A workshop to spread awareness about the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, a crop insurance scheme, was organised at the Krishi Vigyan Kendra here on Tuesday. Resource persons spoke to farmers and explained the salient features of the scheme and about how it was different from the old insurance schemes. They said the scheme was mandatory for farmers who take farm loans, while for others it is an option.

Bhagwant Khuba, MP, after inaugurating the workshop, urged farmers to avail the benefits of the scheme. He said the previous schemes managed to reach only about one-fifth of the country’s farmers, and added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants each farmer to be covered under this scheme.

He said the benefits of the scheme include a uniform premium of 2 per cent for kharif crops, 1.5 per cent for rabi crops, and 5 per cent for horticulture, cash and annual crops.

The rest of the premium will be paid by the Union government, even if it is beyond 90 per cent.

Those who take Kisan Credit Cards are automatically covered as their contributions are deducted while releasing the loan. Other farmers will have to buy insurance by paying premium separately. He said this would provide farmers with much-needed security, with the rising prices of inputs such as seed and fertiliser, and the unstable prices of farm produce.

He said the previous UPA government had restricted the amount of premium to be paid by the government, which resulted in lower compensations. With this cap removed, farmers stand to be fully compensated for their losses, he said.

As the MP reeled off on the NDA government’s “pro-farmer measures”, Veerabhushan Nandagave, a Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha leader, objected and said the so-called benefits were not reaching the beneficiaries. Countering the MP’s claim that the MUDRA bank scheme had benefited over 10,000 persons in Bidar district alone, he said bankers were not even entertaining applications by many deserving youths.

However, the MP responded by saying the scheme was one of the most successful schemes of the government, and called the criticism “not valid”.

The University of Agriculture Sciences, Raichur, the Department of Agriculture and Reliance Foundation had jointly organised the workshop.

Source - thehindu.com