-Hindustan Times The paddy straw is of no use to the farmer unlike the wheat straw, which is used as animal fodder. The paddy straw has high silica content that animals can’t digest. Chandigarh: The plain farming chore of burning after-harvest paddy stalks as farmers prepared their fields in Punjab and Haryana for the wheat crop never headlined so much as in the past month. The swirling smoke from the fire is blamed...

-The Indian Express Delhi air pollution: The current smog and poor air quality in the National Capital Region has been blamed in part on stubble burning by farmers, especially in neighbouring Punjab and Haryana. What is the genesis of the problem? What are its potential solutions? * How widespread is crop stubble burning? It is mainly confined to Punjab, Haryana and parts of western Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, where farmers grow paddy and...

-ThePrint.in From mixing the stubble into soil, to making manure and use in the packaging industry, there are a lot of ways in which the problem of stubble burning can be solved. North-west India is currently in the grips of a poisonous smog, produced by farmers through paddy straw and stubble burning. The smog is affecting the germination and growth of crops, as well has having a harmful effect on human health. Farmers...

-The Economic Times Even as the dust kicked up by the Goods and Services tax is yet to settle, traders and companies have to face another conundrum­­ an uneven mandi tax. So wide is the discrepancy that a company procuring grain had to pay 6 per cent tax in Punjab, 4 per cent in Haryana and 0.2 per cent in Madhya Pradesh. Industry says this will create an imbalance in the interstate...

-The Times of India Punjab, the leader of green revolution during the '70s, has become disreputable for farmers' suicides in last two decade or so. Usually, these suicides are attributed to farmers' indebtedness to banks and commission agents. However, it is to be noted that bank credit has played a pivotal role in investment into tubewells, tractors, farm mechanization, horticulture, dairy, poultry and forestry all over India, and especially in Punjab and...