‘To end crop burning, govt must give free machines to farmers’


Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution and Degradation
Prelims level: Turbo Happy Seeder(THS); Super Straw Management System (S-SMS)
Mains level: 2015 Question: Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata are the three mega cities of the country but the air pollution is much more serious problem in Delhi as compared to the other two. Why is this so?
,Steps Needed to check Delhi Pollution


  1. Over 30 million tonnes of paddy straw are annually generated in Punjab and Haryana, which are later burnt by farmers to reduce turnaround time between harvesting paddy and sowing wheat crop.
  2. Report submitted to the Supreme Court by an Amicus Curiae on November 17 in an ongoing case related to air pollution.
  1. The Centre and state governments must provide machines to every panchayat for common use.
  2. The most “promising technologies” in this are:
a.Turbo Happy Seeder (THS), which allows for seeding without till and
b.the Super Straw Management System (S-SMS) (developed by Punjab Agricultural University), which allows for straw to be spread on the field.
  1. If even three sets of these machines are given free to each panchayat, it would only require some Rs 2,000 crores to be spent in Punjab and Haryana.
  2. The payment for this programme should come from a pollution charge on petrol and diesel fuel sold in Delhi.
  3. The objective of the charge should also be to reduce the differential between the price of petrol and diesel
  4. If a cess of Rs 1 is imposed on petrol; Rs 5 is imposed on diesel per litre then the city alone will contribute Rs 900 crore in one year.
Air Pollution
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