UPSC Darpan

Agriculture & FoodGS39 October 2026

Stubble fires return each October as a water law and assured procurement squeeze farmers

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The news

New Delhi, October 9. In The Hindu, economist C.S.C. Sekhar (Institute of Economic Growth) explains why stubble burning recurs. Punjab and Haryana produce about 29 million tonnes of paddy straw. Its shift into winter followed the Punjab Preservation of Sub-Soil Water Act, 2009, which pushed the harvest to late October and left a 10-15 day window before wheat. Between 2012 and 2024 paddy procurement averaged 37% of output nationally but 87% in Punjab and 74% in Haryana. The government told the Lok Sabha that burning incidents fell 90% in 2025 against 2022, but that count rests on polar satellites passing only between 10:30 am and 1:30 pm; a multi-satellite estimate put the fall near 30%, and an ISRO-led study found farmers shifting to evening burning.

The chain in one line: Combine harvesters, from the late 1970s, leave a foot of stubble → 2009 water law delays transplanting → harvest moves to late October, squeezing the gap before wheat → assured procurement keeps farmers in paddy → fires peak in Delhi’s worst air season

Static syllabus linkage

  1. The Punjab Preservation of Sub-Soil Water Act, 2009 fixed paddy dates by law. It bars paddy nursery sowing before May 10 and transplanting before a notified date (June 10), to align paddy with the monsoon. Officials may destroy violating crops and levy ₹10,000 per hectare for every month of contravention.
  2. The CAQM Act, 2021 created a statutory air-quality body for the NCR. The Commission replaced the Supreme Court-mandated Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority and covers Delhi-NCR and adjoining parts of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The Act exempts farmers burning stubble from its penal clause and instead lets the Commission levy environmental compensation on them.

Why UPSC loves this

  1. GS3 links “major crops-cropping patterns” and “minimum support prices” with “environmental pollution”. It is the textbook case of farm-price policy producing an environmental cost.

Prelims nuggets

  • The Punjab Preservation of Sub-Soil Water Act, 2009 prohibits paddy transplanting before June 10.
  • The CAQM, a statutory body under the 2021 Act, replaced the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority for the NCR.
  • CREAMS, the stubble-fire monitoring protocol, relies on the polar-orbiting MODIS and VIIRS satellite sensors.
  • Ex-situ residue management uses paddy straw off the field, for example as feedstock for compressed biogas or bio-ethanol.

Analysis

  1. A groundwater law solved one crisis by worsening another. Delaying transplanting was sound: Punjab’s water table fell 0.36 metres a year in 1999-2009. But the harvest moved without widening the gap before wheat, and the 150-160 day PUSA-44 variety narrowed it further, so fire became the cheapest way to clear a field. Fixing one resource in isolation moved the damage from aquifers to lungs.
  2. Lens — Market and State: procurement sends a stronger signal than any penalty. Where the State buys 87% of the paddy at a known price and pump power is free, paddy is the rational choice whatever the water table. Penalties, and the NGT’s 2018 view, echoed by the Supreme Court in 2023, that burners could lose MSP, fight that signal; Haryana’s ₹7,000-an-acre diversification payment works with it. A thoughtful officer would extend assured procurement to alternative crops rather than add fines.
  3. A falling count may mean better hiding, not fewer fires. When enforcement relies on a midday satellite, farmers burn in the evening, so recorded fires fall while smoke does not. Sekhar warns penal pressure tempts farmers and officials to collude in ‘showing’ reduction. Combining geostationary and polar data is the precondition for judging any policy.

Possible Mains question

“Stubble burning is less a farmer’s choice than a product of public policy.” Critically examine with reference to Punjab and Haryana. (15 marks, 250 words)

Model approach

  1. Directive — Critically examine. Weigh policy against farmer agency, then judge.
  2. Introduction — 29 million tonnes of straw, a 10-15 day window. Link timing to Delhi’s winter air.
  3. Body — the 2009 water law and long-duration varieties squeezed the window. Draw a timeline: June 10 transplanting → late-October harvest → early-November wheat sowing.
  4. Body — procurement and free power lock farmers into paddy. Value-addition: paddy procurement 87% in Punjab against 37% nationally, 2012-24.
  5. Conclusion — pay for diversification and measure honestly. Price straw for ex-situ use, as a Parliamentary Committee urged; use multi-satellite data.

Administrator's brainstorm

As Deputy Commissioner of a Punjab district, recorded fires are down but the air is not better. What do you do?

I would check, with geostationary data and field reports, whether burning has moved to the evening. I would offer residue machines through custom-hiring centres with fixed booking slots and link biogas plants to collect bales. Penalties would stay for repeat offenders, but my measure would be cleaner air, not a lower fire count.