Current Affairs - State - Discussion

Punjab and Haryana received India’s first-ever soil carbon payments for adopting regenerative agriculture. On September 17, 2026, payments worth ₹2.9 crore were initiated for more than 2,500 smallholder farmers in these two states. The Direct Benefit Transfer was launched at Punjab Agricultural University in Ludhiana. The payments were part of the ‘Aadi’ carbon programme launched by Grow Indigo in 2019 with technical guidance from ICAR. The initial phase covered 30,000 acres and generated 50,000 carbon credits. Individual farmers received payments ranging from ₹3,000 to ₹15,000 for verified improvements in soil carbon and reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions.