India - Farmers urge state to pay their crop insurance premium

21.11.2016 218 views
Demonetization has paralyzed the activities of Primary Agriculture Credit Cooperative Societies (PACCS) across the state, restricting farmers from going about routine business including the remittance of premium for crop insurance. Since PACCS are not accepting the old notes, farmers have appealed to the state government to pay the entire premium for crop insurance on behalf of farmres, irrespective of the crop they have raised.
The farming community in the delta region is already in great distress due to the scarcity of water. The depressing situation has already claimed the lives of 11 farmers in the delta region. The only consolation for them is insurance. But due to the scrapping of old notes, farmers are unable even to buy insurance.
"Since all PACCSs have temporarily stopped routine transactions as per the government order, we are unable to remit crop insurance premium. Neither can we get a loan from the bank. Even though the government has extended the last date for submitting applications from November 30 to December 15, we have no money to remit the same," said P Kaliaperumal, a farmer from Nanjikottai in Thanjavur.
Floods had devastated all the fields in delta districts in 2009, said Swamimalai R Vimalnathan, Secretary, Thanjavur District Cauvery Delta Farmers Protection Association. "During the DMK regime, several appeals had been made by farmers, asking the DMK government to remit the premium amount on behalf of farmers. The government took a note of our appeal and remitted the entire premium to the Centre," he said.
Source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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