Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha on Sunday said the Centre was thinking of changes to the current crop insurance policy to make it more farmer-friendly. "The Centre is determined to make the crop insurance policy more farmer-friendly, besides expanding its uses, to strengthen the financial condition of the vast rural people depending upon agriculture," said Sinha.
The minister said he had had detailed discussions with the-then agriculture minister Nitish Kumar, and the issue was being discussed with the new incumbent, Ajit Singh. The policy needed attention because it had a limited scope as far as crop losses were concerned, and the farmer had not been covered for any other losses, he said.
"When an individual could be covered against any individual loss why not the farmers?" the Union minister asked, favouring further smaller division of area as a single unit to give better assurance for any crop damage. Bureau Report