Crop insurance bigger scam than Rafale: P Sainath
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Kozhikode: P Sainath, former rural editor of The Hindu, said on Monday the crop insurance scheme Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) would be a bigger scam than the Rafale aircraft deal.
He was inaugurating the delegates session of 14 th state conference of DYFI here.
The veteran journalist and author of bestselling Everybody Loves a Good Drought also said that in the past three years 18 insurance companies have collected over Rs 66,00o crore in premium from farmers alongside contributions from the state and the Central governments.
However, compensation in crop loss paid to farmers are very less.
He cited the example of a Maharashtra district where soya bean farmers paid in premium 19 crores, adding up to 173 crore with state and central government contributions; however, when the farmers were hit by crop loss, only 30 crore had been paid in compensation.
“The PMFBY, if it lasts for five years, is a much bigger scam than the Rafale deal. Also, it includes some of the people involved in the Rafale deal,” Sainath was quoted as saying.
