If there is no discrimination when giving incentives to industrialists then why for farmers?” Badri Prasad Dhaka, general secretary, Rajasthan Kisan union
Farmers organisations have opposed the new order of the government giving crop insurance premium subsidy to for up to seven hectares of land only under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), accusing that the decision will benefit the insurance companies and not the farmers.
The Rajasthan government had issued a notification on July 25 stating that it will give crop insurance premium to farmers for up to seven hectares of land. This Kharif season, the decision will save the state Rs 60 crore but the decision has irked farmers as they have demanded that government should provide subsidy on insurance premium to all farmers and their land holdings should not be the criteria.
“At the point of crop insurance premium subsidy, it is not justified to discriminate farmers on the basis of the landholding,” Amra Ram, national president of All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) said. “For a farmer, having land for more than seven hectares, input cost is also more and so the risk of losses due to weather is also greater. Considering the situation, the government should extend insurance premium subsidy to all the farmers,” he added.
Under the PMFBY, a farmer has to bear 2% of the insurance premium for Kharif crops, 1.5% for the rabi crops and 5% for commercial crops like fruits and vegetables. The center and the state government share the remaining amount of premium.
Through the notification, the government has also increased the insured amount of each crop for this Kharif season resulting in an increase in premium. It means that the government will spend additional Rs500 crore on premium subsidy this season.
“If there is no discrimination when giving incentives to industrialists then why for farmers?” Badri Prasad Dhaka, general secretary, Rajasthan Kisan union said. “Government should bear the insurance premium of all farmers as it has been doing since the implementation of PMFBY,” he added. Agriculture minister Prabhu Lal Saini, justifying the decision said that “Big farmers are financially strong and can afford to pay the full insurance premium amount.”
As per the agriculture department data, there are around 85 lakh farmers in Rajasthan. Out of which 45 lakh are marginal and small farmers having land less than four hectares while 11 lakh farmers have land holding between four to seven hectares.
Notification
The state government had issued a notification on July 25 stating that it will give crop insurance premium to farmers for up to seven hectares of land. This Kharif season, the decision will save the state Rs 60 crore but the decision has irked farmers.
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