MAHARASHTRA

Farmers inMaharashtrahave received the lowest-ever payout in 2020 under the Prime Ministers Crop Insurance Scheme (PMFBY) since the scheme began in 2016. Farmers received Rs 823 crore, which amounts to just 14% of the Rs 5,801 crore premium paid to insurance companies, the latest data shows.
Only 12.3 lakh farmers benefited from the claims, also the lowest number since the scheme began. They account for 10% of the 1.2 crore cultivators who had applied for crop insurance in 2020.

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has written to Union Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar suggesting a new crop insurance model wherein insurance companies will have a maximum cap of profit upto 20% and maximum risk of 10% against premium collected. This is the model which the state is implementing in Beed district.

Data shows that the highest claims under PMFBY in the state were paid in 2018-19 and 2019-20, where the claims to premium ratio was 94.7% and 112%. In these two years, the state faced drought and natural calamity. However, in the other three years of the scheme, the claims paid by the firms to farmers were lower than the premium collected by them. In 2016-17, the claims to premium ratio was 48.2% and in 2017-18, it was 76.4%. The gap was most glaring in 2020, when it plunged to 14%.

Under the PMFBY, the farmer pays 2% of the premium, while the rest is split between the Centre and state. However, the payout of claims to farmers can extend upto 350% of the premium. If the claims paid are less than the premium, the insurance firm can keep the amount that remains.

The water supply scheme for theManjariarea may be launched soon with its final stage trials already underway.

The scheme was sanctioned in 2012-13 at a cost of Rs 44 crore. But, its work had been on slow track since then. MLA Chetan Tupe said the pending works were pushed in the last two years and the scheme is getting ready now to provide water to the most populated parts of Manjari like Mahadevnagar, Gokulpatti and Gaothan.

TheMaharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran(MJP) is implementing the scheme. Residents said the project got a push after Manjari was merged into Pune municipal limits in 2021. The Population of Manjari has gone up significantly in the last decade, pushing up water demand.

At least 5,318 hectares of notified forest land in Maharashtra have been affected by wildfires between January and March this year, according to forest department data.

This marks a 74% percent increase from the 3,056 hectares of forest land affected during the same period in 2020, the data showed. However, fire counts (in ) correspondingly went up by 16% this year, indicating significantly more intense incidents this year.

As per the data, Gadchirolis Sironcha forest division was the most affected, with 551 hectares of land coming under the influences of forest fires. The Nagpur forest division (under the Nagpur circle) and the Jalgaon forest division (under Dhule circle) also faced comparable losses, with 398 and 447 hectares of area lost to fire, respectively. The same figures for these divisions during January to March last year stood at 5 and 24 hectares respectively.

Notably this year, even areas like Melghat, where the fire department has seen relative success in mitigating the impact of forest fires in recent year, are once again seeing an uptick in the quantum of forest area affected by wildfires.

The state cabinet on Wednesday cleared a proposal to give a 100% road tax exemption to all the vehicles that are used as school buses in the state.

The waiver will be applicable for a two year long period from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2022. The said that this exemption will only be applicable for all those buses that are owned byschoolsor those that are taken on lease by schools and exclusively operate as school buses.

School Bus Owners Associationpresident said hundreds of bus operators were seeking compensation for the period lost due to the imposition of lockdown and school bus trade coming to a standstill from March 2020.

The ministry of Home affairs report (2021-2022) released in the first week of November said the data collection for the nextCensuswould be done digitally, though the Centre was yet to announce the launch of the programme.

Sources from the Census division said training was on in all states for digital data collection. The Census work was to be carried out in 2019 but it was delayed due to the pandemic. The Centre is yet to announce fresh dates, but training is on fordigital data collection, said a key official from the Census division. Earlier, home ministerAmit Shah, too, had said the next Census will be done digitally, with 100% accuracy.

The report released last week stated that digital data collection, Census management, and monitoring system, code directory geospatial technology, and other latest technologies would be used in the next Census.

The redevelopment of old buildings received a push in the state during Covid as Mhada gave record approvals toprojects,in the process collecting its highest revenue levels from fees and premiums: in just five months, from April to August 2021, the agency collected Rs 1,171.86 crore through this approach. In comparison, in 12 months from April 2020 to March 2021, the agency had collected 261.38 crore.

From the time the pandemic began, Mhadas total revenue collection has been over Rs 1,433 crore, a record for the housing agency. From April 2020 till August 2021 (the last month for which data is available), Mhada gave approvals or offer letters to 193 redevelopment projects. In comparison, the agency had approved only 162 projects in three years from 2017 to 2020 before the pandemic broke out.

Mhada officials said fast-tracking approvals and a 50% DISCOUNT in premiums offered by the had helped builders and that was the reason behind the redevelopment push. Builders pay premiums to Mhada for getting additional construction space and concession in rules like having large amounts of open space and staircases.