State Secretary, CPI(M) J&K, GhulamNabi Malik has said there is a “little” in Crop Insurance Scheme to justify the government’s claim that it is a path breaking scheme for farmers’ welfare. He said many shortcomings existing in previous schemes are yet to be removed.
Pointing to the deficiencies in the scheme, he said: “It is yet to be decided which crops will be brought under the scheme. Similarly the premium is high for both agri and horticulture crops and an individual farmer has not been considered as the basic unit to be insured in the new crop insurance policy,” Malik in a statement said.
He said the frost that causes huge damage to various crops has not been included in the category of calamities and only 10 per cent land has been decided to be brought under this scheme during current fiscal year.
The CPI (M) leader observed that Pradhan MantriFasalBimaYojna (PMFBY) has nothing substantial to offer to the hapless section of the society. “This policy seems as a dressed up version of existing crop insurance schemes without addressing any basic issues.”
Malik said the government seems to have “dressed up the existing crop insurance schemes with minor improvements”. He said a lot of hype has been created to give an impression that the farmers have been finally secured from recurrent crop losses, which is not true.
“This exercise is unfortunately another missed opportunity to redress a long-standing and critical problem of the farm sector,” Malik remarked.
“Unless the long pending grievances of farmers are addressed comprehensively, the crop insurance scheme adopted in J&K is not going to lead to address the farm distress,” the CPI (M) leader said.
Source - greaterkashmir.com
