Farmer gets Rs 13 as insurance claim after losing his crop in MP

Hyderabad, Nov 7: For three continuous years a farmer in Madhya Pradesh lost his crop. The 44-year-old farmer, Jalam Singh Malviya, hoped his insurance will help him recover at least part of money. However, all that he got was just Rs. 13 from the insurance company. Jalam had insured his bank loan, which he took to sow soybean crop on his 2.5 bigha farm. Jalam belongs to Saakal Kheda Kalan village of Vidisha district in Madhya Pradesh. The desperate farmer said he had spent and lost Rs. 50,000 for farming last year. A government team consucted a survey to check the extent of loss in his village. After the survey, Jalam hoped to get at least Rs. 20,000 as insurance compensation. "I got Rs. 13 which is insufficient to even buy poison and end my life," Jalam lamented. Meanwhile, the district administration accepts that the stat-backed insurance companies had done a shoddy job. As a result, the government has recently formed a three-member committee to probe the issue.