Badal wants ‘amendment’ in new crop insurance scheme

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Friday claimed there are certain ‘shortcomings’ in the Centre’s new crop insurance scheme, adding that an amendment was needed in order to make it ‘farmer-friendly’.

“Declaring village as a unit for crop insurance would hardly fulfil the basic spirit behind introducing the scheme. Rather it should ensure that plot was considered as a unit to compensate the farmers for their loss,” he said.

Badal also claimed that insuring the crop only if the whole village pays its premium, was also an “impractical assumption”.

“We are bringing all shortcomings to the notice of the Centre and will urge them to amend the scheme so that the original green revolution states such as Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh are benefited from it,” he said.

Refuting the allegation levelled by the Congress that main accused in the Abohar murder case was associated with the Shiromani Akali Dal, Badal said that it was baseless as the person concerned was not related to his party in any way – directly or indirectly.

The Chief Minister said the state government was fully committed to nab those behind the killing.

On a probe being carried out by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the Pathankot terror attack, the Chief Minister said that the national agency was probing the incident minutely and any one found guilty would not be spared. He said his government is adopting a zero-tolerance policy towards the issues involving national security, law and order, peace and brotherhood.