From zero stubble burning to clean water: What brings Union Minister Chouhan to Moga village led by Canada-returned sarpanch

Popularly called Mintu sarpanch, Singh is busy preparing for the “big day” when Union Minister of Agriculture Shivraj Singh Chouhan will interact with local farmers on how they stopped burning stubble.

Farmer Gopal Singh and his brothers who have stopped burning stubble. (Express photo: Gurmeet Singh)

In reality, the burning of stubble, among other changes took place in Ransih Kalan after its 3,000-odd residents did something that most villages didn’t — they solved their own problem, that too, by largely raising their own funds.

Thanks to the several cash incentives floated by the panchayat, life in Ransih Kalan runs differently: farmers here don’t burn stubble anymore, the residents recycle their plastic waste religiously, and locals earn cash incentives for reading books and nurturing fruit-bearing trees.

These changes caught the attention of Chouhan, who planned a visit to the village on Thursday.

The dinosaur statue at the lake is a message to villagers to save water or face extinction of mankind. (Express photo: Gurmeet Singh)

Ransih Kalan has sarpanch Singh to thank for this honour. Having returned from Canada in 2011, he was just 23 years old when he was first elected as the sarpanch in 2013.

“My only takeaway from Canada was ‘othe bande da nahi, kanoon da raaj hai’ (the law and not a person rules there). I often wondered why Punjab couldn’t be as clean and organised as Canada. When I returned in 2011, I decided to start from my village,” says the three-time sarpanch.

Singh, a graduate, said the first project that ushered in the wave of “change” in Ransih Kalan was the elimination of open drains in 2013-14, soon after he was elected sarpanch for first time.

Farmer Jasveer Singh who says he has stopped burning stubble. (Express photo: Gurmeet Singh)

“The estimated budget to install an underground drainage system was Rs 7-8 crore but we did not even have Rs 8. The village got together, roped in donors, including NRIs, and constituted a 51-member village-level Vikas Committee. The project was completed for Rs 5 crore,” says Singh.

After that, there was a challenge: “If a resident spots a single open drain in the village, we will give a cash reward of Rs 5 lakh,” he adds.

Explaining how the panchayat’s schemes are funded, Singh says, “Of the total, 80% is our own funding, arranged via donors and NRIs. The rest — 20% — is from the government.”

Then there is the village’s success story related to ending the practise of stubble burning, often blamed for near-hazardous levels of air pollution in the national capital region around Diwali each year.

Sarpanch Mintu with farmers who have stopped burning stubble (Express photo: Gurmeet Singh)

In 2019, the panchayat launched a direct bank transfer (DBT) scheme offering Rs 500 per acre to farmers who didn’t burn stubble.

As an added incentive, it constituted the Uttam Kisan Sewa Society in 2018, which created a bank of stubble management machines such as Happy Seeders, rotavators, mulchers, ploughers, etc., to sow wheat without burning stubble. Six years on, the village hasn’t witnessed zero cases of stubble burning.

Stating that he stopped burning stubble in 2018, Jagsir Singh, who owns a 20-acre farm, says “After the panchayat’s 2019 scheme, I encouraged other farmers to stop burning stubble too. Now, I sow wheat using the Happy Seeder.”

Baljinder Singh, who owns a 2.5-acre farm, stopped burning stubble after the 2019 scheme. “I realised later that we were killing crop-friendly insects while burning stubble.”

The village’s own sewage water treatment plant. (Express photo: Gurmeet Singh)

Farmers have also cut down their use of fertilisers, including urea and DAP, by nearly 30%. They said they had noticed an improvement in the village’s soil health, besides better yields.

Gopal Singh and his brothers Sukhdeep Singh and Kartar Singh, who own a 45-acre farm, said they have cut their DAP use significantly. “Earlier, we used at least four sacks of fertilizer. We are down to half of that now,” says Gopal.

To break away from the wheat-paddy cycle, the panchayat started another scheme last year under which farmers are given cotton and maize seeds free of cost.

Then there is the “natural” sewage treatment plant (STP), set up for Rs 50 lakh in 2014. The treated water, said sarpanch Singh, irrigates at least 100 acres in the village at present.

The dirty pond at the village is now a picturesque lake where villagers come to feed ducks. (Express photo: Gurmeet Singh)

“We have dug three pits in which the sewage water is treated naturally with the help of bacteria and the fish released in them. That water is then supplied for irrigation,” he adds.

In between these schemes, the panchayat did not forget the need to also beautify the village.

The two dirty ponds were converted into lakes at a cost of Rs 1 crore. These lakes now double up as rainwater harvesting systems.

“Besides boating in the lakes, the residents come here for walks and to feed the birds,” says sarpanch Singh.

Pointing to the statue of a dinosaur installed in the middle of a lake, he said it was meant to send a message. “It is a reminder to the villagers that they too will go extinct like dinosaurs if they won’t save water,” he says.

Talking about the 2023 programme that allows the residents to check out books from the village’s Maharaja Ranjit Singh Library, he explains, “Those who pass a test after reading the books are given a cash reward.”

Under the Kooda Leyao, Paisa Kamao scheme started in 2024, ragpickers earn money from selling garbage to the panchayat, while those who deposit plastic waste, earn sugar/jaggery of the same weight. The panchayat converts most of the waste into manure for fields.

Under the panchayat’s Nasha Mukti scheme, at least 65 drug addicts have completed their rehabilitation programmes successfully. Besides a cash reward of Rs 11,000 each for the successful completion of the programme, they are also given free after-care, which includes Rs 1,100 per month for food.

The panchayat also gives Rs 100 to each villager to grow, maintain and nurture fruit saplings to increase green cover under its Vaatavaran Bachao, Paise Kamao scheme.

“All our schemes are self-financed. We work on a simple formula — encouraging people to do something in lieu of DBT incentives,” says the sarpanch.

Stating that Ransih Kalan was managed by a very “pro-active panchayat” Moga Deputy Commissioner Sagar Setia says, “Other panchayats too should draw inspiration from the village to end stubble burning, among other issues.”