State announces ₹10,000-cr relief for farmers hit by rain

MUMBAI: Crop damage owing to unseasonal rain may impact 70 lakh hectares (ha) of agricultural land and around 60 lakh farmersinMaharashtra, according to fresh estimates.

Cyclonic conditions have led to unseasonal rain, which has severelyhitcottonandsoyabean crops across 325 tehsils.

The damage was discussed during a cabinet sub-committee meetingconvenedbyCMDevendra Fadnavis on Saturday. The sub-committee decided that the state would seek financial assistance from the Centre and announced a ₹10,000-crore relief package for the 60 lakh affected farmers. “The extent of damage is really high. We want to extend maximumhelp to the farmers. A general view was that the compensation should be more than the existing norms. Based on the primary reports, the cabinet sub-committee has decided to allocate funds of ₹10,000 crore,” Fadnavis said.

NEWDELHI: Pakistan-based terror groups Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)andLashkar-e-Taiba(LeT) arepreparingforlarge-scaleterror strikes against India in the coming winter, according to the latest intelligence reports. The strikes are aimed at preventing thereturntonormalcyofwhatis now the Union Territory of J&K and to test the mettle of the Narendra Modi government.

HT learns that inputs conveyedtothegovernmentbyintelligenceagenciessuggestthatthe Jaish leadership has asked its trainedandindoctrinatedterrorists to report at its Markaz Usman-o-Ali headquarters at Bahawalpur this week as a precursor to possible Fidayeen attacks in India. HT has been briefed on the inputs by top officials at security agencies who asked not to be named.

Bed-riddenJaishchiefMasood Azharandhisyoungerbrotheror de facto chief Mufti Abdul Rauf Asghar are both at Bahawalpur currently. Other inputs indicate thatLeT’scommanderAbuUzail has claimed that India would soonfaceadeadlysuicideattack.

The inputs also say that Pakistan-sponsored terror groups will make renewed attempts to sendtheircadresacrosstheLine of Control (LoC) after October 26—thedaythatJ&K’serstwhile ruler signed the instrument of accession that made the former princely state a part of India.

THE UNSEASONAL RAIN HAS AFFECTED AROUND 60 LAKH FARMERS

While the home ministry and security agencies have largely managedtokeep theregionoutof harm’s way since August 5, national security planners believe that the Pakistan-based groups will attempt a strike this winter to prove their relevance anddominance.OnAugust5,the Parliamentpassedlawsandresolutions to split the region of J&K intotwoUnionterritories—J&K andLadakh(theycameintobeing on October 31) — and scrapped special privileges that the state enjoyed.

Rawalpindi General Headquarters, thenerve Centre ofthe Pakistani armed forces, has apparentlygiventhegreensignal to selective infiltration by Jaish cadres into India. Officials in Indiansecurityagenciessaythat due to the counter-insurgency grid in place since August 5, and the risk of interception of its cadrewhilemovingfrominternationalborderstotheValley,there hasbeenlittleornoJaishinfiltrationintheSialkotsectoroverthe past three months.