Madhya Pradesh to suspend aid to farmers who burn stubble

The Madhya Pradesh government on Tuesday announced that it will penalise farmers engaging in stubble burning by suspending their financial assistance under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme for a year, PTI reported.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, better known as PM-Kisan, farmers are eligible to receive Rs 6,000 annually from the Union government.

In Madhya Pradesh, eligible farmers receive Rs 12,000 under the scheme – Rs 6,000 from the Union government and an additional equal amount from the state government.

The state Cabinet also said that agricultural produce from farmers who clear their fields in this way would not be bought at minimum support prices for a year.

This price is a guaranteed amount paid to farmers when the government buys their produce.

“The state government is taking strict measures to control stubble burning that causes pollution,” the news agency quoted state Urban Development and Housing Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya as saying.

The minister said that the state government did not want to penalise farmers. “But our farmer brothers should not cause big losses for small gains because their own children will also suffer if the environment is impacted,” he said.

Many farmers resort to the mass burning of unwanted crop debris (known as stubble) to clear their fields after the harvest to...

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