Telangana HC Questions Non-Implementation of Comprehensive Crop Insurance Scheme

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday sought to know from the central and Telangana state government as to why a comprehensive “crop insurance scheme” which covers all types of losses faced by farmers was not implemented in Telangana.

A Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice N.V. Shravan Kumar, issued notices to Union secretaries for finance and agriculture, Telangana state chief secretary, principal secretaries for finance and planning, revenue, agriculture and others directing them to submit their reply within six weeks.

The Division bench issued the notices, while adjudicating the taken-up PIL by converting the communication sent by Rapolu Bhaskar, a practising advocate of the High Court, seeking a direction to the state government to implement a “Comprehensive Crop Insurance Scheme” across the state.

In the letter to the High Court, Bhaskar stated that Telangana was the only state in the country where the farmers are denied any type of crop insurance scheme, and the state government was not implementing the Central government scheme namely Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).

It has further been stated in the communication that crops around 2.23 lakh acres were damaged in March and April 2023.

He also submitted that instead of offering crop insurance schemes, the state government is making payment of compensation to the tune of Rs 10,000 per acre.

The bench questioned government counsel as to why the state government was not implementing the Central government scheme named PMFBY, which gives more benefits to the farmers in Telangana, rather than only paying Rs 10,000 per acre as compensation to the farmers for crop loss.

“If there is any other scheme, which benefits more to the farmers, it should be adopted …the object is to give more benefit to the farmer,” observed Chief Justice Alok Aradhe.