Badal hails PM for higher compensation to distressed farmers

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today hailed the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for increasing the quantum of compensation to farmers affected by crop losses due to recent unseasonal rains.
Lauding the "landmark announcement" of the Prime Minister making change in the norms for input subsidy, Badal said that now farmers would be eligible for input subsidy if 33 per cent of their crop has been damaged instead of earlier norms of 50 per cent or more.
Likewise, he also commended "the pro-farmer initiative on the part of the NDA government to enhance the input subsidy by 50 per cent of the existing amounts which would go a long way to mitigate the woes of farmers due to the vagaries of the weather."

However, the Chief Minister impressed upon the Centre to further enhance the relief norms for the affected farmers to Rs 10,000 per acre.
Badal, in a statement here, also urged the Centre to regularly review these norms so as to make these input subsidies commensurate with the prevalent market prices of the inputs.