📷 Image: Wikimedia Commons / Original: Ravan Khosa
Derivative work: Aristeas
Agriculture
Haryana's New Paddy-Combine Rules Spark Farmer Protests and Opposition Outcry
✍️ The Tribune
🗓 25 Sep 2026, 03:47 AM
👁 7
The Haryana government’s recent amendment to paddy‑combine operating hours has triggered protests from farmers and criticism from opposition parties.
The state government of Haryana has issued a fresh directive that limits the use of paddy combines to daylight hours, obliging farmers to pause operations after sunset. The regulation, announced this week, requires that harvesting be completed by night and that machines remain idle until the next morning.
Farmers across the state have taken to the streets, arguing that the rule will compress the already tight harvesting window, increase labor costs and jeopardise timely grain collection. Several farmer groups have staged rallies outside district offices, demanding an immediate rollback of the order.
Opposition parties have seized on the issue, labeling the rule as insensitive to agricultural realities and accusing the administration of prioritising non‑agricultural concerns over farmers’ livelihoods. Party leaders have called for a meeting with the agriculture minister to discuss possible amendments.
State officials, for their part, maintain that the timing restriction is intended to curb noise and safety hazards associated with night‑time combine operation, and they have promised to review the policy based on feedback from the farming community.
Farmers across the state have taken to the streets, arguing that the rule will compress the already tight harvesting window, increase labor costs and jeopardise timely grain collection. Several farmer groups have staged rallies outside district offices, demanding an immediate rollback of the order.
Opposition parties have seized on the issue, labeling the rule as insensitive to agricultural realities and accusing the administration of prioritising non‑agricultural concerns over farmers’ livelihoods. Party leaders have called for a meeting with the agriculture minister to discuss possible amendments.
State officials, for their part, maintain that the timing restriction is intended to curb noise and safety hazards associated with night‑time combine operation, and they have promised to review the policy based on feedback from the farming community.