6 lakh farmers get insurance cover

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 12

In spite of opposition from political parties and farmer organisations, around 6 lakh farmers in Haryana were provided insurance cover under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) up to August 5.

The number of eligible loanee farmers was around 7.38 lakh for the current kharif season.

The cut-off date to pay the premium was July 31. It was extended to August 2 and further to August 10.

The government had awarded contracts to Reliance General Insurance, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance and ICICI Lombard to provide insurance cover to farmers this kharif season.

The state government has notified four crops — cotton, paddy, bajra and maize.

“Bankers were short on time to collect premium. Nevertheless, about 6 lakh farmers were provided with insurance cover up to August 5,” said Chief Secretary DS Dhesi while addressing bankers during a meeting of the State-Level Bankers Committee here today.

He appealed to bankers to take stock of the difficulties and initiate corrective measures to build confidence among farmers.

On the reason behind opposition from political parties and farmer organisations, a senior bank official said: “According to a notification, the government was supposed to set up a help desk in every district headquarter to clear the doubts of farmers and create awareness. A representative of an insurance company or an official from the Agriculture Department was supposed to be present at the help desk. Noting of the sort happened, leading to unrest among farmers.”

As per the scheme, the sum assured for paddy has been fixed at Rs62,500 per hectare and, for cotton, it’s Rs60,000. As for bajra and maize, the sum assured is Rs27,500 and Rs25,000, respectively.

The sum assured per hectare is more under the PMFBY than the earlier Modified National Agriculture Insurance Scheme. And as for the premium rate, it is less and uniform under the new scheme than the earlier one.

Under the PMFBY, the premium paid by farmers would be reduced to 2 per cent of the insured value for rain-dependent kharif crop and 1.5 per cent for rabi crops compared with 3.5 to 8 per cent under the previous schemes.

In Hisar, the count is around 68,000

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, August 12

Around 68,000 farmers in the district were covered under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana till August 10, the last day to pay the premium.

The data available with the district’s lead bank Punjab National Bank (PNB) and Agriculture Department showed 2.53 lakh acre out of 8 lakh acre under kharif crops had been insured — this means around 32 per cent of the cropped area was insured.

Cotton has been sown over 3.2 lakh acre and paddy over1 lakh acre. Other crops such as barja, jowar, maize, guar, moong, arhar and sugarcane make up rest of the area.

The scheme covers only cotton, paddy, bajra and maize.

Of 4 lakh farmers in the district, 2 lakh are under debt out of which 75,000 are defaulters.

Sources said insurance firms collected a premium of Rs 12.46 crore from farmers.

Lead bank manager BL Dhingra said the final data of the crop insurance scheme was being compiled and the area under insurance cover was likely to rise slightly.

The scheme has stirred a controversy, as farmers have complained banks are deducting premium from their accounts without their approval.

Satyawan’s case is an example. Premium was deducted from his account for crops not notified under the scheme. After he complained to the district administration, the bank reversed the money. 

“Satyawan is an alert farmer. But scores of illiterate farmers have been duped in the name of crop insurance,” said Harpal Singh, president of the Haryana Kisan Sabha.