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Agrarian crisis a national calamity: Badal

Staff Correspondent

CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Akali Dal president and former Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal, has urged the Union Government to declare the agrarian crisis in Punjab as a national calamity and set up an emergency fund to write off the crippling agricultural loans.

In a statement, Mr. Badal said that this measure would be nothing unusual as the Union Government took such decisions in grave national crises or even in cases when some industry was declared sick.

Describing the farmers' plight as "too deep for tears" Mr. Badal referred to the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) data which showed that while the average annual loan taken by farmers was Rs 13,000, the corresponding figure for Punjab stood at Rs 40,000.

However, the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) experts had pegged this amount at Rs. 2.50 lakh per family.

The Akali Dal president said that he was not surprised by the data that 40 per cent farmers had expressed their desire to quit farming due to the high cost of production.

The Akali Dal has articulated this view for decades that farming was fast becoming the most non-remunerative and unsustainable profession in the country, he stated.

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Agrarian crisis a national calamity: Badal

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