📰 Air programme on dangers of Blue Whale game, SC tells DD
Court asks the broadcaster to make it in a week and telecast it on prime time
•Declaring the Blue Whale online game a threat to life, the Supreme Court on Friday directed public broadcaster Doordarshan to conceive a cautionary and educational programme about the dangers of the online game which goads players, mostly students, to commit suicide.
•A Bench, led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, gave the public broadcaster a week’s time to prepare the programme and air it on prime time for an appropriate duration, possibly not less than 10 minutes.
•“Suffice it to say that the Blue Whale game is dangerous to life. What endangers life has to be condemned and not allowed,” Chief Justice Misra observed.
•DD, the court said, would script the programme in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs, Women and Child Welfare Department, HRD Ministry and Ministry of Information, Broadcasting and Technology.
•The court also directed the competent authority in the government to see to it that private channels also telecast the programme.
•The order came on a petition filed by Supreme Court advocate Sneha Kalita, asking the court to frame guidelines for regulating and monitoring the virtual digital online games and to take immediate measures to ban/ block sites linked to the Blue Whale game or any other forms of violent and immoral games.
•The idea behind the programme is to make parents and children aware of the dangers of online games like Blue Whale. The message of the programme should be that children should not be trapped into the game.
•“There are children who are lonely and frustrated... definitely visuals will have more impact,” Chief Justice Misra observed.
28 cases tracked
•Additional Solicitor General P.S. Narasimha submitted that around 28 cases had been traced to have links with the Blue Whale game.
•A probe was under way and a complete picture of the extent and means of how the game was spreading its tentacles would be obtained in the next three weeks.
📰 Tokyo for quadrilateral talks
India responds to Japan’s move to include Delhi in dialogue with U.S., Australia
•Citing growing international partnerships, India on Friday said it was “open” to work with partner countries for regional issues that are “relevant”. The comments from the External Affairs Ministry came after Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono declared in a media interview that Tokyo would call for a quadrilateral dialogue with Australia, India and the U.S.
•“India is open to working with like-minded countries on issues that advance our interests and promote our viewpoint. We are not rigid this regard. Because of our broad acceptability as a country, there are a number of such initiatives which is trilateral in nature. For example, we did the trilateral meeting with Russia and China on the topic of Asia-Pacific last year. We also do an India-Sri Lanka-Maldives trilateral on security matters,” Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.
Chinese build-up
•The official indicated that India was not alarmed about the regional situation especially in the context of reports about continued Chinese military build-up in the Doklam region.
•Dismissing reports of a build-up on the contested plateau, Mr. Kumar said, “I would like to reiterate that there are no new developments at the face-off site and its vicinity since the August 28 disengagement.”
•The Ministry’s reaction to the quadrilateral came days after the re-election of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, indicating that the new government is expected to push for overhauling of the post-World War strategic doctrine of Japan.
•However, the comment indicated that such regional partnerships will have to suit Indian interests and said, “As far as we are concerned, we have an open mind to cooperate with countries with convergence but obviously on an agenda which is relevant to us.”
•Significantly, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar also indicated India’s willingness to work with Japan and the United States to deal with regional issues on Thursday.
•Speaking at a think tank event, Mr. Jaishankar said U.S. investments in the power sector of Nepal will be in Indian interest, adding, “Regionalism will grow if there are higher comfort levels. Having Japanese or the Americans in room will be more helpful.”
•Indications of regional partnership between India and Japan came also during Mr Abe’s visit, with both sides indicating willingness to manage the maritime domain from Indian Ocean and the Asia-Pacific zone.
📰 ‘Decision on fishing subsidies certain in WTO’s Dec. meet’
Member nations have basis of agreement: UNCTAD official
•An agreement on elimination of ‘harmful’ fisheries subsidies is likely to be the only major outcome at the forthcoming meeting of the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) highest decision-making body called the ‘Ministerial Conference’, according to the head of the principal United Nations (UN) agency handling issues related to trade, investment and development.
•On what could probably be among the ‘deliverables’ at the WTO’s Ministerial Conference meeting at Buenos Aires (Argentina) in December 2017, Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary-General, UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), said: “I cannot quite point at a concrete set of harvests. However, one thing that is increasingly looking certain is the (agreement on) removal of harmful fisheries subsidies.”
•In an exclusive interview to The Hindu on the sidelines of an event organised by the industry body FICCI and the non-profit organisation CUTS International, Mr. Kituyi, said, “That (elimination of ‘harmful’ fisheries subsidies) could be concretely harvested (at the WTO’s Buenos Aires meet). The last time I checked, they (the WTO member countries) were already discussing, negotiating on the text, which means they have a basis of an agreement. I don’t know of any other major area where there can be, or is, much optimism.”
•In May, a UN statement cited fisheries experts from UNCTAD and said, “Harmful fishing subsidies (globally) that contribute to overfishing are estimated to be as high as $35 billion.”
•On whether a ‘permanent solution to the issue of public stock-holding for food security purposes’ would be a part of the outcomes as it is an issue of huge importance to developing countries including India, Mr. Kituyi, who was earlier Kenya’s Minister of Trade and Industry, said, “maybe... That could also happen in Buenos Aires.” He, however, did not elaborate.
‘No’ to e-commerce talks
•Asked about the probability of introduction of “new issues” like ‘e-commerce’, ‘trade facilitation in services’ and ‘investment facilitation’ into the WTO’s ongoing Doha Round negotiations, he said, the “main argument of many developing countries” currently is that “there is a lot of stuff on the deck already, which needs to be sorted out before you go into new issues.”
•He added, “I have seen that many developing countries are not ready to allow e-commerce to be negotiated (at the WTO) at this stage. They want to ensure that e-commerce is an enabler for development, without going into rule-making at the WTO... That is a line they have always had. I saw that coming out of some leading African governments at a joint resolution recently.” A recent WTO statement quoted Susana Malcorra, Argentine minister and Chair of the WTO’s 11th Ministerial Conference (MC), as saying, “There is life after Buenos Aires.”
•The WTO further quoted her as saying that members needed to decide which issues were “ripe” for a decision at the MC and which may not yet be ready, but for which a process could be agreed to put these issues “in motion beyond Buenos Aires,” with an eye toward reaching agreement in the near term. Another WTO statement said, “At a meeting of all WTO members on October 24 to discuss the preparations for the WTO’s MC in Buenos Aires, (WTO) Director-General Roberto Azevêdo called for flexibility and pragmatism in order to advance debates ahead of the MC.”
•The statement quoted Mr. Azevêdo as saying, “I hope that we can leave Buenos Aires with members committed to strengthening the trading system and with a clear path forward for our future work on as many issues as possible.”
📰 Big vision, hazy detail
India and U.S. have some way to go in charting the path to deeper strategic ties
•Of the seven countries he visited last week, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson chose to focus on India while spelling out his strategic vision. Just before starting the tour, he gave a speech on India-U.S. ties that was as broad as it was deep, talking of the road ahead together for “the next 100 years”. He reserved his most ambitious words for the role of India in the U.S.’s plans in two spheres. In Afghanistan, as a part of President Donald Trump’s new South Asia policy, and in the Indo-Pacific, as part of U.S. plans to counter China’s influence and contain North Korea. On both counts, Mr. Tillerson’s talks in New Delhi with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Prime Minister Narendra Modi made progress in developing a common vision, but appear to have made little movement on the specifics. For instance, he is said to have “minced no words” when it came to tackling Pakistan’s support to terrorist safe havens. Yet, the groups he referred to are not those that directly threaten India, but Afghanistan and, by extension, the U.S. soldiers based there. As for Indian hopes of increasing trade and development aid to Afghanistan through the Chabahar route, Mr. Tillerson’s assurance that Washington does not seek to bar legitimate trade is welcome. However, it remains to be seen whether India can significantly ramp up cooperation with Iran to further its interests in Afghanistan at a time when the U.S. maintains its policy of isolating the Iranian leadership.
•Finally, both Indian and U.S. officials spoke in detail, and in public statements, about building an alternative coalition to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative as well as its aggressive moves in the South China Sea — yet Mr. Tillerson did not add clarity on where the funding would come from. For its part, India desisted from any clear commitments on joint patrols to ensure freedom of navigation in the SCS, or even on the foundational agreements the Indian and U.S. militaries must conclude to deepen cooperation in the region. While India and the U.S. have taken great strides in aligning their vision and their hopes for future partnership, reality often trips up such lofty goals. One reason is geography — while American troops remain in Afghanistan, it is difficult for the U.S. to completely disengage from Pakistan. For India, while a maritime relationship with the U.S. is desirable, geographic proximity to China makes a very close alliance with the U.S. difficult. The other issue pertains to the strategic confusion within Washington and Mr. Trump’s withdrawal from U.S. commitments in Asia, Europe and at the UN, drawing questions about its reliability as a partner. Given this, it may have been too much to expect more than the warm handshake and the encouraging words of hope Mr. Tillerson delivered.
📰 India, France discuss ways to ramp up strategic ties
All aspects of defence and security cooperation between the two countries as well as ways to enhance maritime cooperation were discussed in the meeting.
•India and France on Friday held wide-ranging talks aimed at further boosting defence and security ties, with a focus on co-development of military platforms, and enhancing cooperation in the maritime sphere.
•Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her French counterpart Florence Parley deliberated on a host of key issues, including the regional security situation, transfer of critical technology for various defence projects and ways to ramp up overall strategic ties, an official said.
•All aspects of defence and security cooperation between the two countries as well as ways to enhance maritime cooperation were discussed in the meeting, the official added.
•Ms. Parley, who is in New Delhi on a two-day visit, will call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and meet National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. She is expected to lay the ground for French President Emmanuel Macron’s upcoming trip to India.
•Ms. Parley is also likely to push for a follow on order of additional Rafale fighter jets, after the delivery of 36 jets under a Rs 58,000 crore deal finalised last year.
•The French Embassy had said in a statement yesterday that Parley’s visit is aimed at strengthening all aspects of France’s “fast developing” defence cooperation with India, its foremost Asian strategic partner.
•It said Ms. Parley’s talks with Ms. Sitharaman will range from defence cooperation, in particular maritime security, joint exercises of the armed forces and counter-terrorism to industrial and technological partnership under the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
📰 All the roads that lead to Kabul
India must expand its development role further and enhance its security profile in Afghanistan
•The optics could not have been more significant. Just a day after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was in Kabul and on the day he landed in New Delhi, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was hosted by India. As Mr. Tillerson chided Pakistan for not doing enough against terrorists operating from its soil, Mr. Ghani in New Delhi was underlining that the time had come for Islamabad to make a choice between abandoning state sponsorship of terrorism and facing the consequences. It was as perfect a piece of diplomatic choreography as it could get, aimed at sending a message to Pakistan that regional equations are shifting in a direction which will only isolate Islamabad if immediate corrective measures are not taken.
•Mr. Ghani’s visit came at a time when the Trump administration’s South Asia policy has underscored India’s centrality in the ‘Af-Pak’ theatre. As Washington plans to increase its military footprint in Afghanistan, it is tightening the screws on Pakistan for supporting terrorism as an instrument of state policy. Both Washington and Kabul now view New Delhi as a player with considerable leverage over the evolving regional dynamic.
American outreach
•A central feature of the Trump administration’s new Afghanistan policy is an outreach to India. “We appreciate India’s important contributions to stability in Afghanistan, but India makes billions of dollars in trade with the U.S. and we want them to help us more with Afghanistan, especially in the area of economic assistance and development,” Mr. Trump had said in August while outlining his new South Asia policy.
•Kabul has wholeheartedly embraced this strategy, with Mr. Ghani terming it a “game-changer” for the region as it “recommends multi-dimensional condition-based approach for the region.” In Delhi, he was categorical in attacking Pakistan by suggesting that “sanctuaries are provided, logistics are provided, training is provided, ideological bases are provided.” In a remarkable move, he went on to suggest that Afghanistan would restrict Pakistan's access to Central Asia if it is not given access to India through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. He referred to the Indo-Afghan air corridor as an effective response to Pakistan’s attempt to deny India and Afghanistan any direct access. He also strongly rejected Islamabad’s claims that India was using Afghanistan as a base to destabilise Pakistan. He made it clear that there were “no secret agreements” between Kabul and New Delhi.
•Mr. Ghani also rejected “Pakistan-managed” efforts to broker peace in his country, and in line with this India too has emphasised that it believes peace efforts in Afghanistan should be “Afghan-led” and “Afghan-controlled”. India continues to maintain that renunciation of violence and terror, and closure of state-sponsored safe havens and sanctuaries remain essential for any meaningful progress and lasting peace. Afghanistan had participated in the sixth Quadrilateral Coordination Group meeting along with the U.S., China and Pakistan in Muscat, Oman, on October 16 in an attempt to revive stalled peace talks with the Taliban. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval had gone to Kabul to assess these developments on the same day.
•In recent years, India has not shied away from taking a high-profile role in Afghanistan. It remains one of the biggest donors of aid to Afghanistan, having committed $3.1 billion since 2001. Recently, it announced that it will be working on 116 new development projects in more than 30 areas. India’s agenda is to build the capacity of the Afghan state as well as of Afghan security forces, enabling them to fight their own battles more effectively. This is in line with the requirements of the Afghan government as well as the international community.
•Expanding India’s development role further and enhancing its security profile with greater military assistance to Afghanistan should be a priority as new strategic opportunities open up in Afghanistan. While the U.S. has its own priorities in the ‘Af-Pak’ theatre, India’s should be able to leverage the present opening to further its interests and regional security. The recent bout of diplomatic activity in the region is a clear signal that India can no longer be treated as a marginal player in Afghanistan. Even Russia wants to keep India in the loop, as was underscored by Moscow’s special envoy on Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov’s visit to New Delhi for consultations in September.
A turnaround
•Mr. Trump’s South Asia policy is a remarkable turnaround for Washington which had wanted to keep India out of its ‘Af-Pak’ policy for long for fear of offending Rawalpindi. India was viewed as part of the problem and now the Trump administration is arguing that India should be viewed as part of a solution to the Afghan imbroglio. This is a welcome change and holds significant implications for India, Afghanistan and the wider region.
📰 The flaming fields of Punjab
Despite the 2015 ban on crop burning, farmers in the State continue to set fire to paddy residue to make way for the next crop.Vikas Vasudevafinds out why
•Barely 10 kilometres from Patiala, the home town of Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, Jagdish Singh is busy gauging the speed and direction of the wind in the tiny village of Ranbirpura to find the right time to set his paddy crop residue on fire. He looks worried. With autumn setting in, early morning dew poses a problem.
•“The weather has to be calm,” the 40-year-old paddy farmer says. “Else the fire could spread to my neighbour’s farm in no time and cause a lot of damage. I have to be careful.”
•Jagdish bends down and clutches a handful of paddy straw residue that is spread across his five-acre field. It has to be bone dry to catch fire, he explains. Looking up at the sky, he thinks he will finish his job before dusk. But before setting out to do the task, Jarnail has to be cautious for another reason: there are strict orders from the government to stop such activities. He squints into the distance to check if there is a government official lurking around.
•It is not as though Jagdish wants to be defiant. He is well aware of the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) order banning stubble burning, but unless the State government offers financial incentives to farmers, he says, he is “compelled to burn the harvested crop’s residue.”
A ban that’s a bane
•In 2015, the NGT was forced to stop the practice of stubble burning after thick smog enveloped the northern skies with the onset of autumn yet again, and acute respiratory problems were reported to be worsening in the national capital. The NGT banned the burning of paddy straw in four States — Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh — and Delhi.
•In its order, the tribunal fixed a penalty for burning paddy residue. The fine for small land owners with less than two acres of land indulging in crop burning is Rs. 2,500. For medium land owners holding land over two acres but less than five acres, it is Rs. 5,000. And those with over five acres have to cough up Rs. 15,000 for every instance of crop burning. The NGT also ordered State governments to take punitive action against persistent offenders. It also directed the four States and Delhi to make arrangements to provide machinery free of cost to farmers with less than two acres of land, Rs. 5,000 to farmers with medium-sized land holdings, and Rs. 15,000 to those with large land holdings for residue management.
•Jagdish says he hasn’t received the amount to which he is entitled. “What, then, are my options?” he asks. “To engage labour or machinery will cost me somewhere between Rs. 4,000 and 5,000 per acre, which I can’t afford.” The NGT order has only added to his woes, he says — the burden of an agricultural loan he had borrowed from banks and commission agents is already weighing him down. “Farming has become a loss-making venture,” he laments.
•Such sentiments among farmers are commonplace. According to State government data, there are around 18.5 lakh farming families in Punjab. Around 65% of them are small and marginal farmers. Of the 5.03 million hectares of area constituting Punjab, around 4.23 million hectares are under cultivation. As the State mainly follows a rice-wheat cropping pattern, it contributes 60% to the wheat bowl and 40% to the rice bowl of the central pool. Around 75% of its population depends directly on agriculture.
•Harpreet Singh, 30, is from Dharamgarh village in Mohali district. He says he is ready to face the legal consequences of defiance. “Time and cost are both crucial,” he says. “I have to prepare my land to sow wheat in the next few days. If I engage machine or labour, both of which are difficult to find, for clearing the paddy straw, it will be a time-consuming effort. It will delay my sowing of wheat and I will have less yield. Besides, it’s expensive.”
•Harpreet has three acres of land in his joint family farm. “Farmers of my village have decided to collectively burn the residue. I’ll go with them,” he says.
•Paddy is grown on an average area of around 30 lakh hectares in Punjab. After wheat, it is the biggest crop in the State. It is sown as monsoon arrives and its harvest starts from the first week of October. This is when trouble begins. After harvest, around 19.7 million tonnes of paddy straw is left in the fields and has to be disposed of to make way for wheat. Of this, 70-75% of paddy straw is burnt in open fields to clear the land for sowing wheat or other crops — it is the quickest and cheapest way of getting rid of the residue.
•Besides disregard for the ban, with the support of several farmers’ unions, farmers have also cautioned the State government against taking stringent action against them. Several unions have made it clear that if police cases are registered against them, the government will have to face the consequences in the form of large-scale agitations.
•“We don’t want confrontation, but if we are pushed, we will not sit quiet. Instead of asking us not to burn the residue, the State government should first fulfil its duty. As directed by the NGT, it should provide us machines and equipments,” says Avtar Singh Korjiwala of the Bhartiya Kisan Union Ekta (Dhakonda).
The government’s response
•To show that it intends to follow the diktat of the NGT, the Punjab government has chosen Kalar Majri village in Nabha area of Patiala district as a model project for implementing the tribunal’s directions and to sensitise farmers about the management of crop residue. It spares no efforts in advertising the village. The government claims that it has provided the required number of machines to farmers in Kalar Majri, and that equipment is already operational across 67 acres. Also, steps are being taken in six other villages of Patiala district to facilitate residue management.
•The State government has also gone on the defensive, stating that the issue of paddy residue burning has been flagged off with the Centre with a demand for compensation to the tune of Rs. 100 per quintal for management of paddy straw. It has also proposed that such compensation should be given only to those farmers who efficiently manage paddy straw without burning it. Punjab has sought Rs. 2,000 crore assistance from the Union Agriculture Ministry for this purpose.
•“We have taken several measures including providing the Happy Seeder,” says Jasbir Singh Bains, director of the Punjab Agriculture Department. “This is a machine developed by the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) to plant wheat directly into harvested paddy fields without any other major operation, and to promote the use of straw baler and straw management machines for residue management. With machines like Happy Seeder, the straw is partly cut, chopped, and left as mulch. Mulch helps in reducing irrigation requirement and blocks the emergence of weeds. The crop planted with Happy Seeder is less prone to lodging. This is more profitable than conventional cultivation.” He adds: “However, urgent intervention of the Central government is needed. Unless financial assistance is provided by the Centre for boosting farm mechanisation, it is difficult for us to completely stop stubble burning.”
•Bains says farmers in Punjab, especially small and marginal farmers, are already facing severe economic distress. To ask them to remove crop residue mechanically or through environment-friendly measures will only add to their misery. “We have been providing machinery on subsidy, but even that puts an additional burden of around Rs. 3,000 per acre on farmers for paddy straw management,” he says.
Pollution and penalties
•There are many ways to tackle the problem, but a ban is not one of them, says Satnam Singh, president of the Bharatiya Kisan Manch, a consortium of 13 farmers’ unions. “The State government needs to focus on crop diversification. Instead of paddy (common rice), basmati varieties of rice should be encouraged. Basmati is manually harvested, so the problem of crop residue can be largely curtailed. Also, farming of sugar cane and vegetables needs to be promoted. Setting up more biomass-based energy plants is an option,” he says.
•At his native village in Beru in Patiala, Satnam Singh points to the thick smoke billowing into the sky at a distance. “Our fellow farmer is burning residue in the field. It’s not as though we are happy inhaling this smoke but we don’t have an option. Before this smoke reaches Delhi, it affects our health. We are with the government to find a solution, but a ban is not the answer,” he says.
•The story is the same everywhere. In Mirapur village, Jarnail Singh, who is preparing his 25-acre field for the next crop, is annoyed with the Amarinder Singh government. “During the recent Assembly polls, all parties, including the Congress which was voted to power, promised to resolve our problems but now the government is itself aggravating them,” he grumbles. He says he will burn the residue in the next few days unless at least Rs. 5,000 per acre is given to him to dispose of the residue crop.
•While the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) has been imposing penalties on farmers who have been found defying the ban, the farmers hardly seem deterred. PPCB officials admit that there have been several cases where farmers have confronted government officials. A senior PPCB official, G.S. Gill, says that in the ongoing harvesting season, till October 18, penalty had been imposed for stubble burning in 398 cases: “We are acting against erring farmers, cautioning them and imposing penalties wherever necessary. So far, we have collected a fine of Rs. 12,39,500.”
Possible solutions
•One of the ways to resolve the problem of stubble burning would be by generating power through biomass energy plants. In Punjab, of the total paddy straw, nearly 4.3 million tonnes is consumed in biomass-based projects, paper, or cardboard mills and animal fodder, while a small portion is managed through other systems such as machinery and equipment. The rest of the 15.4 million tonnes of paddy straw is burnt in the fields. Punjab has a substantial availability of agro-waste, which is sufficient to produce about 1,000 MW of electricity, but the State government’s incentives for biomass-energy plants haven’t been enough.
•“We buy paddy straw (baled) from farmers to use it for generating power. We pay them Rs. 1,300 per tonne, but we can operate in a radius of not more than 45 km. Beyond that it is not economical for us to work,” says Ravinder Singh, plant manager at the Punjab Biomass Power Limited in Ghanour, Patiala. Singh says the government should promote the setting up of biomass power plants. They will not only solve the problem of stubble burning but also generate electricity for the State, he says. At present, Punjab has seven biomass-based power plants with an installed capacity of 62.5 megawatt.
•To tackle the problem of paddy residue, the Ludhiana-based PAU is working on in situ decomposition of paddy (rice) straw, with microbial application and without mechanical effort. “An isolate Delfitia spp, if sprayed on rice straw, decomposes it in six weeks. Efforts are being made to reduce the decomposition period to about four weeks. This approach will hold to reduce the cost of retaining the straw in the field for its benefits to the soil,” says Dr. Jaskaran, Dean of the College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology at PAU.
The politics of crop burning
•While every year the fields of Punjab make it to the headlines as contributors to pollution, it is no surprise that stubble burning has also taken a political colour in the State. Opposition parties are busy blaming the ruling party. The main opposition party in the State, the Aam Aadmi Party, has declared its support for the farmers while accusing the ruling government of failing to secure farmers’ interests. “The State government has failed to arrange for the equipment and machinery required for ploughing paddy straw into the fields. Until it makes alternative arrangements for consumption of paddy straw into the soil as per the directions of the NGT, the State government should refrain from taking action against farmers,” says Sukhpal Khaira, a senior AAP leader.
•The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) says the Congress government has “victimised” farmers in the name of management of crop residue. “Registration of cases against six farmers for burning paddy stubble in Sangrur district is proof that the Congress government was dealing with the situation with a heavy hand despite loud claims by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh that no cases would be registered against farmers in this regard,” says the president of SAD, Sukhbir Singh Badal.
•The Chief Minister has responded to the criticism by accusing the opposition of misleading people.
•As the government attempts to enforce the ban in the face of defiance, farmers have turned to guards to ensure that their work goes on unhindered. They have formed groups in villages to confront government officials from taking any legal action against those burning paddy residue. “We will not let officials enter our villages,” says Korjiwala. “We have formed groups of 12-15 farmers and whenever any of us has to burn the residue, we all get together at that field to ensure that no government official can enter the farm.”
A flicker of hope
•However, there are also some farmers who have been arguing against the practice. Farmers associated with the Kheti Virasat Mission, an organisation promoting organic farming, believe that stubble burning is a temporary solution. Farmers need to understand that this practice will only damage their soil and farm in the long run and will result in loss of agriculture, they say. “I stopped burning paddy crop four years back. While clearing the residue from the farm does add to the cost, benefits derived by not burning the crop residue are far more in the long run,” says Sukhwinder Papi, a Sangrur-based farmer who adopted organic farming around four years ago in four acres of his 10-acre holding. Papi adds that burning crop residue in the field kills friendly pests and damages soil fertility. “I have been economically managing paddy residue and using it for composting, besides as dry fodder for cattle,” he says.
•But Papi’s is a lone voice. As helpless farmers team up against the ban and the State government searches for solutions, orange flames crackle on the fields and smoke reaches for the skies. The after-effects are being felt in faraway Delhi. Dew has not been a deterrent for Jagdish. The blazing sun has evaporated the dew. The task at hand over, he makes plans to sow wheat.
