The Centre has released more than Rs 4,237 crore since 2018 to tackle crop residue burning in north India, with Punjab and Haryana recording a decline of over 90 per cent in farm fire incidents during the 2025 paddy harvesting season compared with 2022, the government informed the Lok Sabha on Monday.
In a written reply, Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Kirti Vardhan Singh said the financial assistance has been provided to support farmers with machinery and alternative crop residue management practices aimed at reducing stubble burning, a major contributor to winter air pollution in the Delhi-NCR region.
The minister said crop residue burning events are monitored through satellite-based remote sensing using a standard protocol developed by the Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modeling from Space (CREAMS) laboratory at the ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute in New Delhi.
To encourage farmers to adopt alternatives to burning, the government has promoted both in-situ and ex-situ crop residue management methods. In-situ management involves mulching or incorporating paddy residue directly into the soil using specialised machinery, while ex-situ utilisation focuses on converting paddy straw into biomass pellets, briquettes and other industrial uses.
Singh said the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare launched a Central Sector Scheme on Crop Residue Management in 2018-19 to support the states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.
Under the scheme, 50 per cent financial assistance is provided to farmers for purchasing crop residue management machinery, while 80 per cent assistance is offered to rural entrepreneurs, farmer cooperatives, self-help groups, farmer producer organisations and panchayats to establish Custom Hiring Centres that rent machinery to farmers.
“During the period from 2018-19 to 2025-26 (as on March 10, 2026), Rs 4,237.47 crore has been released,” Singh said.
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He added that the states have distributed more than 3.53 lakh crop residue management machines to farmers and established over 43,535 Custom Hiring Centres to improve access to equipment.
The minister also noted that the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), set up under the CAQM Act, 2021, has issued several directions to curb stubble burning and improve compliance in the region.
These include a directive to ensure rent-free availability of crop residue management machines for small and marginal farmers, as well as a mandate requiring brick kilns in districts outside the NCR in Punjab and Haryana to use paddy straw-based biomass pellets or briquettes as fuel.
Additionally, coal-based thermal power plants located within a 300-km radius of Delhi have been directed to co-fire biomass-based pellets with coal to promote the utilisation of agricultural residue.
To strengthen monitoring and enforcement, 31 flying squads of the Central Pollution Control Board were deployed between October 1 and November 30, 2025, in identified hotspot districts of Punjab and Haryana to track stubble burning incidents and coordinate with district authorities.
The government also notified the Environment (Utilisation of Crop Residue by Thermal Power Plants) Rules, 2023, mandating a minimum five per cent blending of crop residue-based pellets or briquettes with coal in thermal power plants in the NCR and adjoining areas.
With these coordinated measures, Singh said Punjab and Haryana together recorded more than a 90 per cent reduction in fire incidents during the 2025 paddy harvesting season compared to the same period in 2022.
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