The Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government in Haryana is facing major opposition to its recently-launched crop insurance scheme Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).
The Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government in Haryana is facing major opposition to its recently-launched crop insurance scheme Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). The much-touted scheme to protect the interests of the farmers is, ironically, being opposed by farmers themselves who term the scheme anti-farmer. The Bhartiya Kisaan Union has already held a rally this week in Hissar to protest against the anomalies in the insurance scheme.
In July, the Haryana government, while launching the insurance scheme, had notified the areas, crops, indemnity level, sum insured, premium rates and seasonality discipline for the implementation of the PMFBY during the Kharif 2016 and Rabi 2016-17 seasons for cotton, paddy, bajra and maize, wheat, barley, mustard and gram.
The government has declared that all farmers availing Seasonal agricultural operations loans from financial institutions for the notified crops will be covered compulsorily. The scheme will be optional for farmers without such loans. The compulsorily coverage of those farmers who have taken loans is turning out be the Achilles heel for the state government. The farmers said that those who had taken loans were already under distress and the forced extraction of premium from the loan account of these farmers by private insurance companies is nothing but plain coercion.
The Opposition Congress and INLD have pounced on the Khattar government for playing with the interests of the farmers to benefit private insurance companies.
Former chief minister and senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda attacked the state government, calling the PMFBY a loan recovery scheme.
“The scheme treats a village as a unit, which puts the farmer at a disadvantage while the premium is being collected from all the farmers. Then there is discrimination in premium rates depending upon districts and areas,” he said. Mr Hooda said that if the government claims to be “pro-farmer”, it must pay the entire premium and insure the farmers.
The INLD leadership has described the scheme as an attempt to appease private business houses and had held a protest against it at district headquarters. In a memorandum to the governor, the INLD has said that the state government should pay the entire premium of the insurance and also that the total area under cultivation should be considered for compensation, instead of keeping the village as the unit for giving compensation.
The INLD has alleged that the Khattar government is passing on Rs 900 crore from the farmers to private insurance companies while its ministers are functioning as insurance agents.
The BKU has already warned the state government that if their demands are not met they would launch a massive protest. According to BKU leader Gurman Singh Chunari “ government should stop deducting premium from the accounts of farmers and return the money already deducted from the accounts of the farmers”. Otherwise farmers would not hesitate to make sacrifices for their rights”.
Khattar government which, has burnt its fingers during the jat agitation cannot afford to annoy farmers which are a powerful constituency in agrarian Haryana.
