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جولای 15, 2022

Simply Put | Fasal Bima: who’s in, out & why

The Union Agriculture Ministry announced on Tuesday that Andhra Pradesh has decided to rejoin the crop insurance scheme Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) from the ongoing kharif season. Andhra Pradesh was one of six states that have stopped implementation of the scheme over the last four years. The other five, which remain out, are Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Telangana.
Why did these states opt out?
ANDHRA PRADESH: The state left the PMFBY from rabi season 2019-20. Sources said the state had mentioned several reasons: that the scheme should be voluntary; that states should be given options to choose the risks covered; the scheme should be universal; the cut-off date for enrolment should be flexible; and fourth, the state should be given option to use their own database of E-crop, an application used by the state government to collect information about crops.

“All these issues have been resolved now,” the sources said.

On Tuesday, the Agriculture Ministry announced that Andhra Pradesh has decided to rejoin the PMFBY following talks between Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.
The move comes days after Union Agriculture Secretary Manoj Ahuja met the CM. On July 7, a team headed by Ahuja gave a presentation to Reddy.
BIHAR: The first state to opt out, from 2018-19, after implementing the scheme in 2016-17 (27.1 lakh farmers insured) and 2017-18 (23 lakh). Sources say there were main three reasons for the state’s decision.
First, the state wanted universal coverage.
Second, the state government wanted zero premium for farmers (meaning the entire premium should be paid by the government.) Under the PMFBY, a farmer is required to pay as premium 2% of the sum insured or actuarial rate, whichever is less, for all kharif foodgrain and oilseed crops; 1.5% of sum insured or actuarial rate, whichever is less, for all rabi foodgrain and oilseed crops; and 5% for horticultural crops. Sources said the Centre can not make farmers’ premium zero. However, states such as Haryana, Goa and Puducherry are paying farmers’ share from their own budget for selected crops.
The third reason was that the rate of premium was very high for Bihar because of the history of claims under earlier schemes.

The Agriculture Ministry is trying to persuade Bihar to rejoin the scheme. On July 1, Ritesh Chauhan, CEO, PMFBY and Joint Secretary in the Ministry, wrote to the Bihar government about addressing its concerns, the sources said.
JHARKHAND: Jharkhand stopped implementing the scheme soon after the Centre revamped it in February 2020, effective from kharif 2020. Under the revised guidelines, “The non-payment of the State Share of premium subsidy within the prescribed timelines as defined in the seasonality discipline will lead to the disqualification of the State Government to implement the scheme in the next season.”
Sources said Jharkhand’s share of premium subsidy was overdue for 2018-19 and 2019-20. This was the main reason that Jharkhand opted out from 2020-21. Besides, there were other “operational challenges” and “political reasons”, the sources said.
Ministry data shows that in Jharkhand 8.8 lakh farmers in 2016-17, 12.0 lakh in 2017-18, 12.9 lakh in 2018-19, and 10.9 lakh in 2019-20 had availed the scheme.
WEST BENGAL: Sources said the reason for West Bengal not implementing the PMFBY is purely “political”. The state wants to implement the scheme without mentioning Pradhan Mantri in the scheme’s name, which is not possible, sources said.
West Bengal implemented the scheme for three years from 2016-17 to 2018-19, covering 41.3 lakh farmers in 2016-17, 40.4 lakh in 2017-18, and 51.3 lakh in 2018-19.
GUJARAT: Gujarat implemented the PMFBY from 2016-17 to 2019-20, covering 19.8 lakh farmers in 2016-17, 17.6 lakh in 2017-18, 21.7 lakh in 2018-19, and 24.8 lakh in 2019-20. Sources say, after the scheme was revamped, Gujarat invited tenders for three years in 2020 but insurance companies quoted a very high premium, and hence the state opted out.
TELANGANA: Telangana too implemented the PMFBY for the initial four years, covering 9.7 lakh, 11 lakh, 8 lakh in 2018-19 and 10.3 lakh farmers in successive yaers before stopping in 2020-21. Sources said Telangana’s share of premium was overdue for 2018-19 and 2019-20, the main reason why it did not notify the scheme for 2020-21.
The Agriculture Ministry is in talks with the state government to bring back on board. A central team made a presentation before of a Group of Ministers of Telangana on June 23, said sources, who expect the state to rejoin from the coming rabi season or next year.
How was the scheme structured, and what has changed since?
The government had launched PMFBY from kharif 2016. Under the scheme, all farmers including sharecroppers and tenant farmers growing “notified crops” in the “notified areas” are eligible for coverage.
Initially, the scheme was compulsory for loanee farmers; in February 2020, the Centre revised it to make it optional for all farmers.
In the initial scheme, the difference between actuarial premium rate and the rate of insurance premium payable by farmers, which is called the rate of normal premium subsidy, was to be shared equally between the Centre and states. However, states and Union Territories are free to extend additional subsidy over and above the normal subsidy from their budgets.
In February 2020, the Centre decided to restrict its premium subsidy to 30% for unirrigated areas and 25% for irrigated areas (from the existing unlimited). Earlier, there was no upper limit for the central subsidy.
Food crops (cereals, millets and pulses); oilseeds; and annual commercial / annual horticultural crops are covered under the scheme. In addition, pilots for coverage can be taken for those perennial horticultural/commercial crops for which standard methodology for yield estimation is available, state the scheme guidelines.
What is the coverage?
As per information shared by the Agriculture Ministry to Lok Sabha in April this year, the number of farmer applications insured increased to 7.65 crore in 2021-22 from 5.83 crore in 2016-17 when the scheme was launched. However, the number of states implementing the scheme had gradually come down from 27 in 2016-17 to 20 in 2021-22.

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جولای 15, 2022

SC fines petitioner who sought probe by CBI into 2009 Dantewada killings

IMPOSING A penalty of Rs 5 lakh on the main petitioner, the Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a petition seeking a CBI probe into alleged torture and extrajudicial killings by the Chhattisgarh Police and Central forces during anti-Maoist operations in Dantewada in 2009. The court said the investigation indicated that Maoists, and not the security forces, were responsible for the “alleged massacre”.
A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and J B Pardiwala said “the filing of charge sheets at the conclusion of the investigation into the various FIRs” lodged in connection with the alleged incidents “would indicate that the alleged massacre was at the end of the Naxalites (Maoists)”.
It said: “The materials collected in the form of the charge sheets substantiate the case put up by the respondents that the villagers were attacked and killed by the Naxalites. There is not an iota of material figuring in the investigation on the basis of which even a finger can be pointed towards the members of the police force.”
The court said: “…we have reached to the conclusion that no case, worth the name, has been made out by the writ petitioners for any further investigation, much less through an independent agency to be appointed by this Court”.
The bench imposed an “exemplary” cost of Rs 5 lakh on the main petitioner Himanshu Kumar to be submitted within four weeks failing which authorities can take appropriate steps for recovery. Kumar had told the court that he ran an NGO, Vanvasi Chetna Ashram, in Dantewada.

Pointing out that “prima facie… false information was given by the first informants to the police as regards the alleged massacre”, the court left it “to the State of Chhattisgarh/ CBI…to take appropriate steps in accordance with law…”
It said: “We clarify that it shall not be limited only to the offence under Section 211 of the IPC (false charge of offence made with intent to injure). A case of criminal conspiracy or any other offence under the IPC may also surface. We may not be understood of having expressed any final opinion on such action/ proceedings. We leave it to the better discretion of the State of Chhattisgarh/ CBI to act accordingly keeping in mind the seriousness of the entire issue.”
Referring to the petition, the bench expressed “surprise that the learned senior counsel appearing for the writ petitioners is absolutely oblivious of the fact that all the FIRs were investigated by the concerned investigating agencies and, at the end of the investigation, charge sheets came to be filed in different courts of the State of Chhattisgarh for the offences under the IPC like murder, dacoity, etc”.
The petition was filed on the alleged killing of 17 people in separate incidents in Dantewada on September 17 and October 1, 2009. Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves had appeared for the petitioners — Kumar and family members of some of the local residents who were killed at the time.
The petitioners had alleged that Chhattisgarh Police, Special Police Officers (SPOs), activists of Salwa Judum (a vigilante group backed by the Chhattisgarh government) and paramilitary forces comprising CRPF and CoBRA Battalions were responsible for the alleged “brutal massacre”.
Acting on the Supreme Court’s direction, a District and Sessions Judge in Delhi had in 2010 recorded statements of the petitioners, other than Kumar, in the presence of an interpreter and Kumar.
Referring to them, the Supreme Court said “the statements of the petitioners Nos. 2 to 13 recorded before the Judicial Officer demolishes the entire case put up by the petitioner no.1 (Kumar)…”.
The judgement cited the statement of one of the petitioners, Soyam Rama, who said he “had run away from the spot” when the firing happened and “could not see as to who had opened fire” and that he “would not be in a position to identify” the assailants.
Pointing out that “all other statements of the rest of the writ petitioners are on the same line and footing”, the bench said “when we called upon Mr. Gonsalves to make us understand as to why his clients had to make such statements before the Judicial Officer, a very curious reply came from Mr. Gonsalves. According to Mr. Gonsalves, the entire mode and manner in which the statements were recorded by the Judicial Officer of the rank of District and Sessions Judge was absolutely incorrect.”
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The bench said: “According to the learned senior counsel, specific questions ought to have been put by the Judicial Officer to each of the writ petitioners while recording their statements in accordance with the directions issued by this Court…”.
Referring to this, the Supreme Court bench said: “We are afraid, we are not in a position to accept such submission after a period of almost 12 years. The statements we are referring to recorded by the Judicial Officer are of the year 2010. Not once in the last 12 years any grievance has been made either orally or in writing before this Court as regards the mode and manner of recording of the statements. It is for the first time in 12 years that such a grievance has been made.”
In April, denying the allegations levelled by the petitioners, the Centre had urged the Supreme Court to direct a probe by a Central agency “to identify the individuals/ organisations who have been conspiring, abetting and facilitating filing of petitions premised on false and fabricated evidence…with a motive to either deter the security agencies to act against the Left Wing (Naxal) militia by imputing false charges on them or to screen off the Left Wing (Naxal) militia from being brought to justice by creating a false narrative of victimisation…”.
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جولای 12, 2022

Don’t blame the middle class for political apathy

In India, the political class has never attempted to make political participation enjoyable and rewarding

What Chidambaram considers as the middle class is a small number of highly urbanised, well-off, income-taxpayers with a minimum per capita income of rupees one lakh a month. (File)The castigation of the middle class by Congress leader P Chidambaram (‘How much do people care?’, IE, July 10) as selfish, myopic and lacking social consciousness and empathy for the relatively deprived belongs to a thread of criticism that’s common to radicals, professional revolutionaries, politicians and those entrenched in the power structure and enjoying all the privileges but suddenly finding loss of power. Chidambaram’s outburst falls in the last category: He makes no attempt to analyse the deep causes that are behind such insulated behaviour.

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What Chidambaram considers as the middle class is a small number of highly urbanised, well-off, income-taxpayers with a minimum per capita income of rupees one lakh a month. This is in a situation when the average monthly income of an overwhelming number of Indians in the self-employment and unorganised sector is approximately Rs 10,000 or less a month. In his seminal work, The Social Background of Indian Nationalism, sociologist A R Desai had pointed out that the social base of the Indian nationalist movement was narrow with very limited mass mobilisation. The overwhelming popular support and participation in the nationalist movement is a myth and the fact remains that the passivity of the average Indian surprised leaders as diverse as Bipin Chandra Pal and Mahatma Gandhi. Pal wondered how the British could rule so effectively while maintaining only 32,000 soldiers in India. The widespread, repressive apparatus of a brutal, colonial administration was effectively and obediently manned by Indians themselves. Mahatma Gandhi wondered at the lack of protest from the average citizens of Punjab even when faced with several instances of police brutalities. One of the charges that the Mahatma levelled against the British was that it had made Indians “unmanly”.
The British never used conscription in India. Recruitment during the Second World War was conducted on a slogan of economic betterment. And it was a great success, though soldiers were to be disillusioned later. In comparison, during the Quit India movement, 60,000 people went to jail – not a large number in a mass movement of a country of India’s size. The nationalist movement was led by wealthy lawyers, and non-lawyers like Subhas Chandra Bose and MN Roy were eased out.
This is not to discredit the nationalist movement or the subsequent political evolution but only to remind of the restricted nature of our political space before and after Independence. The political class has never really attempted to expand the base of the middle class, make political participation enjoyable and rewarding, thereby enriching the political process itself. People of different categories who make a modern nation adjust, by and large, to the social, economic and political reality. Incorporation of the middle class in the political process demands its quantitative expansion and developing a political process not guided by dynastic ambitions and the sway of powerful interest groups, leading to the emergence of a reformed state that rewards just meritocracy.
The writer retired as Professor of Political Science, Delhi University

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جولای 10, 2022

Assam man detained, released later for playing Lord Shiva in street play on price rise

Birinchi Bora said his play intended to “highlight price rise” and there was “no intention to hurt anyone’s beliefs”. Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma later said street plays on current issues are not “blasphemous”.

In Bora’s play, videos of which are now circulating on social media, Shiva and Parvati are seen riding a two-wheeler which runs out of fuel. (Source: ANI)A 38-year-old man was detained Saturday for allegedly “hurting religious sentiments” when he dressed up as Lord Shiva in a street play about price rise in Assam’s Nagaon district. He was released on Sunday, the police said.

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Birinchi Bora, a social worker from Nagaon’s Nonoi village was detained based on police complaints filed by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), among other groups, officers said. Following this, an FIR was registered at Nagaon’s Sadar police station and he was booked under section 295A (deliberate and malicious intention of outraging religious feelings), among other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Bora spent the night at the police station, but was on Sunday given a notice and released, said Nagaon superintendent of police Leena Doley. He has been asked to appear at the station on a later date. In Bora’s play, videos of which are now circulating on social media, Shiva and Parvati are seen riding a two-wheeler which runs out of fuel. An argument ensues as Shiva is unable to afford petrol because of the soaring price.

Now back home, Bora said the main objective of his street play was to “highlight price rise”. “There was no intention to hurt anyone’s beliefs. I used that analogy to make the point that the prices are so high that even the Almighty would be distressed if they were on earth,” he told The Indian Express. He added that it was not uncommon for gods to be portrayed in human form in Assamese plays. “However, now the situation is such that the right to free expression has been suppressed and you cannot express anything against the current regime,” he said.
Following the incident, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that street plays on current issues are not “blasphemous.” “Nukad Natak on current issues is not blasphemous. Dressing up is not a crime unless offensive material is said. Appropriate order has been issued to @nagaonpolice,” he tweeted.

Meanwhile, the complainant, BJYM’s Anurom Bora, said, “While we do not have any problem with someone protesting against price rise, using god to express the protest was wrong.”

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جولای 7, 2022

Three TMC workers shot, hacked to death in West Bengal’s Canning

A team of district police and CID have reached the spot and are examining the area. The police who have launched an investigation into the killings, are yet to ascertain the motive behind the murders. The bodies of the Trinamool workers have been sent for autopsy.

TMC leaders blamed the BJP for the murders and accused them of creating an environment of fear in the state.Three Trinamool Congress workers, including a member of a local gram panchayat, were killed by unidentified attackers in Canning town of West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas Thursday morning, said the police.

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Sources said Swapan Majhi, Trinamool member of Gopalpur gram panchayat, was on his way to attend the preparatory meeting being held ahead of the Trinamool’s July 21 Sahid Divas programme at the party office in Gopalpur under Canning West Assembly constituency. Majhi was accompanied by Bhutnath Pramanik and Jhantu Haldar, two booth presidents.
As they approached Pier Park in the Kachua area on a motorcycle, the attackers blocked the road to stop them and shot Majhi from point-blank range. “The miscreants first shot Majhi. The two others started running and they were shot too from a distance from behind. The miscreants to confirm death further used a sharp weapon on them,” said a senior police official.
A team of district police and CID have reached the spot and are examining the area. The police who have launched an investigation into the killings, are yet to ascertain the motive behind the murders. The bodies of the Trinamool workers have been sent for autopsy.
TMC leaders blamed the BJP for the murders and accused them of creating an environment of fear in the state. “The BJP is trying to disturb peace in Bengal,” said TMC’s spokesperson Kunal Ghosh.
“The three deceased had yesterday met our local MLA and had told them that they were under threat and that they had received information that they were likely to be murdered. Before they could go to the police the incident took place,” said TMC’s youth leader Debangshu Bhattacharya.
Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Suvendhu Adhikari launched a counter-attack against the TMC for the violence in the state.
“It is a fallout of their infighting. The West Bengal Police are busy erecting a watch tower outside CM Mamata Banerjee’s residence. Hence, the law and order situation of the state is getting worse,” added Adhikari.

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