DATA STORY : Five Years of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana

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.