Recommends blacklisting CSC operators; officials say state can’t make changes without Centre nod.

The committee formed by the Maharashtra’s agriculture department to look into over 4.14 lakh bogus crop insurance claims made by farmers across the state in 2024 to get undue gains from Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), has recommended stringent actions including banning of these farmers for a period of five years from availing any government subsidy and raising the crop insurance premium from Rs 1 to at least Rs 100.

The committee has also called for blacklisting and taking criminal action against the common service centres (CSCs) operators, who were involved in facilitating the misuse of the scheme.

Confirming the development, a senior official in the Agriculture Department said, “The committee has made some stringent recommendations including banning these farmers from availing any government subsidy for a period of five years and also blacklisting and taking criminal action against the common service centres (CSCs) operators, who were involved in facilitating the misuse of the scheme. It has also suggested to increase the premium amount to at least Rs 100 from existing premium of Rs 1.”

Last month, Agriculture Minister Manikrao Kokate said that at least 4.14 lakh crop insurance claims submitted by farmers in 2024 under the PMFBY were found to be bogus following which a 25-member committee was formed under the leadership of the state Agriculture Commissioner, Raosaheb Bhagade.

The committee submitted its report in January to Principal Secretary of Agriculture Department Vikas Chandra Rastogi.

The official said that among other recommendations, the committee has also suggested to discontinue the prevailing insurance scheme and to set new conditions and norms.

It has been recommended that the insurance coverage amount for all crops should be kept same and that farmers should be prohibited from insuring an area of more than two hectares.

It has also recommended also that there should be no duplication of financial assistance that is provided to the farmers and farmers should be provided financial assistance only under one scheme.

“The committee has said that farmers should be given compensation for the loss of crop only under one scheme or assistance -either under the national disaster relief fund or under the insurance scheme. The National Disaster Relief Fund system should be used more efficiently for crop loss compensation, instead of the insurance scheme. In many cases during the natural calamities , the farmers take benefits under other schemes even as they have received compensation from the NDRF and other state government’s assistance,” the official said.

Even as the committee has made these sweeping recommendations, the official said that “since the crop insurance subsidy scheme is being implemented as per the Central Government’s guidelines, hence the state government will not be able make any changes without the approval of the Center. However, the recommendations could be referred to the Centre for their review to curb the cases of bogus crop insurance.”

He confirmed that the report has been sent by the Secretary to the minister, Manikrao Kokate for review.

“With the approval of the Minister, the report will be presented again in the cabinet meeting for a final decision and could be referred to the Centre,” he said.

PMFBY is the Centre’s crop insurance scheme that allows farmers to insure their crops at a highly subsidised premium of one rupee.

The Indian Express has on January 22 reported that while there are over 4.14 lakh bogus claims there were instances where farmers tried to claim insurance for non-existent crops and in some others, they tried to claim for crops on lands not owned by them.

A senior official in the department said a large number of applications have been filed through common service centres based on bogus information and in some cases, real land owners are not even aware about claims made on their farmland.

It was revealed that the farmers even tried to insure crops on the land owned by government, land having shrines and mosques and even on the non agriculture lands and non existing agriculture plots.

Source - https://indianexpress.com