Insurance company bowed down, farmers of Barmer will get record 540 crore claims so far, 229 crore additional approved

Table of Contents

Union Agriculture Minister Kailash Choudhary kept the shame of Barmer, decision on the issue of claim in the meeting of Ministry of Finance, Agriculture, Insurance Company and State officials

The ongoing tussle between the Insurance Company, the Ministry of Agriculture and the State Government over the crop insurance claims of the farmers has come to an end. It has happened for the first time that a meeting of officials of Rajasthan Agriculture Department and Agriculture Insurance Company with the Ministry of Agriculture and Finance of the Center was held at Delhi's Ministry of Agriculture building on the issue of Kharif Crop Insurance Claim 2021 of Barmer. The meeting was presided over by Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar. Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Kailash Chowdhary, officials of Ministry of Finance, AIC and State Agriculture Department were present in the meeting. Ultimately, under the pressure of the Ministry of Agriculture, the insistence of the insurance company did not work. After discussing each point in the meeting, the insurance company was instructed to increase the claim to Rs 229 crore. For this, taking a final decision on the acceptance of the claim of Rs 540 crore on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture, the insurance company has been instructed to pay the claim within 7 days. PM Fasal Bima Yojana was implemented in 2014, after which this is the highest ever claim of Rs 540 crore.

The insurance company was adamant on giving 311 crore claims, started distribution despite rejecting the proposal, now reprimanded by the Ministry of Agriculture

» The company wanted only 25% to be claimed:

For Kharif 2021, Barmer was sown in 11.93 lakh hectares, which is about 80%. While the insurance company hid the facts of rain and did not give the correct figures. The company claimed that till August 15, 2021, there was not enough rain in the district, due to which less than 25 percent sowing has been done in 252 patwar mandals. In such a situation, the company will give only 25% claim. For this, the company used satellites from the second fortnight of August, while the satellite images of sowing till August 15 appeared after 25-30 days i.e. till the second fortnight of September. The reports of the Agriculture Department and the Insurance Company were found to be different. The company wanted to give a claim of only 311 crores. Appealed several times, Center and State rejected the appeals. Despite this, the company arbitrarily issued a claim of Rs 311 crore only. Whereas in the report of Agriculture Department, only 24 Patwar mandals have been found with less than 25% sowing.

» Now claims up to 40-60% will be available in 374 patwar mandals:

In 374 patwar mandals of Barmer district, the Agriculture Insurance Company will now have to pay claims up to 40-60%. More than 25% sowing has taken place in these patwar mandals. Such insurance company will have to pay the claim according to the survey report done on the basis of crop harvesting experiment. There are only 24 patwar mandals where farmers will get only 25% claims. Where less than 25 percent sowing has been done. For Kharif 2021, farmers of Barmer have got 11.33 lakh hectare crops insured. A total premium of Rs 411 crore has been given for this. In which the farmers paid a premium of 20.32 crores, the state 240.40 crores, the Center paid a premium of 148.5 crores. Now for the first time after 2018, claims are getting more than the premium. In 2018, a claim of Rs 439 crore was given.

» Decision on additional claim of 229 crores in high level meeting in Delhi, short payment in Kharif 2021 insurance claim

Ministry of Agriculture in New Delhi with the efforts of Union Minister Kailash Chaudhary to pacify the anger of angry farmers.

The meeting was called. Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Kailash Chowdhary, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, senior officials of the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, CEO of AIC, Rajasthan State Agriculture Commissioner Kanaram and officials of Insurance Company were present in the meeting. In this meeting, each and every point of incomplete claim settlement under Kharif 2021 in Barmer was discussed. After this, it was decided to release an amount of Rs 229 crore in addition to Rs 311 crore released by AIC company recently. After discussing the problems of the farmers under PM Fasal Bima Yojana, a request was also made to fix the minimum insurance payment amount like in Maharashtra. It has also been instructed in the meeting that the entire insurance payment amount of the farmers should be sent to the bank account only after integrating it. In such a situation, now the farmers of Barmer will get a claim of 540 crores.