Sir — This refers to the editorials, “Entrepreneurs’ day out” (January 18) and “Insuring India’s farmers” (January 15). The basic objective of the ‘Start-up India, Stand Up India’ initiative by the Union Government is to encourage entrepreneurs to take risk. Interestingly, the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana scheme, that was recently announced, too deals with the problem of risk; though its focus is on agriculture.
The PMFBY has been lauded for its attempt to strengthen, streamline and enlarge the scope of coverage of the existing schemes. It also extends insurance cover to the farmers. However, there is always scope for doing more in a chronically risk-prone zone like farming.
With necessary impetus in place under the Start-up India, Stand Up India scheme, it will not be inappropriate to expect some problem-solving entrepreneur to discover ways and means to further reduce the element of risk inherent in the farm sector.