The cabinet has cleared the launch of the country’s first major crop damage insurance scheme from the next fiscal year, a move that would further strain government finances but help Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to woo rural voters ahead of key elections.
Stung by criticism of ignoring the concerns of rural India where over two-thirds of the country’s 1.25 billion people live, the government on Wednesday fielded as many as three cabinet ministers to underline the importance of the scheme whose budget will more than double in three years.
Modi is trying to placate rural voters after the impact of unseasonal rains and two straight years of drought on agriculture dented his popularity and contributed to a humiliating loss for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in elections late last year in the largely rural state of Bihar.
Further elections are due in the states of West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Assam this year. “It is a historic day,” Modi tweeted after the scheme was announced by the ministers of agriculture, home and parliamentary affairs. “I believe the prime minister’s crop insurance scheme, inspired by the well-being of farmers, will bring about a huge change in the lives of farmers.”