Cooperative leaders of the country have applauded the Cabinet giving a nod of approval for the new crop insurance scheme announced Wednesday and front-paged by Indian Cooperative titled “Cabinet approves New Crop Insurance Scheme”.
Hailing the announcement, the largest farmers’ cooperative IFFCO’s MD Dr U S Awasthi said it is going to benefit the farmers of the country. But he also used the occasion to repeat his demand for DBT in fertilizer. Awasthi had earlier presented his case in pre-budget meeting with Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
Dr. U S Awasthi’s tweet read “#IFFCO welcomes Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana 4 benefit of #farmers. Hope for #DBT in fertilisers. “
Similarly, Sahakar Bharati Chief Patron Satish Marathe also lauded the announcement but wondered if the Govt could come out with appropriate New Insurance Schemes for the Dairy and Fisheries Sectors too.
In his FB wall Marathe writes “Sahakar Bharati congratulates Sh Radha Mohan Singh ji, Union Agri & CoOp Minister and whole heartedly welcomes the New Insurance Scheme – Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, launched by the Union Govt on the occasion of Makar Sankranti.
The New Scheme which has very low premium rates and which includes beneficial aspects of the previous schemes will go a long way in mitigating the hardships faced by the agriculturalists due to vagaries of weather so rampant due to climate change in recent times.
Sahakar Bharati will encourage farmers to take insurance cover under the New Scheme and also appeals to all PACs, DCCs & SCBs to popularize the scheme through their Branches and Field Officers.
Sahakar Bharati also requests the Govt to come out with appropriate New Insurance Schemes for the Dairy and Fisheries Sectors.”
Billed as a path-breaking scheme with very low premium amount, the new crop insurance scheme will enable individual small farmers to get full compensation in case of crop damage, commented several media reports on the issue.
The low premium would make even small and marginal farmers to join the scheme, commented experts Indian Cooperative talked to.
The scheme will be implemented from Kharif crop season, 2016. The insurance premium for Kharif crop is just 2 percent and for Rabi 1.5 per cent.