Expand farm insurance scheme to all farmers and for all crops, PIL in Madras HC says

CHENNAI: Exposing the hollowness and limited use of the National Crop Insurance Scheme (NCIS) in its current form, a PIL filed in the Madras high court has said the NCIS is applicable only for 20 crop varieties and an affected farmer can claim the insurance benefit only if an entire firkha of five villages are hit by a specified natural calamity.
School teacher-turned MLA for three terms M Appavu, 63, who filed the PIL, said his simple prayer was to make the crop insurance scheme available to all agriculturalists, covering all crops in Tamil Nadu.“Such a modification will benefit farmers all across India,” he told TOI on Monday.
The first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice T S Sivagnanam, before which the PIL came up for admission on Monday, issued notices to state and central governments, and posted the matter to October 6 for further hearing.
According to the scheme, farmers in notified areas alone, that too those who cultivate the notified crops alone, are eligible to become a beneficiary in case of loss. The scheme does not apply for farmers who suffer individual losses, Appavu said, adding that only in case of crop losses in the revenue firkha of five villages could these beneficiaries avail themselves of the insurance benefits.
Fifty per cent of insurance premium is paid by farmers, while the rest is given by the government. In case of compensation for losses, it is shared equally by state and central governments.
Because of its faulty conception, the scheme is not working well, Appavu said, adding that the number of beneficiaries had been witnessing a steady fall since 2008-09, when 5.5 lakh farmers benefited. In 2009-10, the number fell to 1.51 lakh, and in 2010-11 it came down to just 36,000. In 2011-12, it was 97,00, he said.
The data clearly demonstrated that the scheme of farm insurance is not well received by farmers, the PIL said. In the 15-year period between 1995 and 2010 nearly 2.57 lakh farmers had committed suicide, and in 2001 alone 16,415 farmers committed suicide all across in India. It included 3,536 from Maharashtra, 2,505 from Karnataka, 1,509 from Andhra Pradesh, 1,035 from Kerala and 965 from Tamil Nadu, Appavu said in the PIL.
Citing studies by Tata Institute of Social Science and Indira Gandhi Institute of Development, he said farm losses are due to various factors such as increase in cost of fertilizers, digging wells, diesel, wages, and non-funding for farm activities and failure to guide farmers by agriculture departments. He said 86.5% of farmers’ suicides was due to debt.
Under the circumstances, the role of crop insurance was critical, he said, and wanted the government to spread the scheme in such a ways as to cover all farmers cultivating all crops all across the country.
This is Appavu’s second round of litigation. During the first PIL proceedings state government told the court that it had decided to implement the insurance scheme on a pilot basis in the state and that it would implement it after getting administrative approval from central government. As it was not implemented, contempt of court proceedings were initiated by Appavu.
Now, in view of the fact that the matter was pending before the central government, he impleaded the Centre as a party and filed the present PIL.