Launched in 2016, the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) is a large-scale crop subsidy insurance scheme that was aimed to safeguard farmers.
This scheme provides a coverage for the entire cropping cycle from pre sowing to post harvest and mid-season adversities. The primary goal of the initiative is to reduce the burden of insurance premiums on farmers and ensure early settlement of claims.
This flagship scheme was designed in line with the One Nation One Scheme and replaces three older initiatives - Modified National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (MNAIS), Weather- based Crop Insurance Scheme and National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (NAIS) by incorporating their best feature and removing shortcomings to improve insurance services available to farmers.
The scheme is being administered by the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare under the Ministry of Agriculture, along with empanelled general insurance companies.
Loss and damage to notified insured crops due to war, nuclear risks, malicious damage, and other preventable risks is excluded from the scope of coverage.
Objective: Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) aims at supporting sustainable production in agriculture sector by way of –
a) providing financial support to farmers suffering crop loss/damage arising out of unforeseen events
b) stabilizing the income of farmers to ensure their continuance in farming
c) encouraging farmers to adopt innovative and modern agricultural practices
d) ensuring flow of credit to the agriculture sector; which will contribute to food security, crop diversification and enhancing growth and competitiveness of agriculture sector besides protecting farmers from production risks.
Annual Commercial/Animal Horticulture crops, oil seeds and food crops (Cereals, Millets and Pulses) are covered under the scheme.
This scheme is optional for farmers who have not availed institutional credit while all the farmers who have borrowed institutional loans from banks are covered under the scheme mandatorily.
Premium: There will be a uniform premium of only 2% to be paid by farmers for all kharif crops and 1.5% for all Rabi crops. In the case of annual commercial and horticulture crops, the premium to be paid by farmers will be only 5%.
Premium over and above these limits is shared by Central and State governments on 50:50 basis, except in North Eastern region where it is 90:10.
There is no upper limit on government subsidies. Even if the balance premium is 90%, it will be borne by the government.
In the recent advancements, the National Crop Insurance Portal’s digitised claim settlement module, namely DigiClaim has been launched under the ambit of PMFBY.
With the launch, the insurance claims totalling Rs 1260.35 crore have been disbursed on March 23, 2023 to insured farmers in the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Haryana with the click of a button.
Comments
Write Comment