Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a bonus of Rs.100/- per quintal on Paddy, in addition to its Minimum Support Price (MSP), as an incentive to dissuade farmers from burning paddy crop residue.In his letter, the Chief Minister said the bonus would be given only to those farmers who manage the paddy residue/stubble without burning.Captain Amarinder pointed out in his letter that he had made this request even earlier as a measure to compensate the farmers for the additional burden of managing paddy residue. Though the MSP for paddy had been increased by Rs.80/- per quintal for Kharif-2017, this hike was not adequate even to meet the additional cost of cultivation in terms of seeds and fertilizers, leave alone the extra expense of residue management, said the Chief Minister.
Stubble burning is a major issue in the Paddy cultivating regions and is currently under adjudication in the National Green Tribunal, the Punjab & Haryana High Court, the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India.Acting upon the various directives issued by the courts, the Punjab government has already initiated several steps to check stubble burning, including grant of subsidy on purchase of agriculture machinery for crop residue management. The use of this machinery puts an additional burden of around Rs.3000 crore per acre on the farmers.