VIJAYAWADA: As many as 15.15 lakh farmers got Rs 1,829.23 crore as crop insurance in the state. Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy noted that the government has taken the responsibility of supporting the farmers at all hard times and thus brought in the free crop insurance scheme, without levying the burden of premium on them.
The CM on Tuesday credited Rs 1,820.23 crore under YSR Free Crop Insurance scheme to the bank accounts of 15.15 lakh farmers who lost their crop during the 2020 kharif. He said that unlike the previous regime, under which forced a farmer was forced to pay his share and both state and central governments equally bore the premium amount to avail insurance, the YSRC government revamped the scheme and was paying the entire insurance premium on its own, ensuring that all the farmers who enrolled themselves on e-crop platform got their share of insurance directly with no middlemen.
The Chief Minister said that a total of Rs 3,788.25 crore was spent on the crop insurance scheme in the last 23 months, including the pending dues of Rs 715.84 crore left by the previous government. Besides these, the State government had spent Rs 83,000 crore towards farmer welfare in the last 23 months. For Rythu Bharosa alone, an amount of Rs 17,029 crore was spent.
The CM said that his government was working to safeguard the interests of the farmers. It established 10,778 Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBKs) and integrated them with village secretariats to benefit the farmers. He said that the loss in kharif 2020 was being compensated by the onset of next kharif, ensuring that no farmer suffers from losses. Taking transparency in governance to the next level, all these details, compensation for the crop loss etc, will be displayed at RBKs for social audit and those missing out from the list can get enrolled at RBK itself. Not just from seeds to marketing, RBKs also double up as crop purchase centres, he said.
The Chief Minister said that the state government had credited Rs 1,038 crore as input subsidy for those farmers who lost their crops in natural calamities, with no delays ensuring that every farmer gets compensated in the same season. He mentioned that besides these, the government had spent Rs 18,342 crore for procuring paddy and Rs 4761 crore towards purchasing other crops and support the farmers.
In order to provide free nine-hour electricity to farmers during daytime, Rs 17,430 crore was spent. He further mentioned that additionally, the government had cleared Rs 960 crore paddy procurement arrears and Rs 384 crore seed procurement arrears left by the previous government.
Jagan Mohan Reddy said thus: “Supporting the farmer community, the government set up agriculture advisory committees at village, zonal, district and state levels in connection with the RBKs to guide the farmers in crop planning. In order to benefit dairy farmers, the state signed an MoU with Amul to give a better price with an additional of Rs 5- Rs 15 per liter to the farmers. Taking another step forward for the farmers, the government is setting up multi-purpose centers under each RBK, with a total outlay of Rs 14,000 crore. Under the YSR Jala Kala scheme, the government had provided over two lakh bore wells at a cost of Rs 4,932 crore, besides providing motors to poor farmers. The government has kept every promise made during elections and strictly implemented the election manifesto.”
Ministers K Kannababu, Special Chief Secretary Poonam Malakondaiah, AP Agri Mission Vice Chairman M.V.S. Nagi Reddy and other officials participated in the programme.
