Editorial 1 : A Nudge Towards Clean Air
Context: Paying farmers to harvest paddy manually could reduce NCR’s pollution
Supreme Court's Stand on Stubble Burning and Pollution
- Supreme Court came down heavily on the Centre and the governments of Delhi and its neighbouring states for their failure to take strict action against farmers who set crop stubble on fire.
- The Court cited Article 21 of the Constitution and underlined that people have a right to live in a pollution-free environment.
- According to government data, stubble burning contributes 5 to 30% to NCR’s pollution load during the period. Most such incidents take place in Punjab and Haryana.
Key Pollution Sources in Delhi-NCR
- Besides stubble burning, major pollution sources include:
- Local traffic and industrial emissions
- Construction activities
- Road dust from sweeping
- Local biomass burning
Reasons for Stubble Burning
- Legislative Cause
- Sub-soil Water Conservation Acts passed in 2009 by the Punjab and Haryana governments, prohibit paddy sowing before mid-June.
- Delayed sowing, results in delayed harvesting.
- Limited Time and Labour Constraint
- Traditionally farmers would harvest paddy manually, that leaves no stubble and is also an eco-friendly method.
- The smaller window of harvesting in the northern states means all paddy farmers need labour at almost the same time.
- Labour thus becomes scarce, costly and unaffordable for most.
- Therefore, farmers use machines to harvest the paddy crop.
- Mechanical harvesting leaves about two-feet stubble in the field which has to be burnt fast to clear the fields for the next crop.
- Cost of Stubble Management
- Mechanical harvesting and stubble management require about Rs 4,000 per acre, unaffordable to most farmers. They are constrained to burn the stubble.
Impact of Stubble Burning
- Soil Degradation
- Stubble burning leads to the depletion of nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur, potassium and other micronutrients that are essential to soil health.
- These nutrients have to be replenished for the next crop cycle with large quantities of chemical fertilisers. This increases overall import bill.
- Earthworms and other useful worms and insects are killed in the burning process, further impairing soil quality.
- Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Stubble burning releases harmful greenhouse gases.
Potential Solutions to Stubble Burning
- Promote Manual Harvesting
- Advantages
- Leaves no stubble and provides animal fodder.
- Enhances soil health as manual harvesting is more eco-friendly.
- Cost
- To encourage farmers to harvest paddy manually and manage the stubble subsequently, the governments should pay them what it costs to do so, about Rs 4,000 per acre.
- MGNREGA funds could be used to partly finance this shift.
- If labourers are paid well, a large number of them are likely to migrate to Punjab and Haryana around October, as they do every year during sowing time in June-July. This will also partly mitigate the rural unemployment problem.
- Diversification of Crops
- Offer MSP and assured purchases for other crops like coarse cereals, oilseeds, and pulses.
- This will reduce the area under water-guzzling crops in Punjab and Haryana and also ensure self-reliance in vegetable oils.
- Shift from Punitive to Supportive Measures
- Penalising farmers and subsidising costly fossil fuel-guzzling machines shouldn’t be the solution to NCR’s pollution crisis.
- Government should nudge farmers by paying to adopt sustainable practices like manual harvesting and crop diversification that can have wider benefits.
Conclusion: Benefits of paying farmers to switch to manual harvesting extend beyond improving Delhi-NCR’s air quality. Investing in farmers and sustainable agriculture practices could reduce pollution, preserve water, and aid climate goals, providing a model for cost-effective climate action that benefits both farmers and urban populations.
Editorial 2 : All the BRICS is a Stage
Context: BRICS Summit
Nature of Political Summits
- Politics is largely a series of public performances.
- The more public the performance, the more it is staged and theatrical.
- They serve as public demonstrations of power and unity rather than events where substantive policies are created.
Key Performances at the BRICS Summit
- Staging of BRICS
- Every year, BRICS must demonstrate its continued existence and cohesion and, therefore, signal its relevance.
- This is often achieved through joint communiques, which are lengthy documents addressing global issues.
- It is its messaging of solidarity and seriousness that matters, not the actionable substance it promises.
- Staging aimed at domestic audience
- Summits are also staged for domestic audiences, where leaders demonstrate their competence and the prestige of their state.
- Sitting alongside other world leaders affirms each leader's authority and their country’s status to their own people.
- For diplomats and officials, summits serve as their most visible public performances, highlighting their roles, which are usually in shadows.
- Anti-Westernism and anti-Americanism
- The BRICS Summit also serves as a platform for anti-Western sentiment, particularly anti-American stances.
- China, as the largest economic power in BRICS, leads this anti-American narrative, with Russia currently the most vocal in its opposition to the West.
- Other BRICS members support this stance to different extents, each driven by its grievances against Western policies.
Signalling and Messaging
- Russia: Through BRICS, Russia signals to the US that it is not isolated despite Western sanctions.
- China: Asserts itself as a global leader and an alternative to Western hegemony.
- India: Uses BRICS to remind US that it has other international partnerships and won’t accept interference in its domestic policies.
Impact of BRICS' Anti-Western Stance on Global Politics
- It also introduces checks and balances to the global order.
- Many smaller nations find value in a multipolar world, where power is distributed among multiple alliances rather than dominated by one bloc.
- For these countries, a balance of power provides room to manoeuvre and fosters a more comfortable and flexible international environment.
Conclusion: The point of BRICS is quite different. It is to signal the possibility of a different kind of international politics from the dominant. While they may lack actionable outcomes, these summits communicate the possibility of a different kind of global politics, which is essential to understanding their true purpose and influence.