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Reap crop insurance benefit: PM Modi

Last Updated 27 February 2016, 20:13 IST

The Centre will not hesitate to spend for the welfare of farmers, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as he set out to explain details of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana at a farmers’ convention in Belagavi on Saturday.

Modi said the scheme has been brought into effect after rectifying shortcomings in the earlier version and appealed to farmers to avail of its benefits.

Addressing the convention organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party at the Angadi Institute of Technology and Management, Modi said farmers who are not able to cultivate lands due to dry spells during the sowing season would also get insurance cover.

“Earlier, farmers had no faith in crop insurance schemes and hence only 20% of them opted for them. Now, we want to ensure 50% of the farmers avail the insurance,” said Modi.

“The crop insurance scheme was first implemented during then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s tenure. After successive governments changed its provisions, farmers began to shy away from the scheme. Due to high premium, only 20% of the farmers have opted for the insurance. Shortcomings in the scheme have been rectified after talks with farmers and experts and sowing season-wise premium has also been fixed,” he said.

Farmers who suffer crop losses within 14 days of harvesting their crops due to natural calamities like rains and hailstorms would also get the benefit of the insurance.

Every individual farmer could get the claims irrespective of the losses or crop yield in their neighbourhood, he added.

“We want to ensure that the money meant for farmers goes directly to them through Jan Dhan accounts. Our track record says that farmers trust our government. We want to transform lives of the poor and villages,” Modi stated.

Modi said that the Rs 1,540 crore the Centre had released as compensation to farmers who suffered losses during the kharif season in Karnataka, was not credited to their accounts till the Union government applied pressure.

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(Published 27 February 2016, 20:13 IST)

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