<p class="title">The Centre is formulating a scheme to find a permanent solution to the practice stubble burning by farmers and has constituted a committee to come out with a report on the matter in a month or two, Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Parshottam Rupala said in Rajya Sabha on Friday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Replying to a supplementary question on 'Effect of Stubble Burning on Fertility of Land' during Question Hour, Rupala said at present there is no provision of any financial assistance to farmers for stubble.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"A meeting was chaired by the ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research) secretary. A committee has been formed to formulate a new scheme" for a long-term permanent solution to stubble burning by farmers, he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The MoS said that the new committee will come out with a new scheme within one or two months.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He said in some states farmers burn stubble for sowing the next crop and the government is planning to educate them about diversification of crops.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Besides, the government has given machines worth Rs 1,151 crore to farmers for managing stubble besides creating awareness.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A total of 55,000 machines were provided to three states, he said and added that Delhi is not managing it well.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Minister said that paddy stubble burning is mainly practised in the Indo-Gangetic plains in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to clear the fields for rabi crop sowing.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"It has been estimated that one tonne of paddy straw contains approximately 5.5 kg nitrogen, 2.3 kg phosphorous pentoxide, 25 kg potassium oxide, 1.2 kg sulphur, 50-70 per cent of micro-nutrients absorbed by the rice and 400 kg of carbon which are lost due to burning of paddy straw," he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Apart from the loss of nutrients, some soil nutrients, some soil properties like soil temperature, pH, moisture, available phosphorus and soil organic matter, which also govern a microbial population of soil, are greatly affected due to stubble burning, he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"To address pollution and to subsidize machinery required for in-situ management of crop residue, a central sector scheme on 'promotion of agricultural mechanisation for in-situ management of crop residue in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi' for the period from 2018-19 to 2019-20 is being implemented with a total outgo from the central fund of Rs 1,151.80 crore," he said.</p>
<p class="title">The Centre is formulating a scheme to find a permanent solution to the practice stubble burning by farmers and has constituted a committee to come out with a report on the matter in a month or two, Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Parshottam Rupala said in Rajya Sabha on Friday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Replying to a supplementary question on 'Effect of Stubble Burning on Fertility of Land' during Question Hour, Rupala said at present there is no provision of any financial assistance to farmers for stubble.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"A meeting was chaired by the ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research) secretary. A committee has been formed to formulate a new scheme" for a long-term permanent solution to stubble burning by farmers, he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The MoS said that the new committee will come out with a new scheme within one or two months.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He said in some states farmers burn stubble for sowing the next crop and the government is planning to educate them about diversification of crops.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Besides, the government has given machines worth Rs 1,151 crore to farmers for managing stubble besides creating awareness.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A total of 55,000 machines were provided to three states, he said and added that Delhi is not managing it well.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Minister said that paddy stubble burning is mainly practised in the Indo-Gangetic plains in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to clear the fields for rabi crop sowing.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"It has been estimated that one tonne of paddy straw contains approximately 5.5 kg nitrogen, 2.3 kg phosphorous pentoxide, 25 kg potassium oxide, 1.2 kg sulphur, 50-70 per cent of micro-nutrients absorbed by the rice and 400 kg of carbon which are lost due to burning of paddy straw," he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Apart from the loss of nutrients, some soil nutrients, some soil properties like soil temperature, pH, moisture, available phosphorus and soil organic matter, which also govern a microbial population of soil, are greatly affected due to stubble burning, he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"To address pollution and to subsidize machinery required for in-situ management of crop residue, a central sector scheme on 'promotion of agricultural mechanisation for in-situ management of crop residue in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi' for the period from 2018-19 to 2019-20 is being implemented with a total outgo from the central fund of Rs 1,151.80 crore," he said.</p>