Derailed at the first stop
WHEN MADHYA Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana (bby) in August 2017 to compensate farmers for the losses they would suffer by selling their crops below the minimum support price (msp) in the state’s 257 mandis, the farmers welcomed the scheme with open arms. About 2 million of Madhya Pradesh’s 9.8 million farmers registered for bby between September 11, 2017, and November 25,2017, the government-designated registration window for seven major kharif crops—soyabean, urad (black gram), maize, moong (green gram), til (sesame), ramtil (niger seed) and groundnut.
But their enthusiasm is on the wane now. Most of the over 200 farmers Down To Earth (dte) talked to in six villages of Hoshangabad and Sehore districts, the maximum soyabean- and urad-producing districts of the state, said they would not register for the scheme for the rabi season. Why?
The scheme looks impressive on the face of it, but the fine print paints a dif-