‘Crop insurance scheme to hit small farmers’

Tribune News Service

Bhiwani, March 23

The Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha has pointed out gaps in the crop insurance scheme being promoted by the Haryana Government with pomp and show.

“To get claim loss on your insurance, the crop damage in a village should be more than 51 per cent. Otherwise, the relief cannot be claimed from a company,” said Dayanand Poonia, sabha secretary of the state at a meeting here on Tuesday.

He said the crop insurance scheme might not work well in Haryana, as farmers were not fully aware of it and they were already under debt.

“Crop insurance premiums of Rs 200 to Rs 300 per acre may seem little, but the ground situation is that small farmers sometimes do not have this much amount. And if they do not pay premiums on time, they will be ineligible for insurance,” said Master Sher Singh, state president of the sabha.

He further said farmers could claim insurance only if his produce would be less than the state’s average production. “Farmers will not be compensated for individual losses, as happens in general insurance. Compensation will depend on several other factors.”

Attar Singh, in-charge of Bhiwani Krishi Vigyan Kendra, said the scheme was a good step, provided farmers understood it in the right perspective.

On farmers’ doubts regarding the scheme, he said government agencies were yet to get documents related to the scheme and he could only comment after reading them.