Indian sugar mills association

After protests by cane farmers in UP, Govt says premium now voluntary

Date:	13 Jun 2017

Source:	The Times of India

Reporter:	Harveer Dabas

News ID:	12595

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BIJNOR: Bowing to pressure from UP's sugarcane farmers, the government has now said that farmers will not have to pay premium for their crop under the Prime Minister's Crop Insurance Scheme and that it will henceforth be a "voluntary exercise".

Various protests against crop premium were held in Bijnor recently. Earlier, a 2% premium was deducted on the loan taken by farmers compulsorily under the insurance scheme. Farmers were told that this amount would go towards compensation for them in case more than 50% of their crop got destroyed. Farmers, however, contended that the sugarcane crop never gets destroyed on such a large scale and that damage to the sturdy crop, even in a very bad scenario, doesn't exceed 25-30%.

Deputy director (agriculture) Jaspal Singh said, "Farmers were opposing the scheme. We had written a letter in this regard to the agriculture secretary. Now the crop insurance scheme has been made voluntary for sugarcane farmers. A notification is set to be released soon. We have asked the lead district manager that no bank should cut the premium from the credit card of the sugarcane farmers without their consent. If any farmer wants to avail the benefit of the scheme, he can contact the respective bank."

Confirming the development, lead bank officer Ajay Kumar Singh said, "Last year, an amount of Rs 12.15 crore was deducted as the premium from farmers in Bijnor alone under this scheme."

The central government had launched the ambitious crop insurance scheme that promised lowest premiums for farmers in January last year. Sugarcane framers who were kept out of the scheme's ambit nationally were included in the scheme in UP.

It immediately faced stiff opposition from cane farmers in UP who declared it an "agricultural tax". Farmers in several parts of UP, especially cane-growing western parts, staged dharnas and held road blockades. They also threatened to lock the doors of banks if the premium was deducted without their consent.

Bijnor district president of Bhartiya Kisan Union, Digambar Singh, said, "There are over 2 lakh sugarcane farmers in Bijnor, the second largest cane-growing district in the state. During the kharif season last year, banks deducted an amount of Rs 12.15 crore as premium under the scheme just in Bijnor district. The scheme was not beneficial for sugarcane farmers as their crop is not damaged so much during natural disasters. And the scheme allows compensation only if the damage is more than 50%. The scheme was being run to benefit insurance companies."

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