Mumbai: It was a desperate last-minute scramble for thousands of farmers across Maharashtra on Monday as they tried to sign up for a central crop insurance scheme before deadline.
Long queues were seen outside government-run facilitation centres and public and private sector banks as many farmers turned up on the last day for submitting application forms. Chaos and arguments marked interactions in several districts of Marathwada and Vidarbha, two drought-prone areas which have seen repeated crop failure that the Prime Minister’s crop insurance scheme promises to cover.
Banks in rural and semi-urban areas remained open on Sunday to accept forms, after the state government and the Reserve Bank of India issued directions to this effect.
Till Sunday evening, more than 400,000 farmers had enrolled for the scheme, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said. A state government official said the number was expected to rise further by Monday evening. “We expect at least 550,000 farmers to enrol by evening today,” said the official, requesting anonymity. Read more
Long queues were seen outside government-run facilitation centres and public and private sector banks as many farmers turned up on the last day for submitting application forms. Chaos and arguments marked interactions in several districts of Marathwada and Vidarbha, two drought-prone areas which have seen repeated crop failure that the Prime Minister’s crop insurance scheme promises to cover.
Banks in rural and semi-urban areas remained open on Sunday to accept forms, after the state government and the Reserve Bank of India issued directions to this effect.
Till Sunday evening, more than 400,000 farmers had enrolled for the scheme, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said. A state government official said the number was expected to rise further by Monday evening. “We expect at least 550,000 farmers to enrol by evening today,” said the official, requesting anonymity. Read more