New crop insurance scheme on anvil: Agri minister

Government today said it will soon come out with a new crop insurance scheme in which farmers will have to pay lower premium and remove anomalies in claim settlement.

Replying to a discussion in the Lok Sabha on the drought situation, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said nine states, including Maharashtra, Telangana, Odisha and Jharkhand, have been affected but the government had put in place contingency plans which has limited its impact.

He also said the Government will set up a Committee to look into the revamp of Minimum Support Price (MSP).

Singh also vowed to create a national market for agricultural produce by May 2017, and provide soil health card to every farmer by March 2017.

"Memorandums which have come from nine states mention that 207 districts are affected by drought. When the drought started, we had provided funds to the states. Because of the contingency plan that we had put in place, the impact on productivity has been less as compared to what it should have been," Singh said.

Drawing parallels between the drought situation in India in 1965, he said two crop seasons were affected then and now and inflation shot up and the weather conditions were similar to this year. Government took a number of steps to contain its impact, including subsidy on diesel and seeds, he added.

Though the debate was initiated by Congress member Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday, the main opposition party did not participate in the discussion today after its members and those of the Trinamool Congress walked out of the House to protest some "objectionable" remarks by a BJP member against Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Scindia.

Attacking the UPA government for bringing amendments to the Crop Insurance Scheme, he alleged that the scheme was amended to benefit corporates and not the farmers.

"Ever after 18 months, I am unable to understand whether the amended scheme was for the benefit of farmers or corporates... We have completed the review and will streamline the scheme. We will very soon come out with a new crop insurance scheme removing anomalies in premium and claim settlement," Singh said. The present scheme covers 70 crops.