After the presentation of a separate agriculture budget with a provision of ₹5,000 crore for Krishak Sathi Yojana this year, the Congress government in Rajasthan has shifted its attention to get full benefit of the Prime Minister’s Crop Insurance Scheme. The special assessment survey will find out the extent of damage caused to the rabi crops across the State.
The State government has also chalked out a plan for training revenue officials working in the villages to monitor the harvesting of crops through a specially designed mobile phone app. The tracking by revenue officials will ensure that there is no unnecessary delay in the distribution of the claim amount to the farmers.
Chief Secretary Usha Sharma said at a meeting of the Group of Secretaries for Farmers’ Welfare here on Thursday the assessment survey would facilitate speedy payment of compensation to the farmers. The norms laid down by the Union government provide for compensation on the damage to a minimum of 33% of the crops.
The cases found eligible during the survey will be processed for insurance claims by the companies concerned. The standing crops of wheat, fennel, barley, mustard and cumin, which were to be harvested, were most affected during the hailstorm last month, which was caused by western disturbance in the atmosphere in Ajmer, Jodhpur, Kota and Udaipur divisions.
The first–ever agriculture budget, presented by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on February 23, has adopted a mission mode for 11 thematic areas and laid emphasis on welfare measures for farmers and innovations for cultivators. Ms. Sharma said the issue of power supply at agricultural rates instead of commercial rates for mushroom cultivation would be resolved shortly.
The State government has also launched a scheme for giving subsidy on capital investment and interest to farmers and entrepreneurs for setting up agro–processing industries and developing infrastructure on the agricultural land. Farmers have evinced a keen interest in setting up units and warehouses and cattle feed enterprises, taking advantage of the incentives offered to them.
