Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan stated in the Rajya Sabha on Friday that attributing Delhi-NCR’s winter pollution primarily to stubble burning in neighbouring states like Haryana and Punjab is not accurate.
Citing research-based studies, he said stubble burning contributes only around 5 per cent to Delhi’s winter pollution, with the majority caused by industries, older vehicles, and other local sources.
“Government acknowledges the harm triggered by stubble burning; therefore, it provides a 50 per cent subsidy on machinery and 80 per cent for custom hiring centres under the Crop Residue Management (CRM) scheme,” Chouhan said.
“Over 3.5 lakh machines have been given to farmers across northern and central states such as Haryana, Punjab, western UP and Madhya Pradesh, significantly reducing such incidents,” he added.
He praised Haryana’s model of offering per-acre incentives to farmers for not burning stubble, calling it the “best model”.
“Stubble is being converted into a valuable resource for pellets, thermal power, biomass, bio-CNG and fuels in the state,” he said.
Defending farmers, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh criticised the “vilification” of farmers and posted on X, “Today, in the Rajya Sabha, the Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare stated categorically that stubble burning was responsible for just around 5 per cent of the pollution load. The vilification of farmers for causing pollution must stop.
”Chouhan highlighted several central government initiatives, including the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund, which has established over 44,000 custom hiring centres, 25,000 primary processing centres, 17,000 warehouses, and 3,000 cold storage units.
These measures, he said, have helped reduce annual post-harvest losses incurred by farmers by 5–15 per cent.
Comparing procurement records, Chouhan noted, “Under UPA rule, only 6 lakh metric tonnes of pulses were procured in 10 years, whereas the Modi government procured 1 crore 92 lakh metric tonnes.”
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