The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today made two major announcements aimed at providing relief to farmers in distress.
The Prime Minister expressed concern over the problems faced by farmers due to abnormal weather over the past year. He said that helping the farmer in this time of distress is our responsibility, and therefore, the Government had sent teams of Central Ministers to affected areas, to assess the extent of damage. He said the Union and State Governments, the banks and insurance companies would all do their utmost to provide relief to the farmers.
Announcing a landmark change in norms for input subsidy, the Prime Minister said farmers will now be eligible for input subsidy if 33 percent of their crop has been damaged, as opposed to 50 percent or more, which was the norm till now.
In another major announcement, the Prime Minister said that the input subsidy given to distressed farmers will be enhanced by 50 percent of the existing amounts. He said this was a major departure from the incremental changes in input subsidy that had been made hitherto.
The announcements were made by the Prime Minister in his address during the launch of the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana.
