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agriculture

the claims (approved and disbursed) crop loss. The institutions are short of not do the leg work. The entire blame
worth 1140 crore since the implemen- hands and are trying to create a eupho- falls on banks”, told a banker.
tation of PMFBY ( January, 2016) against ria among rural voters by distributing As per the operative guidelines of
the gross premium of 818 crore. The claims before the announcement of the Ministry of Agriculture, Government
claims settled for Kharif 2016-17 were final dates of general election and the of India, District Level Monitoring
234.16 crore and for Rabi 2016-17 were code of conduct. Committees have to be formed to
57.02 crore. The same for Kharif 2017- Haryana is divided into three clus- address the grievances of the farm-
18 was 781.05 crore and for Rabi 2017- ters; two clusters having seven districts ers. In order to resolve the local issues
18 was 68.68 crore. The officials added each and one having eight districts for of the farmers, Insurance companies
that most farmers in Haryana are credit the purpose of crop insurance. Three have been directed to appoint officials
linked and there are 33 lakh KCC (Kisan insurance companies Reliance Insur- in district headquarters. The companies
Credit Card) holders in the state and ance, ICICI Insurance and Bajaj Allianze committed to adhere to the guidelines
5.98 lakh farmers have been issued were initially assigned the task of crop but are yet to deliver.
claims. Only defaulters are out of loop insurance in the state under PMFBY. According to Guni Prakash,a farmer
of the PMFBY. After a plethora of complaints of rejec- from Jind and In-Charge of Bhartiya
Going by the facts provided by the tion of claims for cosmetic errors these Kisan Union (Haryana), the PMFBY has
state government officials, the insur- companies were replaced with Univer- made the things more complicated
ance companies stand to incur a loss of for farmers. “Prior to this scheme, the
about 322 cr during the four seasons farmers could approach the Deputy
(Kharif and Rabi 2016-17, Kharif and Farmers in all parts of Commissioner of the district for the
rabi 2017-18). It may seem unviable for Haryana lament that crop loss and he used to order special
a business outfit but can fetch long run girdawari. Individual farmers were also
dividends to the insurance provider. before the launch of compensated for the crop loss. PMFBY
A detailed investigation of the facts scheme no attention has incorporated banks and insurance
available with the state government companies who do not guide us. We
reveals that the highest amount of the is paid in creating are not informed about the process of
claims was provided in Sirsa district. awareness. The insurance and do not know whom to
Out of the total claims, this pre-domi- meet if we have queries. It is only during
nantly cotton growing district of Har- information travels run-up-to elections that some activity is
yana has allegedly received 200 cr of only with the word taking place in Haryana, post-election
insurance claims. A further scrutiny of the peasant would be back to square
the data unfolds that the average yield of mouth and its one”, he added.
of cotton was calculated to be 7 quintal Farmers in all parts of the state
per hectare for the purpose of insur- carriers are mostly lament that before the launch of
ance. This is far less than the actual av- the illiterate farmers scheme no attention is paid in creat-
erage yield of cotton in this region that ing awareness. The information trav-
remains close to 12 quintal per hectare. els only with the word of mouth and
As there were no weather vagaries and sal Sompo, Oriental Insurance and SBI carriers of information are mostly the
pest attacks during the period that is General Insurance. illiterate farmers. Their situation is
covered under the PMFBY, moreover The bankers in the state apprised like the phrase ‘out of the fire into the
the cotton production and market ar- that were already over-burdened with frying pan’ because earlier they were
rivals also remained consistent, the the umpteen schemes of the centre and incurring losses but neither paying
claims of the state government seem state government and crop insurance is premium nor getting insurance cover.
erroneous. This appallingly low yield like a last straw in camel’s back. Now the premium is an extra burden
may create a benchmark yield of cotton “Insurance is not our cup of tea. In because the probability of getting claim
and any yield higher than this will not agriculture lending, the scale of finance is bleak.
be accepted for claim. is decided as per the crop and it is dif-
The sources close to Tehelka revealed ferent for different crops. Farmers, at Ground Realities of PMFBY
that the state government expedited times seek loan for one crop and grow 1. Group Insurance and not an individ-
the distribution of insurance claims some other crop. They may also grow a ual cover.
sensing the growing unrest of farmers combination of crops but premium is 2. Claim criterion is Gram Panchayat.
and the political compulsion of gen- deducted for the crop for which loan 3. Minimum 35 per cent loss is must.
eral elections. There is no uniformity in was taken. The details required for crop 4. Farmers are not provided any docu-
the distribution of claims and farmers insurance are more inclusive than the ment. They do not know how much
have been reimbursed for only 2016-17 crop loan. The insurance companies do acreage and which crop is insured in

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