Palghar farmer claims he got Rs 2.30 as compensation for crop damage

A farmer from Maharashtra's Palghar district has once again exposed the hollowness of Maharashtra’s crop-loss compensation system after receiving a laughable Rs 2.30 from the government for the destruction of his paddy crop.

The farmer, Madhukar Baburao Patil, from Shillottar village in Wada taluka, said he had applied for compensation after continuous, unseasonal rains left his 11 acres of paddy fields submerged for days. “The harvest rotted in the fields, and even the straw turned black. There’s now no fodder left for the cattle,” Patil said. “But the government thinks that’s worth Rs 2.30.”

The rains that lashed Maharashtra through September and October caused catastrophic damage to standing crops across the state. According to preliminary assessments by the state agriculture department, more than 68 lakh hectares of farmland — nearly half of Maharashtra’s total cultivated area — suffered some degree of loss.

Officials estimate that the total financial hit to farmers exceeds Rs 10,000 crore, though independent farm unions put the figure closer to Rs 14,000 crore.

Patil’s story mirrors that of dozens of farmers across the state who have received token sums under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) or the state’s disaster-relief fund. In Akola district, several farmers recently reported payments between Rs 3 and Rs 21 for destroyed cotton and soybean crops, prompting them to publicly return their cheques in protest.

The problem, say activists, lies in the way compensation is calculated. Loss estimates are often based on incomplete field surveys, delayed satellite assessments, or outdated revenue records that underreport the actual area under cultivation. By the time the paperwork clears, the amount credited to farmers’ accounts is so small that it borders on parody.

Under the PMFBY, farmers pay a small premium while the Centre and state share the rest, but the insurance firms tasked with disbursing relief have been accused of inflating profits while paying out minimal compensation. In 2022-23 alone, insurers reportedly collected over Rs 3,300 crore in premiums from Maharashtra’s farmers, but less than half that amount was paid out in claims.

The issue has fuelled a wave of farmer anger led by Bachchu Kadu, former MLA and leader of the Prahar Janshakti Party, who launched a tractor march from Amravati to Nagpur in late October demanding immediate crop-loss relief, farm-loan waivers and fair MSPs.

Thousands of farmers joined the protest, which eventually blocked National Highway 44 near Nagpur. The Bombay High Court later ordered demonstrators to clear the highway after traffic disruption affected ambulances and supply routes, prompting protestors to say they would court arrest instead.

Confronted by the growing outrage, the Devendra Fadnavis-led government announced a Rs 32,000-crore relief package and set up a nine-member committee to review the state’s compensation and debt-relief mechanisms. But Kadu and other farmer leaders have dismissed the move as “cosmetic”, arguing that relief remains trapped in paperwork while real losses multiply.

“When farmers receive Rs 2 or Rs 3, the government has no moral right to talk about relief,” Kadu said. “This is not policy failure — it’s institutional cruelty.”

Patil’s case was also raised by Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, who accused the ruling alliance of mocking farmers. “It’s a joke that people in Palghar are getting two rupees and a few paise as compensation,” Thackeray said in Mumbai. “The government calls itself pro-farmer, but this is what its concern looks like.”

Opposition parties, including the Congress and NCP (Sharad Pawar), have demanded a full audit of the state’s insurance partnerships and the immediate release of district-wise data on rainfall losses.

Meanwhile, agricultural economists warn that the repeated cycles of unseasonal rain, delayed relief, and bureaucratic apathy have eroded farmers’ trust in the very systems meant to protect them. Despite multiple “relief packages,” rural Maharashtra continues to grapple with mounting debt, falling incomes, and a steady stream of farmer suicides.

For Patil, the Rs 2.30 payment is less an insult than a grim confirmation of what he already suspected — that the state’s compensation mechanisms exist largely on paper. “We pay the premium, we lose the crop, we file all the documents,” he said. “In return, we get two rupees. If this is relief, then who needs punishment?”

With PTI inputs