Page 50 - 31MAR2019E

PMFBY

disappoints

Himachal

farmers

Ambiguities in the scheme, lack
of coordination among different
implementing agencies and
rejection of claims on frivolous
grounds has undermined
the initial enthusiasm of
agriculturists for the initiative,
writes komal amit gera

he farmers in Himachal in Narkanda at a height of 9000 feet, but it started weaning soon when
Pradesh, who battle every whereas it was initially decided to be the farmers realized that the scheme
year with hail storms, cloud installed at a height of 6500 feet. As a was launched without the necessary
bursts, excess and deficit result of change in location of monitor- groundwork and the insurance com-
T snow fall and other weather ing station, the weather conditions for panies were making most of the profit
vagaries, had high hopes from the Prad- the apple crop were normal and claims at the cost of farmers. The table given
han Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY), of all 400 farmers of the village were as below provides a clear picture about
which was rolled out in January 2016. disqualified. the lacklustre progress of PMFBY in
Three years down the line, they are dis- The united farmers did not lose Himachal Pradesh .
illusioned with the outcome. hope and lodged a complaint with the The number of farmers registered a
Ambiguities in the scheme, lack of concerned department in state govern- significant rise; roughly 78 per cent in
coordination among different imple- ment, but of no avail. “The officials gave 2017-18 over 2016-17 but in 2018-19, the
menting agencies (Insurance compa- us a cold shoulder and advised us to response has been tepid as the provi-
nies, banks and government officials) move the court, for which we have nei- sional figures reflect that there has been
and rejection of claims on frivolous ther resources nor time. So we decided a considerable decline in the number of
grounds has undermined the initial to desist from the insurance cover from farmers seeking insurance cover.
enthusiasm of the farmers for the next season so that we could at least Though it is mandatory for the loa-
scheme. The sources in the banking save our funds drained in premium”, nee farmers or the Kisan Credit Card
sector in the state have confirmed that told Chet Ram. Most of the farmers in (KCC) holders to avail the crop insur-
even the loanee farmers are reluc- Himachal Pradesh shared the same ance cover under PMFBY yet farmers
tant to seek insurance cover provided experience with the crop insurance have been taking exemption from this
under PMFBY as they get only a pit- scheme launched with much fanfare scheme. The bankers apprised that
tance as crop insurance . across India. the farmers are apathetic towards the
Like many other farmers, Chet Ram, During the year 2018-19, only one scheme and refuse to take insurance
a resident of Thanedar, a hinterland company, Agriculture Insurance Com- cover. Many of those who took crop
in district Shimla, got his apple crop pany of India was assigned the task of insurance initially, have withdrawn.
insured in 2016. The crop failed due to PMFBY in the state. Prior to this, SBI This is also indicative in the dwindling
bad weather but all the farmers of his General Insurance, IFFCO Tokio, ICICI number of farmers opting for PMFBY
village were proclaimed as not eligible General Insurance, Reliance Insurance (as shown in the table). The farmers
for the insurance cover by the con- also provided crop insurance cover to are disgruntled over the half-hearted
cerned insurance company. the farmers under PMFBY. implementation of the scheme.
The effected farmers approached Himachal Pradesh has approxi- Sources close to Tehelka apprised
the officials of the insurance company mately 8 lakh farmers out of that about that 62.62 lakh apple trees have been
in Chandigarh to understand the rea- 4.31 lakh are credit linked. The state covered in the state. The claims of
son for this denial. They learnt that the has 464254 orchardists in the state. only those farmers are settled whose
monitoring station having the instru- There was a great enthusiasm among claims are uploaded on the bank portal.
ment to record weather was installed farmers when PMFBY was launched Uploading data is a tedious task be-

Tehelka / 31 march 2019 50 www.Tehelka.com