The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), which had spearheaded the yearlong farmers’ agitation along Delhi’s borders, has called for an overhaul of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana so that insurance companies make payments to farmers for crop loss as promised.

CPI MP Binoy Viswam has also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the irregularities in the crop insurance scheme and urged him to initiate an audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, citing reports of Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan also flagging the issue in Odisha.

“Over the past five years, both the central government and state governments have contributed almost Rs 1,265 lakh crore to the scheme to benefit our farmers. It is shocking that, as per the available reports, only Rs 87,320 crore have been paid to the farmers. This staggering data throws light on the handling of the funds of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY),” Viswam said in his letter.

He has also sought the blacklisting of all private insurance companies that have defaulted in their payments to the farmers, arguing that the scheme should be managed only by public insurance companies.

SKM leader Ashok Dhawale cited the example of Beed district in Maharashtra where farmers protested against the insurance companies. “There is a clause in the scheme, which states that farmers should inform the insurance company of crop loss within 72 hours of a natural calamity. These farmers lost their standing crop in unseasonal rains that caused havoc across the district. The rains disrupted communication networks and the insurance company did not have a registered office in the district. So the farmers had no means to inform the insurance provider about the crop loss within 72 hours. This was then cited by the insurance company not to pay the farmers,” Dhawale said.

The SKM is now demanding that conditions that serve as an escape route for the insurance companies should be removed from the scheme. Launched with much fanfare in 2016, seven states, including BJP-ruled Gujarat, have opted out of the scheme.

The PMFBY is supposed to insure farmers against natural calamities during the pre-sowing to post-harvest time. Farmers have to pay a maximum of 2 per cent of the total premium of the insured amount for kharif crops, 1.5 per cent for rabi crops and oilseeds and 5 per cent for cash crops.

The remaining premium is shared by the respective states and the Centre in a 50:50 ratio except in the Northeast where the centre picks 90 per cent of the tab. The main complaint against the scheme was that the claims paid by the companies were way less than the premium collected by them.

Also, the states that pulled out found the premium to be an additional drain on their finances and some of them preferred to launch their own crop insurance schemes.