Center Working On New Agri-Insurance Scheme : Arun Jaitley

12 July , New Delhi

Government is working on a new agriculture insurance scheme that will cover all the inputs put by a farmer into his farm as also the loans taken by him.

Speaking at the Nabard Foundation Day celebrations in Mumbai Sunday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, the present crop insurance schemes cover only the loans which a farmer has taken from banks. He noted that the agriculture sector presents its own set of challenges with successive low rate of growth over the years.

Jaitley admitted that the country has been unable to ensure even a 4 per cent growth consistently in the field of agriculture.

He said, with productivity levels reasonably low and 85 per cent farmers being small and marginal, the agriculture sector is afflicted by higher input costs, low level of irrigation, high indebtedness, absence of an effective insurance mechanism and adverse impacts of climate change.

Finance Minister said, a better monsoon would help check food inflation, including in pulses. He said, the Department of Agriculture expects a better rainfall in most parts of the country to result in higher production of oil seeds and pulses, which at the moment are a cause of concern in terms of inflation.

Jaitley also said that rising tax revenues and improving macroeconomic fundamentals would take the Indian economy to an accelerated growth trajectory. He expressed hope that 8 to 10 per cent GDP growth rate is not out of reach.

Jaitley stressed the need to control deficit and said that Indian Economy presents a silver lining amidst challenges being faced by the global economy.