The Telangana State government must ensure that more farmers availed the Central government’s crop insurance scheme, said Union Minister for Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya here on Thursday.
Addressing a press conference here after reviewing crop loans with State Level Bankers’ Committee, the Minister pointed out that only eight lakh farmers were utilising crop insurance scheme while the farmers eligible to avail it were nearly 37 lakh. “The State government must direct agricultural field officers to ensure that all the eligible farmers benefit from the scheme,” the Minister said.
He felt the scheme was the best shield the government could offer to farmers. In case of crop damage or other losses, they can fall back on the scheme’s support. Equally important was to make use of the Centre’s Soil Health Scheme. All farmers in Telangana must be persuaded to secure Soil Health Cards, he said.
Reiterating that Narendra Modi’s government was committed to farmers’ welfare, he said Rs. 1,515 crore was allocated for National Disaster Fund for the period 2015-20. The money allotted to this Fund earlier was mere Rs. 143 crore during the Congress regime in 2010-15, he added. “This allocation of funds clearly shows how different are Congress and BJP governments,” Mr. Dattatreya remarked. criticising that Congress always targeted BJP only on communal issues.
He advised the Congress party to judge BJP from the parameters of economic progress instead of attributing communal issues to the ruling party. Even in supply of fertilisers, the BJP government was way ahead of the previous Congress regime, he added. There used to be serpentine queues and frequent lathi-charge on agriculturists during sale of fertilisers during the previous government rule. He claimed that no such incidents were reported now.
Referring to triple Talaq issue, Mr. Dattatreya said some Muslim women were fighting for gender justice, but the attempt to politicise the issue by some parties like Congress was unfair.
Source - http://www.thehindu.com
