Topic: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment, Disaster and disaster management.
5)A multi-pronged strategy needs to be adopted to drive the behavioural change in farmers’ community for extracting more value out of the farm waste. Discuss in the light of the NITI Aayog’s report on biomass management.(250 words)
Why this question
India generates a huge amount of biomass annually, especially from the agricultural sector. Burning of this biomass creates air pollution problem in the northern states of India, where the practice is more prevalent. Recently, a task force on biomass management submitted its report. The task force has suggested a two-pronged approach to tackle the issue: a) ploughing the residue back into the field and; b) extraction and usage for other purposes. The issue is related to GS-3 syllabus under the following heading-
Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment, Disaster and disaster management.
Key demand of the question.
The question wants us to discuss the need for and course of action for imparting behavioural change in farmer’s community, for better use and management of farm waste.
Directive word
Discuss- we have to dig deep into the given issue and write in length about the reasons for the particular behaviour, why there is need for behavioural change and how to impart it.
Structure of the answer
Introduction- mention India’s plan to achieve 10GW capacity of energy generation from biomass and current installed capacity of around 5 GW.
Body-
- Discuss the reasons for burning of farm waste by farmers- e.g lack of knowledge about alternate use, very less time for farm preparation, unorganized nature of biomass market, which is characterized by lack of mechanization in agriculture sector, fragmented land holdings, and vast number of small or marginal farmers etc.
- Briefly discuss some of the ex-situ and in-situ methods of farm waste utilization. E.g prali char, compositing, Bio-Power, Bio-CNG, Pelletisation Plant, Briquetting Plant, Pyrolysis (biochar), biogas Plant etc.
- Mention and briefly discuss in points, about the strategies suggested by the task force of NITI Aayog- e.g subsidies on various technologies, regulatory support to businesses, creating awareness by field visits and by using ICT tools, reward scheme for individual farmers and for panchayats, creating efficient monitoring mechanisms etc.
Conclusion- bring out a fair, concise balanced conclusion out of the above discussion.
