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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Govt admits PM crop scheme lapses

Govt admits PM crop scheme lapses

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published Published on Jul 20, 2017   modified Modified on Jul 20, 2017
-The Telegraph

New Delhi: The government today conceded there were shortcomings in the Prime Minister Crop Insurance scheme and asked states to set up their own insurance companies to prevent "malpractices" by private firms.

Speaking during a five-hour debate on the agrarian crisis in the Lok Sabha late on Wednesday night, agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh said: "There are shortcomings in the implementation although the modified scheme is very good. We are learning from experience and trying to address the problems."

He added: "We have asked the states to set up their insurance companies. Punjab and Gujarat have decided to have their own companies. Other states should follow suit. If the states are keen to protect the farmers from malpractices by private companies, they should take this step immediately."

Singh, however, contested the Opposition's allegation that private companies had made windfall profits through the crop insurance scheme. "There are complaints from Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan. But we are looking into it and won't spare anybody," he said.

Many MPs, including the Congress's Jyotiraditya Scindia and Deepender Hooda, had alleged objectionable profiteering by private insurance companies. Scindia said the companies made a profit of Rs 6,000 in 2016. Hooda said that while the premium collected by the companies in Haryana alone last year was over Rs 178 crore, the disbursal was less than Rs 2 crore.

Minister Singh wondered from where the figures had been obtained and said insurance companies could disburse claims only in the case of calamities and so calculating profit and loss in that manner was erroneous.

He said while companies disbursed Rs 3,548 crore after collecting Rs 3,560 crore in 2014-15 and Rs 4,071 crore after collecting Rs 3,076 crore in 2015-16, which witnessed many calamities, the claim in 2016-17 would also be around 65 per cent of the collection.

The Congress staged a walkout, dissatisfied with the minister's answers.

Singh blamed the "poor policies" of the previous UPA governments for the plight of the farmers. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was fully committed to serve the poor and the farmers and no government had ever invested as much in the rural sector as the current regime.

Singh also picked loopholes in the green revolution ushered in by Indira Gandhi, arguing that the entire focus was on increasing production without considering its ill-effects and the need for supporting infrastructure. He said the green revolution also contributed to regional imbalance.

Singh sought to demolish the charge that Modi had gone back on his word by asserting that the Prime Minister never promised to give input cost plus 50 per cent profit on farm yields.

"There is a problem of understanding. The Prime Minister initially promised to increase the profit by 50 per cent and later talked of doubling the income by 2022. We have taken several steps to increase the farmers' income and are fully committed to double it within the scheduled time frame," Singh said.

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The Telegraph, 19 July, 2017, https://www.telegraphindia.com/1170720/jsp/nation/story_162924.jsp#.WXAALIeob7k.twitter


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