Top ministers take stock of crop damage situation

Top ministers of the Narendra Modi government held a meeting late in the evening on Tuesday to take stock of the situation arising out of damage to standing Rabi crops due to unseasonal rains. The meeting assumes significance as it comes amid reports of farmer suicides in northern India.

Officials said the meeting, which took place after Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari returned to the capital from his visit to the rain-hit areas of Uttar Pradesh, was attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

The ministers discussed the proposal to increase the assistance to farmers under the National Disaster Response Fund and also modalities as to how it can be transferred directly to the farmers without any leakage.

Officials said the Haryana model of compensation -where the state government waived off the interest on crop loans and increased the repayment period from one year to three years - was noted.

Haryana has also raised the compensation amount to Rs 10,000 a hectare in areas where the damage is more than 75 per cent and Rs 7,500 a hectare in areas where the damage is between 50 and 75 per cent.

Earlier, Gadkari, during his visit to the affected areas, had urged farmers to open bank accounts so that the compensation amount could be transferred directly.

Radha Mohan Singh said the total area affected by untimely rains and hailstorm stood at 11.3-11.4 million hectares as of Tuesday.