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As Punjab and Haryana fret over water, two new orders are causing heartburn

Paddy sowing in two of India's largest producers of the crop - Punjab, and to some extent, Haryana - has been a cause for concern for quite some time now due to the over-exploitation of groundwater resources, impact on ecology, and effect that paddy stubble-burning has on air quality in neighbouring cities of Delhi-NCR. According to research from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (Icar), each tonne of stubble burnt leads to a loss of no less than 12-13 kg of phosphorus, 35 kg of potassium and 20 kg of nitrogen in the soil. Paddy acreage in Punjab presently is around 3.25 million hectares (mn/ha) and about 1.65 mn/ha in neighbouring Haryana. The area under paddy in both the states has grown exponentially since the last few decades, particularly after the Green Revolution in the 1960s. Groundwater depletion on the rise According to a study by Icar's National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research groundwater levels in both states have fallen significantly over the past two decades. In Punjab it fell to 18.06m in 2018-19 from 12.10 meters in 2009-10 and 9.25m in 2000-01. Similarly, in Haryana, it fell to 17.31m in 2018-19 from 12.9m in 2009-10 and 9.06m in 2000-01. The data points to the reason. Between 1970-71 to 2020-21, groundwater irrigation in Punjab has risen from 55 per cent of its gross cropped area to 72 per cent, while the area under canal irrigation has dropped from 45 per cent to 28 per cent. Similarly, groundwater irrigation in Haryana has risen from 37 per cent of gross cropped area to 65 per cent while canal irrigation has fallen from 62 per cent to 35 per cent. Current level of groundwater development is estimated at 164 per cent for Punjab and at 134 per cent for Haryana. Moreover, rainfall is scarce in both states: 534 mm in Punjab and 687 mm in Haryana. Punjab and Haryana have been trying multiple methods to check this erosion in groundwater due to paddy farming with limited, and sometimes zero, success. But all their measures have done little to deter farmers from growing paddy in a big way, which is ironic given that both states have traditionally never been large paddy growing regions. A large basket of subsidies, starting with free power, free irrigation, cheap seeds, fertiliser and other agriculture inputs supported by a 100 per cent assured system of procurement at a fixed price has created an ecosystem where farmers find it unviable from shifting to any crop during the kharif season. For example, groundwater irrigation, which is on the rise, is done largely through deep tube wells which thrive on free power. How have state laws helped? In 2009, the governments of Punjab and Haryana in 2009 brought out almost identical Acts, mandating delay in paddy sowing towards onset of the monsoon in a bid to arrest falling groundwater levels. Called the 'Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act 2009' (PPSWA)' and the 'Haryana Preservation of Subsoil Water Act 2009' (HPSWA), the non-compliance of the twin acts attracted penalties such as destruction of nursery or transplanted crop at the farmer's expense or disconnection of electricity supply, or cash payment, or all of these. The PPSWA prohibits raising a paddy nursery before May 10 and its transplantation not before June 10, with corresponding dates in the HPSWA set for May 15 and June 15. Some experts say that limited window between paddy harvest and wheat sowing leaves farmers with very little option other than to burn their stubble. One prime factor for the window between the two crops being short are the twin acts in Punjab and Haryana which prohibit sowing of paddy ahead of a designated time. Paddy sowing in 2025 This year, weeks ahead of the commencement of paddy sowing, the Punjab government passed two orders, ostensibly to conserve water and ensure that the state's natural resources are not over-exploited. The first order was on dividing the state into pockets and setting starting dates for cultivating paddy based on groundwater levels. The state government order said paddy cultivation in Faridkot, Bathinda, Fazilka, Ferozepur and Sri Muktsar Sahib districts will start from June 1, while Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Amritsar, Tarn Tarn, Rupnagar, SAS Nagar (Mohali), Sri Fatehgarh Sahib and Hoshiarpur districts can start on June 5. In the remaining districts of Ludhiana, Moga, Jalandhar, Mansa, Malerkotla, Sangrur, Patiala, Barnala, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar and Kapurthala, paddy cultivation will start on June 9. According to the state government, the phased sowing of paddy will also allow better management of power required for sowing and also deal with the problem of high moisture content in paddy sown later. In the other order, passed on April 7, the state government banned cultivation of hybrid rice varieties for the upcoming paddy transplantation season. The state government argued that some hybrid paddy varieties have been banned on concerns over groundwater depletion and allegations of poor milling recovery. Hybrid paddy as per some industry sources is cultivated in around 0.5-0.8 mn/ha of land in the state out of the total 3.25 mn/ha sown. Last year, several rice millers in Punjab faced off against the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and refused to lift paddy lying with farmers demanding easing of procurement norms from the corporation. The rice millers' primary demand was that the Out-of-turn Ratio (OTR) from paddy to rice as set by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) at 67 per cent be reduced for Punjab as new hybrid paddy varieties such as PR–126 have been giving 4-5 per cent lesser OTR than usual. A lower OTR meant that millers were making a loss in milling FCI paddy into rice. They also wanted a per quintal reimbursement of the loss in milling of hybrid varieties such as PR-126. OTR norms are fixed by the Central government and are uniform across the country and are seed variety-agnostic. The Centre had a few years ago commissioned a study, to be conducted by IIT Kharagpur, to review the present OTR and 'driage' incidentals for paddy for which tests are currently being conducted in different rice-procuring states, including Punjab. 'Unless the result of that study comes, we cannot unilaterally lower the OTR norm for one state,' a senior government official had said then. This year, anticipating similar issues over hybrid seed yields, Punjab has gone a step ahead and banned sowing of hybrid paddy seeds altogether. This, in turn, has roiled the seed industry which has alleged that such a ban could dent farmers' income by as much as Rs 8000–10,000 per acre. 'Hybrid rice consistently delivers five to six quintals higher productivity per acre and also has better water efficiency. By blocking these seeds, the state is effectively writing off roughly one-month income of a small farmer's earnings,' said Ajai Rana, a noted seed expert who is chairman of the Federation of Seed Industry of India (FSII), and chairman, CII North region agriculture committee. FSII also discounted the argument that hybrid paddy seeds gave lower OTR than mandated by FCI.