Haryana: Engage public sector firm, says farmers’ body

Haryana: Farmers and All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) office bearers have taken a strong stance against the state’s decision to once again not provide insurance coverage for kharif crops under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) in seven districts.

Had the same problem a year ago.

These farmers were not covered by any insurance provider even the previous year. A large number of farmers lost out on the incentive because the state government intervened too late. The farmers are now at the mercy of God once more this year. President of AIKS state, Master Balbir.

The administration has come under fire from the AIKS, which claims that the farmers are once again at the mercy of God. It stated that insurance should be supplied by the government via a public sector organization.

AIKS office-bearers voiced their displeasure to the government at a meeting held here today over the lack of crop insurance coverage for farmers in those districts.

It’s unexpected that farmers in the districts of Mahendragarh, Gurugram, Hisar, Jind, Sonepat, Karnal, and Ambala won’t have insurance coverage for their kharif crops going forward. According to Master Balbir, the state president of AIKS, “even last year, no company had offered insurance cover to these farmers, while the state government stepped in too late and many farmers were deprived of the benefit.”

According to official statistics, private companies made enormous profits during the first two years of the PMFBY (2016–17 and 2017–18), but they are now refusing to offer insurance against crop loss, according to Inderjit Singh, vice-president of AIKS.

He criticized the PMFBY for allowing private companies to operate freely and for not enforcing any accountability or transparency standards. Additionally, he charged that the bureaucracy was working closely with private companies. He continued, “They wanted the crop insurance scheme to be administered exclusively by public sector companies for precisely these reasons.”

Farmer Surender Kumar added that if there was no insurance coverage and the crops were damaged by a natural disaster or for any other reason, the growers would be left with enormous losses.