Under fire from the Opposition and farmers’ organisations for not ensuring transparency in implementation of the ‘Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana’, Haryana Government on Sunday claimed the selection of insurance companies for implementation of the scheme had been done in a completely transparent and fair manner.
The bids were invited from the insurance companies through the e-tendering system. Only those insurance companies empanelled by the Government of India, were eligible to participate in the bidding process, said a spokesman of the Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department.
He said the premium payable to the insurance companies in Haryana was one of the lowest in the country. Therefore, there was no question of favouring any insurance company by the State Government, he added.
Under the Yojana, the maximum premium payable by the farmer is only two per cent of sum insured in case of Kharif crops, 1.5 per cent in case of Rabi crops and five per cent in case of commercial and horticulture crops. This is the lowest premium among all crop insurance schemes implemented in the country. The remaining premium would be paid by the State Government and Central Government as subsidy. Besides, the State Government has also decided to take only two per cent premium from farmers for cotton crop and the remaining three per cent of the farmer share would be paid by the State Government over and above its normal share, said the spokesman.
He said that the sum insured in respect of various crops has been increased under the Fasal Bima Yojana and made equal to the amount of crop loan. In the earlier schemes, the premium payable by the farmer was quite high and, therefore, the sum insured was reduced to keep the premium low.
The scheme covers the damage caused to the crops by inundation apart from hailstorm and post harvest losses to crops by unseasonal rains for the first time, said the spokesman adding that the scheme is being implemented on ‘area approach’ with ‘village’ as the insurance unit.