Punjab CM welcomes upward revision in relief norms

Chandigarh, April 8, 2015: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today hailed the upward revision in the relief norms to the distressed farmers for the crop damage due to natural calamities across the country.

In a statement the Chief Minister appreciated the concern expressed by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in bailing out the beleaguered peasantry from the problems faced due to unprecedented abrasions in the weather over the past one year.

Lauding the landmark announcement of Prime Minister for making change in the norms for input subsidy, the Chief Minister said that now the farmers would be eligible for input subsidy if 33% of their crop has been damaged instead of earlier norms of 50% or more.

Likewise, he also commended the pro-farmer initiative on the part of the NDA government to enhance the input subsidy by 50% 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 GoI to further enhance the relief norms for the affected farmers to 10,000 per acre. He 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.