Published: 7th Jan, 2022
What is Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana?
- It is a crop Insurance Scheme launched in 2016.
- It is administered by the Ministry of Agriculture
- It replaced previous insurance schemes National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) as well as the Modified NAIS.
Objectives-
- To provide insurance coverage and financial support to the farmers in the event of crop failure
- To stabilize the income of farmers to ensure their continuance in farming.
- To encourage farmers to adopt innovative and modern agricultural practices.
- To ensure flow of credit to the agriculture sector.
Highlights of the scheme-
- Premium under the scheme-
- The premium paid by farmers- It is 2% for all Kharif crops, 1.5% for all Rabi crops and 5% for annual commercial and horticultural crops
- Remaining premium- The balance premium is to be paid by the central and state government collectively.
- Use of technology- Smart phones will be used to capture and upload data of crop cutting to reduce the delays in claim payment to farmers.
- Farmers to be covered- All farmers growing notified crops in a notified area during the season who have insurable interest in the crop are eligible. As per revised provisions, the scheme is voluntary for all farmers.
- Crops covered: The Scheme cover all the Crops for which past yield data is available and grown during the notified season, in a Notified Area and for which yield estimation at the Notified Area level will be available.
- Risks covered under the scheme-
- Yield Losses (standing crops, on notified area basis)- Risk insurance is provided to cover yield losses due to non-preventable risks, such as Natural Fire and Lightning, Storm, Hailstorm and cyclone etc.
- Adverse weather conditions- In case where majority of the insured farmers of a notified area are prevented from sowing/planting the insured crop due to adverse weather conditions, shall be eligible for indemnity claims upto a certain limit.
- Post-harvest loss- Coverage will be available up to a maximum period of 14 days from harvesting for those crops which are kept in “cut & spread” condition to dry in the field.
- Localized problems- For certain localized problems, loss /damage resulting from occurrence of identified localized risks like hailstorm, and Inundation affecting isolated farms would also be covered.
- Revised provisions of the scheme-
- Greater flexibility- States/ UTs have been given more flexibility to implement the scheme.
- Investing in ICE Activities: Insurance companies have to now spend 0.5% of the total premium collected on information, education and communication (IEC) activities.
Performance report-
- According to the Union agriculture ministry
- Claims worth Rs 90,000 crore have been disbursed to farmers in 5 years of scheme.
- 29 crore number of farmers have insured their crops under this scheme.
- Annually, around 5.5 crores number of farmers registered for the scheme.
|
Question- PM Fasal Bima Yojana is a necessary step to improve insurance penetration in the agriculture sector. Discuss the key features of the scheme and suggest measures to improve insurance penetration in India. |
Related Articles
Courses
Study
Notes
Home
Resources
More
