State reports 1000 hectares of crop damage
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, February 07 2025: Unseasonal rainfall and extreme weather conditions led to crop losses across several states, including Manipur and other parts of the Northeast.

According to data presented by minister of state for agriculture and farmers welfare, Ramnath Thakur, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, Manipur recorded crop damage in 0.01 lakh (1000) hectares of land due to hydro-meteorological disasters during 2024-25.Other northeast and eastern states also faced crop losses, with Assam and West Bengal each reporting damage over 1.38 lakh hectares, Mizoram 0.21 lakh hectares, Nagaland 0.03 lakh hectares, and Meghalaya 0.01 lakh hectares.

Arunachal Pradesh had no damage report, while Tripura is not listed among the affected states.

Tamil Nadu reported the highest impact nationwide, with 4.00 lakh hectares of agricultural land affected, followed closely by Uttar Pradesh at 3.95 lakh hectares and Karnataka at 2.86 lakh hectares.

In total, 14.24 lakh hectares of cropland across India were affected.

Under the National Policy on Disaster Management (NPDM), state governments are responsible for disaster relief and utilise the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) for immediate assistance.

Additional financial aid from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) is provided for disasters of severe nature based on the assessment of an Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT).

However, financial assistance under these funds is meant for relief purposes and not as compensation.

To support affected farmers, the government has implemented the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and the Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) since Kharif 2016.These schemes provide financial support for crop losses due to natural calamities and adverse weather conditions.

Claims under these schemes are processed based on season-end yield data submitted by state governments, and payouts are required to be made within 21 days.

Since the inception of the schemes, Rs 1,72,138 crore has been disbursed to 19.59 crore farmer applications.

Meanwhile, 85,932 farmers of Manipur received benefits under PM-KISAN scheme during 18th instalment (August 2024-November 2024).PM-KISAN scheme is a central sector scheme launched in February 2019 by the Prime Minister to supplement the financial needs of land-holding farmers.

Under the scheme, a financial benefit of Rs 6,000 per annum is transferred in three equal instalments, to the Aadhaar seeded bank accounts of farmers through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode.

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