Cash incentives must be given to paddy growers to shift to corn

Paddy stubble burning in states neighbouring Delhi, especially Punjab, is being seen as one of the reasons for the smog in the national capital. Change to a less water-guzzling crop will help address stubble burning.

The question one needs to ask is why have Punjab and Haryana gone in a big way for paddy cultivation when their water resource endowment does not align with the crop’s requirement.

Last week, as the Air Quality Index (AQI) touched emergency levels in the National Capital Region, the Supreme Court came down heavily on the chief secretaries of four states — Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. They were berated for their failure to “give clean air to Delhi residents”. Paddy stubble burning in states neighbouring Delhi, especially Punjab, is being seen as one of the reasons for the smog in the national capital. The honourable judges of the apex court have asked the Punjab government to pay Rs 100 per quintal to farmers as an incentive for desisting from burning stubble. Solutions such as subsidising Happy Seeders are also being talked about. But these solutions seem to be scratching the surface of the paddy problem.