Punjab recorded 637 and 740 farm fires on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. With the fresh cases, the total number of farm fires recorded from September 15 till November 20 jumped to 35,093, according to Punjab Remote Sensing Centre data.
The Centre is not in favour of reworking the MSP for paddy or other crops, ET gathers. The agriculture ministry holds that the fixed MSP which provides at least 50% return over all India weighted average cost of production is a benefit to farmers across the country. Raising the price of crops simply to make them competitive with rice could result in a distortion of market prices and it would be inappropriate to resort to such a measure for one state.
The chief secretary has issued a show cause notice to Ludhiana deputy commissioner (DC) asking her why disciplinary action shouldn’t be taken against her for not being able to curb stubble burning incidents in the district.