‘Retrograde, anti-farmer step’: Chidambaram on Centre’s move to make crop insurance voluntary

“What is required is to bring more cropped area under crop insurance. The new decisions will reduce the coverage putting millions of farmers at risk,” the former finance minister wrote on Twitter. “Nothing can be more anti-farmer than the central government’s decision to reduce its contribution to the Crop Insurance Scheme,” he added.

Nothing can be more anti-farmer than the central government’s decision to reduce its contribution to the Crop Insurance Scheme.

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) February 20, 2020

What is required is to bring more cropped area under crop insurance. The new decisions will reduce the coverage putting millions of farmers at risk.

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) February 20, 2020

Another example of the BJP government’s shortsightedness and misplaced priorities.

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) February 20, 2020

Revamping the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS), the Centre increased premium subsidy to 90 per cent for states in the Northeast from existing sharing pattern of 50:50; and provisioning of at least 3 per cent of total allocation of the scheme for administrative expenses.

Briefing the media on the Cabinet decisions, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar said, “Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana has been made voluntary. Till now, crop insurance was mandatory for loanee [borrower] farmers, whose number has been about 58 per cent. The percentage of non-loanee farmers was around 42, which was only 5 per cent before 2015. Some of the states, farmers and farmers’ organisations felt that the scheme should be made voluntary. Therefore, the Union Cabinet today decided to make it voluntary.”