Barmer:

The scorching heat continues in most parts of Rajasthan, and now even the nights are getting hotter. Due to the heatwave and scorching heat conditions on Friday, it became difficult for people to come out of their homes.

Thursday was the hottest day of this season in Barmer. To provide relief from the heat, water is being sprinkled on the streets and roads.

On Thursday, the maximum temperature in Barmer increased by 0.8 degrees, reaching 48.8 degrees Celsius, and the minimum temperature decreased by 0.4 degrees, reaching 32.2 degrees Celsius.

On Friday, the maximum temperature reached 48.8 degrees Celsius in Barmer. A red alert was issued in most of the districts of Rajasthan, with temperatures expected to increase by two degrees Celsius from May 25 to 27.

Barmer district collector Nishant Jain said that the leaves of Health, PHED (Public Health and Engineering Department), Discom officials, and administrative officers have been cancelled till further orders.

“In view of the heat, the health department is keeping a vigil on reserve beds and essential medicines. These officers are also going and checking whether all the facilities are available or not,” Jain said.

He added further, “Efforts are being made by the administration to provide relief to the people. My appeal to people would be to go out of the house only if necessary, especially in the afternoon.”

A resident, Ramesh, while speaking with ANI, said, “The temperatures are reaching 46-47 degrees Celsius. It’s becoming very difficult for us. I would urge people to plant trees so that next year, we don’t have to bear such rising temperatures in Barmer.”

Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday issued a heatwave alert. “Heatwave to severe heatwave conditions very likely in many parts of Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana-Chandigarh-Delhi, few parts of West Uttar Pradesh and heatwave conditions very likely in isolated pockets of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, East Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Vidarbha on May 27 and 28, 2024,” IMD said in a post on X.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Farmers staging a protest against discrepancies in the disbursement of compensation for loss of crops at Gudamalani in Barmer district in Rajasthan.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement.

A peculiar situation has arisen for farmers in Rajasthan’s Barmer district, where the public sector Agriculture Insurance Company of India (AIC) has released compensation against claims for damage of kharif crops of 2021 after initially paying paltry amounts of money under the Prime Minister’s Fasal Bima Yojana. The discrepancies in disbursement have left the farmers baffled and agitated.

Bank accounts of farmers in the district were credited with the amounts such as 4 paise, ₹1, ₹10 and ₹20 as compensation. The AIC had released ₹311 crore for the purpose, which was far less than the claims made by the agriculturists, who had obtained insurance for their crops in an area measuring a total of 10 lakh hectares.

The kharif crops of pearl millet, cluster bean, moth bean, green gram and sesame were damaged during the drought. The meagre amounts of compensation, following the rejection of original claims, led to disappointment and resentment among the farmers, who complained to Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Choudhary, representing the Barmer constituency in the Lok Sabha.

Following Mr. Choudhary’s intervention, the Union government directed the insurance company recently to release an additional amount of ₹229 crore as compensation against the insurance claims, taking the total amount to ₹540 crore. The amount actually claimed for the losses was ₹600 crore.

The issue led to a slugfest between the ruling Congress and the Opposition BJP in the State, with the latter accusing the State government of not carrying out a proper assessment of crop losses which had deprived the farmers of a fair compensation.

Congress MLA from Barmer’s Baytu, Harish Chaudhary, who is also All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge for Punjab, said getting the full insurance amount from the Central public sector undertaking (PSU) was entirely within the domain of the Union government. He said the Union Minister had failed to get the insurance benefits for farmers in his own constituency.

Despite the release of the additional amount, the matter is yet to be finally resolved. Farmers staged a five-day-long demonstration at Gudamalani tehsil headquarters last week, alleging that the insurance amount was still not credited to their accounts and demanding a transparent procedure for the disbursement of money. The venue of the protest has since been shifted to Nokhra tehsil, where a large number of farmers have joined the demonstration.

Bharatiya Kisan Sangh’s animal husbandry chief Ridmal Ram Devasi told The Hindu that the farmers who were not getting remunerative prices for their produce had been subjected to “enormous losses” with the denial of compensation. The protest in Ridmalsar witnessed a display of ploughs and other farm equipment on tractors.

Mr. Devasi said a similar anomaly had occurred in 2018, when the farmers did not receive the full amount of insurance claims. He said agriculturists in a desert district like Barmer would get the real benefit if a minimum compensation amount was fixed for them along the lines of what is followed in Maharashtra. Similar protests have been staged in Ramsar and Gadra Road villages situated near the international border.

The protesters have also raised the issue of loss of rabi crops in a large number of agricultural fields during the ongoing cold wave and frost. Mustard, black mustard, cumin, isabgol and arandi crops have suffered extensive losses, for which the farmers expect urgent financial assistance from the State government after a quick assessment survey.