Weak monsoon: Haryana seeks more allocation under RKVY, bonus

Amid fear of weak monsoon, Haryana government has sought from the Centre an additional allocation of Rs 160.96 crore under RKVY, Rs 100 crore compensation for deepening tubewells and Rs 300 per quintal as bonus on paddy.
Haryana government has prepared a comprehensive contingency plan for Kharif 2014 in view of the forecast of weak monsoon, said an official release here.
Hrayana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the plan has been formulated in consultation with CCS Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar and it has been forwarded to the field staff.
He said the state government has urged the Central government that an additional allocation of Rs 160.96 crore including Rs 50.61 crore for seed distribution plus Rs 100 crore for UGPL plus Rs 10 crore for gypsum, should be made under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) during current financial year.

He said a special allocation of Rs 100 crore should also be made for providing compensation to farmers to meet expenditure to be incurred on deepening of tube-wells due to decline in underground water table.
Hooda further said that Central Government should immediately announce bonus of at least Rs 300 per quintal on Minimum Support Price (MSP) of paddy and Rs 100 per quintal on MSP of other Kharif crops to motivate and compensate the farmers for additional expenditure incurred by them on sustaining their crops by using alternate means of irrigation.

Hooda said consumption of diesel increases due to drought conditions.

"The total number of diesel pump sets used for irrigation being 2,20,000 units, an additional expenditure of Rs 600 crore due to increased use of diesel by operating diesel pump sets till the end of September, 2014 needs to be compensated," he said.
Also, the scope of Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS) should be increased to cover all blocks of the state. The premium under (WBCIS) payable by farmers should be reduced considerably.