Bihar farmers can apply for crop insurance scheme till Aug 31

The Centre today extended the deadline for farmers in Bihar to apply for crop insurance scheme till August 31.
"Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Radha Mohan Singh has approved to extend the cut-off date for applying for Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojna till 31st August, 2016 for Bihar," an official statement said.
The farmers can apply for the scheme and Banks can take the premium under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojna in Bihar up to extended date, it added.
Earlier this week, the Bihar government agreed to implement the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana on an experimental basis in the kharif season after a slugfest over name of this scheme.

"The state government has decided to implement the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) in the state keeping in mind the sentiments of cooperative federalism," Bihar Cooperative Minister Alok Kumar Mehta had said.
The last date for implementation of the scheme is August 15, Mehta had said.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had recently said that the scheme should have been named 'PM-CM farmer insurance scheme' or 'Kendra-Rajya Fasal Bima Yojana' instead of being named exclusively after the Prime Minister as both the Centre and states have to bear the financial burden.
To provide financial support to farmers suffering crop loss arising out of unforeseen events, a new scheme Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana has been approved for implementation in all States/Union Territories from Kharif 2016 season.

A budget provision of Rs 5,501.15 crore has been made for the scheme during 2016-17.