Crop insurance scheme a hot issue

Deepender Deswal

The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), which is aimed at providing a safety cover to farmers against crop losses, is turning out to be a hot political issue in Haryana, which is a leading agriculture state in the country. 

The Congress, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have described the scheme as a 'loot' of farmers soon after the information procured under the Right to Information Act (RTI) brought forth the fact that the insurance companies are raking in the 'moolah' under the yojana.  

The reply to an RTI application filed by Panipat-based activist PP Kapur revealed that the insurance firms have earned a gross profit of Rs 15,792 crore in two years of the implementation of the scheme in the country. In Haryana, the Union Agriculture Ministry data reveals that the insurance companies' profit margin was Rs 166.83 crore. 

The data are set to create a storm in the political arena, as the Assembly elections in Haryana are due later next year. As the electorate in the state are directly or indirectly associated with agriculture, the PMFBY is a potential issue that can influence the outcome of the next elections. The incidents of death of farmers are shocking for the peasantry.

Financial duress coupled with crop failure and a rising debt forced Ram Kumar, a resident of Pabra village of Hisar, to commit suicide on October 6. At Chahar Kalan village in Bhiwani, farmer Randhir Singh died of heart failure on September 2, a day after he was jailed in a cheque bounce case for default in payment of farm loan. He too had lost the cotton crop while the debt rose. Another farmer Surjit Singh, a resident of Bandh village in Panipat district, died due to a heart attack this month after his crops suffered damage. However, the reported suicide by Prakash Punia, a resident of Khudan village in Jhajjar district, on November 16 after he lost his crop due to heavy rains evoked strong reaction from farmers and political parties.

Opposition party politicians have launched a diatribe against the BJP over the crop insurance scheme. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal led the frontal attack on the BJP, demanding the altogether scrapping of the scheme that he called a big scam. Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda raised the issue in the election-bound Madhya Pradesh and termed the scheme as anti-farmers at a press conference in Bhopal. He also accused the government of a committing a scam in the name of the crop insurance scheme. 

INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala has also rued the 'inadequate and unjust nature" of the PMFBY. He has alleged that farmers are made to run from pillar to post for insurance claims and then for inadequate compensation. Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala has also exposed several chinks in the scheme during public meetings in Hisar. 

Ram Kanwar, a farmer activist, says that state government had planned to float its own insurance company two years ago. "But the plan was shelved for unknown reasons, exposing the intentions of the authorities concerned," he says. 

Kanwar says if the insurance company has profits in one year, the insurance premium can be brought down the next year. He alleges the private insurance companies have increased the premium even after making massive profits the previous year. 

Ved Pal Sheera, a professor at Haryana School of Business in Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, says that during a discussion on the crop insurance, it emerged that farmers lacked general awareness about it. He adds that though it's a necessary step, the visible outcome of the PMFBY has indicated that the insurance companies are cornering exorbitant profits in the absence of competition.