[Crop
failure protection comes after two years of drought led to a spate of farmer
suicides in India
Agence-France
Presse
 |
A
farmer spreads fertiliser in his wheat field on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.
Drought
has led to a spate of suicides in
Photograph:
Amit Dave/Reuters
|
Two
successive years of drought have battered the country’s already struggling
rural heartland, with farmer suicides in rural areas regularly hitting the
headlines.
More
than 300,000 farmers have killed themselves in India
Under
the new scheme, farmers will pay premiums of as little as 1.5% of the value of
their crops, allowing them to reclaim their full value in case of natural
damage, the government said.
“The
scheme will be a protection shield against instances of farmer suicides because
of crop failures or damage because of nature,” home minister Rajnath Singh said
on Wednesday after the cabinet approved the scheme.
The
Prime Minister Crop Insurance Scheme is also an attempt by Narendra Modi’s
government to woo the country’s powerful farming community after being beaten
in two recent state elections.
“This
scheme not just retains the best features of past policies but also rectifies
all previous shortcomings... This is a historic day,” Modi said in a tweet.
Previous
crop insurance schemes have been criticised by the agricultural community as
being too complex or for having caps that prevented them from recouping the
full commercial value in the case of damage.
Take-up
of existing schemes by farmers is as low as 23%, the agriculture minister Radha
Mohan Singh said, adding that he hoped to increase coverage to 50%.
The
heavily subsidised scheme will come into effect in April, a major crop-sowing
season.
“It
frees Indian farmers from the fear of crop failure and is a strong political
message from the government,” Dr MJ Khan, Chairman of Indian Council of Food
and Agriculture, told AFP .
Modi’s
government has also faced large-scale farmer protests over a key bill aimed at
making it easier for businesses to buy land.
*
INDIAN
COMIC KIKU SHARDA ARRESTED FOR TV SPOOF OF GURU GURMEET RAM RAHIM SINGH
Follower
of controversial ‘guru in bling’, complained to police after comedian appeared
in sketch broadcast in December
Agence
France-Presse in Delhi
Kiku
Sharda, 40, was sent to judicial custody for 14 days by a court in the northern
state of Haryana, a senior police officer said on Wednesday.
“A
police team arrested the accused at a TV studio in Mumbai late last night
following a complaint filed by one of the guru’s followers,” he said on the
condition of anonymity.
Sharda,
who imitated guru Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a TV appearance on December 27, has
apologised for his act, saying it was only aimed at entertaining audiences.
“I
was given a dress, a script to read and directed to act,” he told the Press
Trust ofIndia news agency.
Singh,
who heads the Dera Sacha Sauda sect, is known as the “guru in bling” because of
his penchant for garish clothes and jewellery.
The
48-year-old guru is under police investigation for allegedly encouraging 400
followers to undergo castration at his ashram so they could get closer to God.
Singh
has also featured in two action movies and many music videos.
Dera
Sacha Sauda describes itself as a social welfare and spiritual organisation
with millions of followers in India
On
its website, the group describes Singh as a saint as well as an author, inventor,
scientist, philosopher, philanthropist, peace activist and “the ultimate
humanitarian”.
Many
celebrities came out in support of Sharda on Twitter on Wednesday, calling his
arrest “shocking” and “absurd”.
“I
don’t see our leaders getting arrested for behaving like comedians everyday,”
tweeted fellow comedian Vir Das.