HARYANA MODEL: RESOLUTE GOVERNANCE FOR SUSTAINABLE STUBBLE MANAGEMENT

At the centre of Haryana’s progress is a recognition that agricultural practices do not change through appeals alone. They change when states lower the transaction cost of doing the right thing.

- KARTIKEYA SHARMA

Representational image: This October 23 photo shows Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini with sugarcane farmers at the Sant Kabir Kutir, in Chandigarh. @NayabSainiBJP X/ANI

(@NayabSainiBJP X/ANI)

Every harvest season, northern India is forced to confront a policy failure that repeats itself with clockwork regularity.

Fields are cleared through fire, the air thickens, and governments return to familiar debates over what could have been done. The science is settled. Crop residue burning is a preventable source of pollution that damages soil fertility, burdens public health systems and pushes air quality far beyond safe limits. What is less settled is the question of state capacity, political will and administrative discipline. In this context, Haryana stands out for having moved the problem from lament to solution. The state has shown that when governance systems are designed with clarity and executed with consistency, even long standing agricultural practices can shift. The “Haryana model” is the outcome of layered interventions that align technology, incentives and enforcement into a coherent policy structure.