Modi talks about crop insurance, khadi in maiden Mann Ki Baat of 2016

PTI NEW DELHI, JANUARY 31 Highlighting benefits of the just-announced Crop Insurance Scheme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said awareness about it should be spread across the country so that at least 50 per cent of the farmers join it within two years. In his monthly radio programme Mann Ki Baat, he also pitched for continued efforts to popularise khadi and awareness to save the girl child, mentioned about the recently launched Startup India programme and talked about the upcoming International Fleet Review to be held in Visakhapatnam. Mr. Modi said he needs the “maximum help” from people about spreading awareness regarding the Pradhan Mantri Crop Insurance Scheme which was launched earlier this month. “In our country, a lot is said in the name of farmers. I don’t want to get involved in that debate. But farmers face a major crisis. In natural calamity, their entire effort goes waste. His one year goes waste. To give him security, only one thing comes to mind and that is crop insurance,” he said in this year’s first edition of the monthly radio programme. “In (the New Year) 2016, the central government has given a big gift to the farmers — Pradhan Mantri Crop Insurance Scheme. This scheme has been brought not for the purpose that it should be praised or the Prime Minister should be hailed,” he said. The Prime Minister said that for so many years, there has been a talk regarding crop insurance but “not more than 20-25 per cent” of the country’s farmers had been able to benefit from such schemes. “Can we take a pledge that we should connect at least 50 per cent of the farmers to this scheme in two years? I need this help from you. Because if a farmer joins the scheme, he will get huge help during a natural calamity,” he said. Mr. Modi said this time, the scheme has got “wide acceptability because it has been made quite extensive and easy and involves use of technology. Not only this. If something happens to the crop within 15 days after harvest, even then help is assured.” Usage of technology will ensure speedy assessment and disbursement of compensation, he said. “The biggest thing is that the rate of premium has been kept so low which nobody would have imagined. The rate of premium for Kharif crop has been kept 2 per cent while for Rabi crop it is one-and-a-half per cent. “Now tell me, if any farmer is deprived of the benefits of this scheme, will he not suffer loss? I want the awareness about this scheme to spread,” he said. ‘Start-up not just about IT’ Mr. Modi said Information Technology was only a small part of start-ups. “It is the common thought that start-up means a sophisticated business related to IT. This illusion has been broken after this event on start up,” he said, referring to ‘Start-Up India’. The ‘Start-Up India Action Plan’ was unveiled by Mr. Modi at an event on January 16. Congress slams PM for not referring to Rohith Vemula case in Mann Ki Baat Keeping up the offensive on the Rohith Vemula suicide issue, Congress today lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not taking any action against Union ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya. Party’s senior spokesman Anand Sharma regretted that the Prime Minister did not even refer to the issue in his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ radio programme despite the fact that the Dalit scholar’s death has sparked of agitation on university campuses in the country. He alleged that the Prime Minister’s “failure” to sack his colleagues showed that the sympathy he showed towards Rohith in a speech last week was just a “pretence”. Mr Sharma alleged that senior BJP leaders were adding insult to injury by claiming that Rohith was not a Dalit. He accused the government of being “directly responsible” for the tension and the agitation in the wake of the suicide of Rohith. Party Vice President Rahul Gandhi had yesterday went on a day-long fast at Hyderabad Central University backing protesting students on the Dalit scholar suicide issue and accusing the Prime Minister and the RSS of trying to crush the spirit of students by imposing “one idea from the top”.