Farmers Movement Archive

‘Fire of defiance’ in fields

Ludhiana: Punjab’s stubble fires in the ongoing wheat harvesting season have been the highest in three years, even as farmers and farm unions have been demanding scrapping of new farm laws. In the meanwhile, farmer unions claim that they have been advising farmers against burning crop stubble in the fields but could do so not this time as they have been protesting against the agri-marketing laws for the last over six months. Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) used remote-sensing satellite data to count active fires in the Rabi (wheat) seasons of 2019, 2020 and 2021 and saw how the figure progressed from 6,022 to 7,652 and then 9,643. Each period is from April 16 to May 17. Many farmers said the figures were true. A farmer in the Malerkotla area of Sangrur district indicated that the farmers’ temper was too inflamed at this stage for the state government to risk touching them. He said: "On the ground, it does appear that more farmers have set their crop residue on fire but resentment against the centre is also a factor. Also, farmer unions are not telling us anything and a costlier diesel prevents us from transporting the stubble." Even progressive farmers see this defiance. Sukhjit Singh, a progressive farmer from Diwala village near Khanna, who has spoken against stubble-burning on international forums, said: "The anger factor is there. I don’t set my fields on fire for many years now and do benefit from it, as my requirement of fertilizer and manure has dropped significantly and the soil remains mineral-rich, which is not the case with burnt-up fields." Asked for his take, Bhartiya Kissan Union (Rajewal) national president Balbir Singh Rajewal said: "I neither see more stubble fires this year nor believe these to be a sign of resentment. For all the pollution, only the poor farmer is blamed, while no one speaks against the actual factors responsible—the vehicular and industrial pollution. Their carbon monoxide emission is 10 times harmful than the carbon dioxide generated from stubble fires. Don’t defame the farmers. Limit the number of cars." On why they stopped advising farmers not to burn crop stubble, Rajewal said: "For the past six months, we are sitting on a protest. How can we leave our ‘morcha’. But don’t blame the farmers when despite National Green Tribunal ‘s asking the government, they either didn’t get the balers or had to pay for those. He said the Supreme-Court-ordered compensation had also not come. BKU Lakhowal president Ajmer Singh Lakhowal said: "Pay us Rs 100 per quintal as bonus and we’ll stop burning the stubble and start making cardboard articles out of it if the units were set up." PPCB secretary Krunesh Garg said: "The farmers are in a defiant mode. Our inspectors are on Covid duty.”

The Times of India

2021-05-20

Chandigarh