• Punjab witnessed an increase of 44.5 per cent in incidents of stubble burning during 2020, despite getting 46 per cent of the total funds from the central government for checking burning of crop residue, the Centre has told the Supreme Court.
• In an affidavit, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) informed that Punjab saw 76,590 incidents of farm fire in 2020 as compared to 52,991 during 2019, indicating an increase of 44.5 per cent.
• Haryana reported 5,000 active farm fire cases in 2020, while the number was 6,652 in 2019, thus indicating a decrease of 25 per cent in a year.
• The MoEF said in order to address the issue of air pollution and subsidise machinery required for in situ management of crop residue, the Department of Agriculture Cooperation and Farmers Welfare has implemented a special Central Sector Scheme which is 100 per cent centrally funded, in states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT Delhi for the period from 2018-19 to 2020-21.
• The Centre allocated Rs 1,726.67 crore, of which Punjab got Rs 793.18 crore, Haryana Rs 499.90 crore, UP Rs 374.08 crore, Delhi Rs 4.52 crore and Indian Council of Agricultural Research and other central agencies Rs 54.99 crore.

The top court was apprised that an ordinance was promulgated for setting up a broad-based Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and adjoining areas to ensure a coherent approach in tackling the problem of air pollution.