Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh met Bihar cooperative minister Alok Mehta on Monday in his office in Delhi in a bid to clear the logjam arising out of Nitish govt’s refusal to implement the Prime Minister’s ambitious Fasal Bima.
Tweeting about the meeting Singh said “Met #Bihar Cooperatives Minister Sh Alok Kumar Mehta in my office today reg implementation of #PMFBY in the state. I have again urged #Bihar govt to implement #PMFBY in the interest of farmers.”
Meanwhile, Nitish Kumar is talking to other state governments on the issue and is trying to enlist their support to build a strong opposition to Centre’s move on Fasal Bima.
The main fight is on its name as JD(U) general secretary K C Tyagi says “ what is wrong in Nitish Kumar asking for a change in the scheme’s title? If 50-per cent funding is to come from states (with the remaining 50 per cent from the Centre), why should it be called only ‘PM Fasal Bima Yojana’?” Let us call it PM-CM Fasal Yojana, he added.
Earlier, Singh addressed newpersons from 11 states via video conferencing in New Delhi and accused Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of using delaying tactics and wasting time in implementing the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna.
Apparently peeved at the prospects of the scheme not coming to fruition in his home state, the minister said the representatives of the state government had attended several rounds of meetings but never flagged any concern or objection. “I urge the chief minister to underline his concern for farmers with commitment and order the implementation of the scheme,” he said.
He further said high premium cannot be a disabling factor. Twenty three out of 29 states are moving fast. Nineteeen, of them including poor states like Odisha and West Bengal, have already adopted the scheme for farmers’ welfare.
Readers would recall that Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has extended the cut-off date for submission of insurance proposals to 10th August, 2016 by relaxing its provisions in the wake of receiving a number of requests from various States.
Speaking on the issue that insurance companies were demanding heavy premium, Singh said, for any government, the welfare of the people is paramount. As for the premium, it is decided through tender process by the state government, which should have taken adequate care in forming clusters with a high risk and low risk districts to reduce the premium, according to media reports.