burning came in as a god-sent opportunity to dump the machinery into crop fields. In Punjab, where 4.5-lakh tractors already exist against the requirement of 1-lakh tractors, I fail to understand why farmers are being burdened with another set of six to eight machines. Much of the indebtedness in Punjab is related to the overloading the farmers with tractors, which being uneconomical in operations are only adding to farmer’s debt. Paddy stubble burning is a problem that lasts for a maximum of three weeks, and these machines will remain idle for the rest of the year.
The allocation of subsidy for the purchase of machinery shows how myopic government policies are when it comes to farming. I wonder whether the underlying aim in reality is to help the farm manufacturing units in the name of farmers. Earlier too, a massive subsidy, as much as Rs 25-lakh and above depending on the size, was made available to set up poly houses. Several studies have now shown that more than 80 per cent of these poly houses are lying defunct. This is nothing short of a major scandal.
But nevertheless, what Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh required was the Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had earlier suggested. He had sought an investment of Rs 2,000-crore from the Centre to ensure that farmers remove paddy straw without burning it. “We have demanded that the Centre should give Rs 100 per quintal, which comes to roughly Rs 2,000-crore.” And he was right. But then he was told the government didn’t have the money. Strangely, why couldn’t a small fraction of the Rs 6.9-lakh crore proposed economic stimulus package for building highways be used for addressing the problem of stubble burning? Further, only a few months back, the government enhanced the DA instalment for government employees by 1 per cent. This jump entails an additional expenditure of Rs 3,000-crore. But when it comes to agriculture, the government always raises the red flag.
Farmers are aware of the environmental fall-out. But they need monetary help. Punjab farmers have been demanding Rs 6,000 per acre as a compensation package for the additional costs they have to incur to take measures that prevents burning of crop residues. This is a one-time investment every year, and I see no reason why the governments cannot provide a direct monetary incentive to farmers. Moreover, there are 12.5 lakh MNREGA card holders in Punjab. The State has not been able to use over Rs 4,000-crore of the funds available under MNREGA. By seeking approval for including paddy straw management under MNREGA activities, Punjab could have not only created jobs for the idle labour force but also mitigated the environmental fallout from crop residue burning. #
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