‘Crop insurance scheme a scam’

Times of India: Raipur: Saturday, 19 September 2015.

Describing Weather-Based Crop Insurance (WBCIS) as a major scam, a veteran whistleblower in Chhattisgarh on Thursday demanded a high-level probe. Alleging that Raman Singh government blindly accepted private insurance companies' term sheets, with clauses heavily loaded in their favour, leading to losses to both the farmers as well as state exchequer. Armed with documents collected through Right to Information Act (RTI), veteran activist Rama Shankar Gupta told media, "As per guidelines issued by Centre and Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), crops have to be insured on the basis of declaration from farmers about total sowing area. However, insurance has been done on the basis of total land area as mentioned in Kisan credit card."

Gupta said initially state government had prepared a term sheet for the scheme, but later a state-level committee approved another term sheet prepared and submitted by private insurance companies. He said as per state's announcement, maximum compensation for crop loss would be Rs 20,000 for paddy and Rs 15,000 for other crops per hectare.

"In most cases, Rs 4,000 was debited from farmer's account and an equal amount was contributed by the state government for insuring crops in an area of 10-acre," he said adding that the issue of paddy and other crops were not taken into consideration. "Even in cases where the farmers have not sworn paddy in total area, premium was calculated on the basis of total area," he claimed.

Pointing out that insurance companies have mopped up Rs 336 crore in Chhattisgarh alone, Gupta said similar schemes were being implemented in 13 other states as well. While state government carried out a publicity campaign about this scheme, Gupta said, these companies were supposed to set up weather stations at a distance of every 10km but this was not done. "Thus, the daily weather data, being provided by insurance companies to agriculture department lacked credibility," he added.

Gupta said he was contemplating to move the high court, seeking a CBI probe or a court monitored SIT probe. Former legislator Virendra Pandey, who was present, said the conditions in the term sheet, accepted by state government, was something akin to 'rain betting' and not a crop insurance scheme in its true spirit.