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Time of India
3 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Mahayuti govt reduces pre-poll crop loss relief
Mumbai: The Mahayuti govt has reduced the compensation it used to give farmers for crop losses due to unseasonal rains and other natural calamities. It has done this by rolling back an order hiking the compensation which was issued in January 2024 before the Lok Sabha and assembly polls in the state, reports Priyanka Kakodkar. The hike was announced when the Mahayuti government was led by Eknath Shinde. The directive to reduce the compensation and bring it back on par with Central government norms on relief was issued last week, just a few days after heavy rains extensively damaged crops in the state. In 2024, the state had increased the amount of land which would get compensation from 2 hectares to 3 hectares. It had increased the compensation for non-irrigated crops from Rs 8,500 to Rs 13,600 per hectare. Compensation for irrigated crops was increased from Rs 17,000 to Rs 27,000 per hectare. And for horticulture and cash crops, it was increased from Rs 22,500 to Rs 36,000 per hectare. The compensation area and amount will now be reversed to the earlier rates. Also, subsidy shall be admissible only once for the entire season for compensation for damage to agricultural crops. The new govt resolution (GR) issued says, "In view of the recent agricultural losses caused by unseasonal rains, drought and floods in the state, it has been decided to provide subsidy as per the instructions of the National Disaster Management Authority after a discussion in the cabinet meeting held on May 27th." by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 임플란트 35만원 지원할인 >> 71만원 임플란트 개당 36만원에 하세요 프리미엄 임플란트 프로모션 더 읽기 Undo In order to provide for additional compensation, the state used to put in more money beyond the compensation given as per National Disaster Relief Fund norms. Compensation for calamities is paid through the State Disaster Relief Fund which receives 75% of its funds from the Centre and 25% from the state. "They promised higher compensation before elections and then rolled it back. This is cheating," said Rajan Kshirsagar from the Kisan Sabha.
Time of India
24-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
In 8 years, Maha crop insurance premiums 45% more than payout
Mumbai: In a state that has experienced droughts, unseasonal rains and floods wrecking farmland, premiums paid to insurance companies have still outstripped compensation paid to farmers. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Companies were paid Rs 52,969 crore in premiums between 2016-17 and 2023-24, but payout to farmers totalled Rs 36,350 crore under the PM Fasal Bima Yojana, as per data presented at a review meeting earlier this week. In this 8-year period, 12.8 crore farmers applied for the insurance scheme, of which 6.2 crore received compensation, reports Priyanka Kakodkar Half the farmers in the state who applied for Prime Minister's Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) between 2016-17 and 2023-24 were compensated. This includes for both kharif (monsoon) and rabi (winter) cropping season, as per data presented at a review meeting earlier this week. The premiums were higher than compensation payouts by Rs 16,619 crore in the eight years. Officials say though the state has seen several natural disasters, it has also had many good years with a plentiful monsoon and a high crop yield. And premiums are bound to be higher than insurance payouts in a good year. Officials admit the state's decision to let farmers pay Re 1 to enrol for the PMFBY in March 2023, led to a huge rise in applicants and made it difficult to monitor the scheme. Number of applicants shot up from 1 crore to 2.4 crore between 2022 and 2023. The Rs 1 crop insurance scheme was scrapped last month after a state probe found 5.9 lakh bogus applicants. "When the number of applicants rose, premiums from govt shot up. Then a large number of claims were rejected so number of farmers who received the payout reduced," said a senior official. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The state has now reverted to the Centre's model where the farmer is charged 1.5% of the sum insured for kharif crops, 2% for rabi crops and 5% for horticulture crops. The state follows a cup and cap model of 80-110 under the PMFBY. This means in a good year, a portion of premium paid will be returned to govt. However, it also caps the insurer's risk. In a bad year, when claims exceed the threshold, govt has to pay the additional liability. Farmer unions, however, allege that the PMFBY design is flawed and leads to profits for insurance companies but a high level of rejected claims from farmers. "The scheme is based on losses within an entire revenue circle. So, if a farmer suffers losses but the revenue circle does not, he does not get compensated," alleged Rajan Kshirsagar from the Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Sabha.
Time of India
12-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Maha seeks more share of central taxes, revenue deficit grants
Mumbai: The state govt has sought a rise in Maharashtra's share in taxes collected by the Union government from 41% to 50%.In a memorandum to the 16th Finance Commission, the state has also asked for revenue deficit grants citing rising welfare and infrastructure commitments. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Presenting data since 2021-22, it says, "Maharashtra's budget has been mostly revenue deficit owing to rising revenue expenditures driven by high committed expenditures, rising welfare commitments and revenue receipts growth not able to keep pace with this increase." However, it said revenue deficit was not caused by inadequate revenue effort or excessive expenditure. The revenue deficit has risen from Rs 16,374 crore in 2021-22 to a projected Rs 45,891 crore in 2024-25. Govt has asked the Finance Commission for Rs 1.3 lakh crore in special grants for implementation of the Economic Master plan for MMR, river linking and infrastructure work including the high court complex and eco-tourism projects. Of this, the state has demanded a sum of Rs 50,000 crore for MMR alone. The memorandum to the 16th Finance Commission says services are the primary driver in the state's economic growth with the share of the agricultural and industrial sectors declining. The share of industry in the computation of the state's Gross State Value Added (GSVA) has declined from 35.8% to 24.2% between 2011-12 and 2024-25. Share of agriculture and allied services has fallen from 13.1% to 11.5%. By contrast, share of services has grown from 51.1% to 64.3% in this period. The GSVA measures total value of goods and services produced. The memorandum points out that industrial growth in the state declined from a high of 8.8% to an estimated 4.9% in 2024-25. Growth was mainly affected by the slowdown in manufacturing, utility services and mining and quarrying, the memorandum states. The agricultural growth rate remains volatile because of dependence on the monsoon. "Maharashtra's heavy dependence on the monsoon and cropping pattern favouring water intensive cash crops are a serious concern," the memorandum states. —Priyanka Kakodkar
