Odisha farmers threaten protest to claim Titli insurance

Last October, Cyclone Titli tore through the districts of Ganjam and Gajapati with wind speeds up to 150 kmph. Heavy rainfall caused flooding in several parts of the districts. More than 60 people were killed.

“A joint team of insurance officials, agriculture and revenue department officials conducted a review. Based on eye estimation, compensation was to be given to Gram Panchayats (GPs) that sustained 50% and above crop loss,” said Manoj Behera, Deputy Director of Agriculture in Ganjam. “We initially gave a list of 112 GPs to the company, but they ended up paying in around 59 GPs.” For PMFBY, a GP is considered the Insurance Unit (IU), he added.
While records accessed by The Sunday Express show that the company — Royal Sundaram —has paid 37,338 farmers under “standard claims” amounting to Rs 40.7 crore, among them only 16,273 have received additional “mid-season adversity claims” (for Titli) amounting to Rs 8.7 crore. In all, 1,53,194 insured farmers had paid premium of around Rs 10.35 crore.

“This is due to wrong assessment by Royal Sundaram. The company is not cooperating,” said Ganjam Collector Vijay Amrut Kulange. “During the damage assessment, the company used inadequate manpower who had no experience in Ganjam, and most are from outside Odisha. We had raised objections.”

Kulange has written to Royal Sundaram asking it to open a grievance cell at the collectorate. “…Also, you are directed to send individual clarification to farmers mentioning the reason for rejection of their PMFBY claims,” the letter states.

While sources said the cell has not been opened by the company, Royal Sundaram did not respond to an emailed questionnaire sent by The Indian Express to its Odisha head.

Many farmers have demanded that all those who received state government compensation for Titli should also receive insurance payment under PMFBY. “If the government has compensated us, it means we have sustained damage. So every farmer who has paid premium and in addition received state compensation must also receive insurance,” Simanchal Nahak, secretary of Rushikulya Rayat Mahasabha, told The Sunday Express.

As per the district administration, farmers in 19 out of 22 blocks received state government compensation for damage during Titli. However, they said, the number of farmers who received PMFBY insurance is less because to receive compensation the damage must be 50% or higher — a significantly higher bar than the government’s 33%.

“Many farmers are confused between compensation and insurance. The state government paid agriculture input subsidy of Rs 13,500 per hectare of irrigated land and Rs 6,800 per hectare of non-irrigated lands to farmers who sustained crop loss of 33% and above. This has no link with insurance,” Behera said.

However, farmers in the district said they cannot trust the lower levels of the district administration to give them the facts.

“If there is a distinction between and different criteria for compensation and insurance, then the agriculture cell officials should explain these to us,” said Rajendra Rao, who claims he should be paid insurance for damage during Titli to his 3.5 acres of paddy in Potalampur village of Chhatrapur block.

“The Krusaka Sathis and Village Agriculture Workers have been telling us that those who have received KALIA and PM-Kisan will not receive PMFBY assistance as they are all the same schemes,” he added, as his neighbours nodded in agreement.