The Agriculture Ministry on Tuesday updated its estimates of the area under Rabi crop coverage that was affected by unseasonal rainfall and hailstorms from late February to early April.

The revised figure on the basis of State-wise data has more than doubled from the April 16 estimate of 93.82 lakh hectares (lh) and as stands at 189.81 lakh hectares (lh) as of April 24.

“The change is mainly because of the change in data with reference to Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar. The revised data is based on the information provided by State Governments,” said an official statement.

This was the sixth report published by the Ministry and figures deviated significantly for the three States mentioned, particularly for UP where the damage estimate rose from 29.64 lh in the fifth report to 95.17 lh.

For Rajasthan, the total area is now estimated to be 30.57 lh, up from 16.89 lh in the fifth report, while for Bihar it increased to 14.58 lh from just 1.86 lh estimated in almost each of the previous five reports.

The ‘Agrarian Crisis’ debate was taken up at Rajya Sabha on Monday and Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh had informed the Upper House of the revised figures. Dissatisfied with his replies, the Opposition had staged a walkout.

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