Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is believed to have assured a group of farmers that the government will examine their demand for a review of the flagship crop insurance scheme – PMFBY, and allow more power to States to decide schemes related to agriculture.
Continuing his weekly meeting with farmer leaders, Chouhan on Monday met a group of farmer leaders under Kisan Mahapanchayat.
However, the minister avoided the key demand of the farmers about the legal guarantee of the minimum support price (MSP), according to Rampal Jat, the national president of Kisan Mahapanchayat.
“I have met Kisan Mahapanchayat chief Rampal ji and representatives of his organisation from different states. We held a very positive discussion and we have deeply analysed several things. The issues of farmers that have come to light, some of them are related to the state governments and some to the Centre.”
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“I will make an attempt towards finding out a resolution to the issues, and to make sure how farmers move forward and the agriculture sector develops,” Chouhan told media after the meeting.
Jat told Hindu business line that the minister has created a positive hope among the farmers through his assurance to get the issues examined by officials and also personally agreeing with some of the demands made by Kisan Mahapanchayat. “He has sought time to get those things done which are possible. It will go a long way if he gets those done as government normally takes long period in decision making.”
He also said that the minister has been suggested to convene a meeting of state agriculture ministers to find out why the model draft APMC law has not been enacted by states, making purchase of crops at MSP mandatory within the State.
Jat also said that work should start to provide irrigation facilities to the entire cultivable land of the country, discrimination against crops like moong and chana on 100 per cent procurement policy and non-issuance of documents to PMFBY policy holders are among other major demands of the Kisan Mahapanchayat discussed during the meeting.
“The ‘Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana’ is still not voluntary for loanee farmers and it is voluntary only for non-loanee farmers. The receipt of premium recovery and insurance policy is not given to the farmers. Due to lack of transparency in crop cutting, farmers do not receive the claim amount even after the loss of crops. There is a need to make this scheme fair,” Kisan Mahapanchayat has said in its representation.
On September 24, Chouhan started a series of dialogues with farmers and farmers’ organizations.