Jubilee Post News & Views
Preeti Singh
Once again the farmer in several states in the country is in shock as their crops have been damaged, bringing trouble for them.
In the Bharatpur district of Rajasthan four farmers died due to shock/heart attack and two committed suicide due the loss to crop due to heavy rains and hailstorm. Such incident raises many question and in a country where the government is running a Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna. After all why aren’t farmers confident upon such schemes that despite losses the scheme will help them financially.
The fear among farmers is not baseless. Government are running crop insurance schemes since many years but have not been able to compensate the farmers incurring losses aptly. A recently RTI application has revealed that Rs 3000 crore of crop damage under the crop insurance schemes is pending as it has not reached the farmers while the guidelines in the scheme say the compensation should reach the farmer in two months.
In the past few days rains lashed major parts of north Indian with hailstorm in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Delhi which was merely a surprising climatic condition but for the farmers who were on their fields it turned out to be a major loss in terms of crop loss. They were waiting for good harvest when rains played spoilsport.
Crop damage has been a frequent phenomenon in the country which has troubled farmers the most. With climate change making its impact the issue of crop loss has turned even bigger. usually winters are over by the end of February in north India but this year its still bit cold in the region. Earlier the weather forecast didn’t reached farmers and now it is difficult to get weather forecast even for the experts. In both the conditions the loss is of farmers.
During winters it is Rabi crop in north India which includes wheat, mustard sesame, pulses are sown and are harvested in spring season. When rains came in the region the crops were either ready for harvest or were to be taken to the market. IN both the conditions the crop was not secure and what happened was the worst of the apprehension
loss for the farmer in crores.
According to an estimate in north India farmers lost the yield to the tune of Rs 255 crore. And this loss was seen in 35 districts affecting 6.5 lakh farmers. The district administration has said that a report on the crop loss has been sent to the state government and as interim relief the administration has released Rs 66 crore but this amount is not enough. Now it has to be seen how much the crop insurance scheme helps farmers.
As per the estimates for Rajasthan the loss occurred in 19 districts where lakhs of acres of land had the yield ready for harvest but mustard, wheat, coriander and vegetables etc got damaged. In Rajasthan the loss of mustard is estimated to be 10% of the total estimated yield. It is said that four farmers died due to shock and heart attack owing to the losses.
Similar conditions were in Punjab. Here also farmers incurred losses. Thousands of acr of wheat crop was damaged and a report has been sent to the state government. But the government is yet to ascertain the situation. The farmer associations have demanded that since 30% of crop and 70% of vegetables were lost hence the damage compensation should be given according to the losses.
The matter is getting serious gradually. The matter was raised in parliament on March 17. MP from Nagaur constituency Hanuman Beniwal had raised the issue.
Questions are being raised on crop insurance scheme and farmers have raised doubts upon its correct implementation along with agriculture experts. The experts have also expressed concern.
Under the Prime Minister Fasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY) discrepancy has been noticed in distribution of compensation to farmers and that only 50% of the amount is being distributed in 30 to 45 districts.
According to the details in the RTI filed by The Wire last year, over 5000 crore of compensation amount for the farmers is pending distribution, though the time for distribution has lapsed long back. The information had come to fore in a presentation during the conference of agriculture minister of states in July.
According to the information received in December 2018, farmers were supposed to get Rs 14813 for the loss in Kharif crops out of which till July on Rs 9799 were given. This despite the rules say the amount should be distributed in two months time. This means this amount should have been distributed by February 2019.
How will condition of farmers improve like this
Since long talks have been going on how to improve the condition of farmers but their condition remains nearly unchanged. The government has been accused of doing nothing as if something had been done the farmers would not have committed suicide. The experts believe that schemes do not improve condition of farmers. They said the government is reducing investment in agriculture and in such a situation how can condition of farmers change.
It may be noted that in 2011-12 the investment was 18.2 of the GDP that came to 13.8 in 2016-17. Significantly in 1980 it was 43%. So the experts say if investment is being reduced how can condition of farmers improve?
