Communist Party of India (CPI) Rajya Sabha MP Binoy Viswam on Monday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urged him to look into irregularities in Prime Minister Fasal Bima Yojna launched in 2016 to provide insurance protection to farmers against crop losses due to natural calamities.
Binoy Viswam in a letter to Prime Minister said, "The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), launched as the flagship farm insurance scheme in 2016, was initiated to provide insurance protection to farmers against crop losses due to natural calamities."
He wrote that in recent years, there have been several reports of irregularities of grave nature committed by private insurance companies in settling insurance claims with farmers. This leads to the conversion of the scheme into a bonanza by the private companies to reap huge profits. Naturally, the farmers are denied their rightful protection under the scheme.
"Over the past five years, both the central government and state governments have contributed almost Rs.1.265 lakh crores to the scheme to benefit our farmers. It is shocking that, as per the available reports, only Rs 87,320 crores have been paid to the farmers. This staggering data throws light on the handling of the funds of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana," CPI MP claimed in a letter to the Prime Minister.
Upper House MP from Kerala Binoy Viswam further claimed that while public sector insurance companies settled 90 per cent of farmers' claims, private sector companies pocketed enormous profits of nearly Rs 39,201 crores without paying farmers their rightful dues.
"This is a scam of wider magnitude heralded by the corporates," he wrote.
"It is learned that the Union Minister of Education, Dharmendra Pradhan, has already written to the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomarji, regardingthe same issue in Odisha," Viswam claimed in a letter to the PM.
CPI MP Viswam urged Prime Minister to look into this grievous matter and initiate a CAG audit on how farmers are being deprived by the corporates.
"Given these circumstances, I urge you to look into this grievous matter and initiate a CAG audit on how farmers are being deprived by the corporates. I also request that all those private companies that have defaulted on insurance payments to the farmers be blacklisted. I further request that the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana be entrusted only with the public insurance companies" he added in his letter.
( With inputs from ANI )
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