Crop insurance scheme for more districts soon

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 14

In a major relief to farmers, the crop insurance scheme for ginger, pea and tomato will be extended to more districts now.

Crop insurance for ginger, which was restricted only to Sirmaur district, would be extended to Solan, Shimla and Bilsapur districts, while insurance on pea crop would be extended to six districts including Chamba, Kullu, Lahaul and Spiti, Kinnaur, Mandi and Shimla.

Similarly, the insurance for tomato, available for farmers of Solan and Bilaspur, would be extended to Kangra, Mandi, Kullu, Shimla and Sirmaur districts also.

Director, Agriculture, JC Rana said the government had also decided to add more companies to run the scheme and besides existing companies such as Agriculture Insurance Company (AIC), ICICI Lombard and HDFC, four more companies including Reliance, Bajaj Alliance, Chola Manglam and TATA AIG have been enrolled.

The insurance claim would not be decided on the basis of yield and production, but given automatically based on weather parameters and on the basis of predictions of the Meteorological Department.

The scheme would be subsidised and 50 percent premium would be paid by farmers, while the rest 50 per cent would be shared in the ratio of 25:25 between the state and the Central governments. The rates of premium which were 12 per cent for all crops have also been cut marginally to 11 per cent for ginger and pea crop and 10.5 per cent for tomato.

Moreover, insurance cover would be provided to farmers and agricultural labourers in the event of injury or death, while operating the farm machinery or implements under the Mukhyamantri Kisan Evam Khetihar Mazdoor Jeevan Suraksha Yojana and a sum of Rs 1.50 lakh would be paid as compensation in case of death or permanent disability, while in case of partial disability farmers would be entitled to a compensation up to Rs 50,000 depending on the percentage of disability.