Farmers suffering crop loss due to floods, drought given aid: Sharad Pawar

NEW DELHI: Assistance for entire holding of small and marginal farmers who have suffered crop loss of 50 per cent or more due to natural calamities like drought and floods has been provided, Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday.


"Government of India has framed guidelines for providing relief from National Disaster Response Fund ( NDRF) and State Disaster Response Fund ( SDRF) in the event of natural calamities like cyclone, cloud burst, drought, floods, earthquakes, landslides, pest attack, Tsunami, cold wave," Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said.

He said in reply to a question that assistance is provided for entire holding of small and marginal farmers who have suffered crop loss of 50 per cent or more whereas assistance to other farmers is capped at one hectare per farmer, irrespective of the size of holding.

"Whenever there is a calamity, Government of India provides relief. There is a difference between compensation and relief. We give relief in such cases. Finance Commission makes recommendations and generally these are accepted by the government," Pawar said in reply to a query.

Only Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka have written to the Centre stating that they are facing drought and sought relief, he said.

He maintained that whenever a request is made by a state for relief for crop loss caused by natural calamities, his ministry forms a team which visits the affected area and submits a report. An inter-ministerial committee studies the report and decides the course of action.