Ram Vilas Paswan rejects UP govt's charge of Centre not helping farmers

LUCKNOW: Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan today rejected the Uttar Pradesh government charge that the Centre did not help the farmers who incurred huge losses due to unseasonal rains, saying that it had hiked the compensation amount for them.

"The allegation that the Centre was not helping farmers is baseless. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has himself said the Centre will help if losses are above 33 per cent in place of the previous criteria of 50 per cent losses," Paswan told reporters here.

"The Centre is serious on the issue of farmers and losses incurred by them. A team of Central ministers has also toured affected areas to access losses," he added.