Cotton farmers protest Rs 200-cr reduction in insurance, allege ‘fraud’ in crop claims

Farmers in Bhiwani and Charkhi Dadri have alleged a massive “cheating” in their crop insurance claims, accusing authorities of denying rightful compensation for cotton losses during kharif 2023. They claim the original insurance claim of Rs 281.5 crore — assessed based on the Crop Cutting Experiment (CCE) — was later reduced to just Rs 80 crore after a controversial decision by the State Technical Advisory Committee (STAC).

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Statement of insurance claim in Bhiwani

Name of sub-district

Claim amount assessed through CCE

Claim assessed through technology use

Loss suffered due to use of technology

Loharu

179,38,02,996

37,52,82,683

141,85,20,313

Siwani

52,89,84,063

10,85,50,165

42,04,33,898

Tosham

43,85,05,945

28,55,70,331

15,29,35,614

Bhiwani

5,39,64,953

3,70,61,538

1,69,03,415

Grand total

281,52,57,957

80,64,64,717

200,87,93,240

Farmer activist Dr Ram Kanwar alleged that the matter was referred to STAC, even though its term had expired on August 1, 2024. However, a meeting of this "defunct" committee was convened on August 20, 2024, where it approved a technical yield assessment for cotton crop insurance claims.

“The STAC had no authority to make such a decision after its term had expired,” Kanwar asserted, calling it an illegal move that denied farmers Rs 200 crore in compensation.

The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) was supposed to compensate farmers based on CCE results conducted by the Agriculture Department. However, activists claim the insurance firm bypassed this and opted for a technical yield assessment, which is only applicable to wheat and paddy, not cotton.

Dayanand Punia, a farmer activist from Siwani tehsil in Bhiwani, highlighted how 34 villages in Siwani block were initially found eligible for claims, but later, 20 villages were denied any compensation after the technical assessment.

"Despite insured crops and official crop-cutting surveys determining per-acre compensation, the insurance company, in collusion with the government, rejected the department’s report," Punia alleged.

Further, he claimed that satellite reports were falsely used to deny losses. "This is nothing short of a scam," he said, announcing a protest at the Siwani SDM office on March 10.

The complaint states that the District Level Monitoring Committee (DLMC) of Bhiwani, led by the Deputy Commissioner, had already dismissed the insurance company’s objections and directed it to release payments within seven days.

“Instead of complying, the insurance company challenged the decision before the Director of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare,” Kanwar said.

When contacted for a response, Director of Agriculture, Rajnarayan Kaushik, did not respond to calls or messages.

Farmers have urged the Chief Minister to take action against officials responsible for the alleged fraud and ensure full compensation is released as per the original CCE assessment.