Haryana Chief Minister (CM) Nayab Singh Saini is seeking an exemption from GST on 10 agricultural implements used in crop residue management from the Central Government. The exemption would encourage farmers to adopt these technologies more widely, helping to prevent air pollution caused by stubble burning.
Saini, in a letter sent regarding the same concern to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Union Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, cited that in the nation’s food reserves, the farmers of Haryana had played a significant role, with the state being a leader in the agricultural sector.
“In recent years stubble burning has become a major issue, adversely impacting the health of the people. Given the seriousness of the issue, it is being closely monitored by the Supreme Court and the Air Quality Commission,” CM said citing that the farmers of Haryana are adopting advanced technologies and utilizing the latest agricultural implements for crop residue management.
CM cited that in the past few years, both the centre along with the state government have been furnishing subsidies on machinery for crop residue management. There was a 39% reduction in stubble burning incidents compared to 2023, in 2024, he stated.
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He mentioned that to address the same problem further, the state government has made an action plan for 2025 which has a provision for a subsidy of nearly Rs 200 crore for the purchase of crop residue management machines. The expected total cost of these machines is nearly Rs 500 crore, with an additional load of nearly Rs 60 crore on farmers due to GST (12%).
