Tackling India’s Stubble Burning

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  • News: Stubble burning in Punjab, exacerbated by structural market distortions and policy incentives like MSP, contributes significantly to air pollution in North India.
  • IIM Amritsar Study (2025): MSP unintentionally reinforces unsustainable agricultural practices.
  • Policy-Induced Mono-Cropping: MSP for wheat and rice discourages diversification, leading to excess paddy stubble.
  • Market Distortions: Middlemen (arhtias) control prices, trapping farmers in debt and pushing them towards cost-effective but harmful stubble burning. Farmers only receive 40-67% of consumer prices.
  • Lack of Alternatives: Insufficient affordable, sustainable alternatives and inadequate government support force reliance on burning.
  • Climate Stress: Unpredictable weather patterns amplify the urgency to clear fields quickly.
  • Ineffective Bio-Decomposers: Logistical delays and inconsistent results hinder effective implementation.
  • Jagadale and Shaikh (2025) study Governmentality and Marketing System Failure: The Case of Stubble Burning and Climate Change in Neoliberal India’, which relies on Michel Foucault’s concept of ‘governmentality’ to analyses the problem and says Union government’s MSP policy prioritises wheat and rice production, discouraging crop diversification.
  • Solutions:
    • Promote crop diversification with assured procurement.
    • Create markets for stubble-based products (fodder, pellets).
    • Enhance regulatory interventions: enforcement, permits, incentives.
    • Ensure fair pricing for farmers by improving market transparency.
    • Promote biofuels and bio-fertilizers from crop residues.
    • Strengthen Custom Hiring Centres for mechanization access.
    • Establish joint task forces for coordinated efforts.
    • Socio-cultural organizations to play a role in de-marketing non-essential aspirational consumption, the authors conclude.
  • Need for Stakeholder Involvement: Effective implementation needs stakeholders, including state and market actors, across the value chain.
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