Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Devendra Fadnavis in his maiden Budget presented before the state legislature on Thursday announced that the farmers in the state would be able to insure their crops by paying just Rs 1. Besides, the government has also decided to extend assistance to farmers from the State Disaster Relief Fund for crop loss in cases that do not meet the criteria of the crop insurance scheme.
Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bhima Yojana (PMFBY), the central government’s crop insurance scheme, allows farmers to insure their crops at a highly subsidised premium. As per PMFBY, farmers of non-horticulture crops pay just 2 per cent of the premium amount while the rest is picked up by the state and central government in equal amounts.
During the kharif season in the 2022-23 financial year, 96.61 lakh farmers had participated in the scheme wherein 57.64 lakh hectares of land was insured by paying a total premium of Rs 4,414.63 crore. Interim compensation claims of Rs 2,228.38 crore have been proposed for crop loss during the season.
In his Budget speech, Fadnavis declared that henceforth farmers would not have to pay the 2 per cent premium to insure their crops.
“There is a provision to pay two per cent of the insurance premium by the farmer in the Pradhan Mantri Crop Insurance Scheme of 2016 by the Central Government. The insurance premium for their share will be paid by the state government itself and now even this burden will not be placed on farmers. Farmers can register on the Pradhan Mantri Crop Insurance Yojana portal by paying a nominal fee of Re1. An annual outlay of Rs 3,312 crore will be made by the state government for this scheme,” he said.
Fadnavis’ announcement has come at a time when the state government is grappling with a farm scam pertaining to the Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS). The alleged scam has prompted the Centre to order a physical verification or ‘ground-truthing’ of all crops registered under the scheme. The Indian Express has reported how charlatans have used forged lease deeds to insure land with non-existent crops.
Ajit Navale, state head of the All India Kisan Sabha (the farm wing of the Communist Party) said that this announcement would not result in any windfall gains for farmers. “Without ensuring proper payment of compensation and that too on time all other schemes would not help farmers,” he said.
