Haryana to provide crop insurance to farmers

CHANDIGARH: The Haryana government has authorised a share capital of Rs 1,500 crore to provide crop insurance to farmers on a block wise and crop wise basis covering initially four crops, bajra, aahar, cotton and maize.
The promoters of the initiative are General Insurance Corporation (GIC), the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), National Insurance, New India Assurance, Oriental Insurance and United India Insurance.It is in assoc i a t i o n with the Agriculture Insurance Company of India Ltd. Nabard, member of the cons ulting committee, will monitor t h e scheme at the state level, but will not play any role in the operations, says A P Dey, general manager of Nabard. The principal sum is split between Nabard with 30 per cent; General Insurance Corporation (GIC) with 35 per cent and the rest split among the four subsidiaries.
"The scheme has a paid up capital of Rs 200 crore," says Dey. Termed as the National Agriculture Insurance Scheme, it has been implemented in Haryana from this kharif season.
Says Rajiv Arora, director of Haryana department of agriculture: "The scheme will be on block wise and crop wise unlike the normal procedure of segregation on the basis of villages." He said each crop will have a definite area of operation like for cotton, six districts have been selected, Hisar, Fatehabad, Sirsa, Bhiwani, Rothak and Jind.
Likewise, for bajra 13 districts have been selected while for aahar and maize four districts will come under crop insurance scheme. Punjab has ruled out implementation of the scheme, says Dey. He said the seasoning discipline is the main aspect and importance has been given to bajra, which has been implemented in 13 out of 19 districts in Haryana.
Earlier, it was decided that it will move away from the main crops - paddy and wheat as both Haryana and Punjab are wheat baskets and rice baskets of India and have assured irrigation facilities. Plus, it has become unmanageable for the states to handle, says Arora.But the question that arises is in case of failure, how will the settlement of claims be made? As indemnity the state will pay 90 per cent for aahar, 80 per cent for maize and bajra while it is 60 per cent for cotton.
For compensation, the average crop yield during the past five years and damage during the particular crop year will be taken into consideration and later the indemnity is decided, says Dey.