Crop insurance scheme to be a reality soon: MoS Finance Sinha

In a pro-farmer move, the BJP-led NDA government is in the process of finalizing crop insurance scheme to protect the farmers, who are reeling under heavy debt burden due to lack of sufficient rainfall.
Minister of State (Finance) Jayant Sinha made the statement on Friday in Lok Sabha in reponse to a series of supplementary questions, which were placed before him during the question hour.
Sinha also stressed on the urgent need to increase investment in agriculture so that the farmers could get adequate returns on their investments.
Adding further, he said that the government was taking additional steps to make the fertilizer subsidy system more efficient. Apart from this, there are also plans to leverage technology in agriculture by implementing innovative techniques to improve and monitor soil’s health.
As part of the governments endeavor to improve the condition of farmers and agricultural sector, the government is considering reducing the benchmark of short term measures like loan restructuring to kick in the moment 33% of the crop fails. Earlier, the benchmark had been pegged at 50% crop failure.