Chidambaram slams Centre’s move to make crop insurance voluntary

He said the decision will reduce coverage putting millions of farmers at risk.

P. Chidambaram

Senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Thursday termed as “retrograde” the decision of the Centre to make crop insurance voluntary and said there can be nothing more anti-farmer.

In a series of tweets, Chidambaram said, “Nothing can be more anti-farmer than the central government’s decision to reduce its contribution to the Crop Insurance Scheme.”

He said more cropped area needs to be brought under crop insurance and the decision will reduce coverage putting millions of farmers at risk.

The Government on Wednesday made its flagship crop insurance schemes voluntary for farmers with existing crop loans or those willing to take new ones.