Crops in 189 lakh hectare damaged due to unseasonal rains

The government on Monday told parliament that crops in 189 lakh hectare have been damaged due to the recent unseasonal rains and hailstorms in the country.

Responding to an exhaustive debate in the Rajya Sabha on the agrarian crisis, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said the data is based on the reports received from the affected states.

"The centre took immediate cognisance of the situation and decided to relax the compensation norms for crop damage," he said.

He added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi reduced the eligibility norms for compensation for crop losses from 50 to 33 percent.

"Central government also allowed states to disburse 20 percent of amount available with the State Disaster Relief Fund to the affected farmers," he said.

The debate was taken up in the upper house last Thursday after a farmer committed suicide at an anti-land acquisition bill rally of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi.

However, dissatisfied with the minister's reply, Samajwadi Party and Trinamool Congress staged a walkout.

Congress also staged a walkout with Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad citing absence of food minister and home minister as a non-serious approach by government.