Context The Centre-constituted Commission for Air Quality Management said in a statement that a reduction in the area under paddy cultivation in Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, and a shift away from paddy varieties that take long to mature, could see a reduction in stubble burning this year.
Key takeaways
Both Central and State Governments of Haryana, Punjab and U.P. have been taking measures to diversify crops as well as to reduce the use of PUSA-44 variety of paddy.
Crop diversification and moving away from PUSA-44 variety with short duration High Yielding Varieties are part of the framework and action plan for control of stubble burning.
The total paddy area in Haryana, Punjab and the eight NCR (National Capital Region) districts of UP has reduced by 7.72%.
Similarly, total paddy straw generation from the non-basmati variety of rice is likely to be reduced by 12.42%.
It’s the non-basmati variety of rice, whose stalk remains, that is usually burnt off by farmers ahead of sowing wheat.
What is Stubble Burning?
Stubble burning is the act of setting fire to crop residue to remove them from the field to sow the next crop
It is a traditional practice in Punjab and Haryana to clean off the rice chaff to prepare the fields for winter sowing
It begins around October and peaks in November, coinciding with the withdrawal of southwest monsoon.
On December 10, 2015, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had banned crop residue burning in the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab
