1-Dec-2022: Centre says, it is committed to provide comprehensive insurance coverage against crop loss on account of non-preventable natural risks under PMFBY

Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare today reiterated that under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), Government is committed to provide comprehensive insurance coverage against crop loss on account of non-preventable natural risks.

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) is the third largest crop insurance scheme in the World and tipped to become number one in coming years as around 5 crore farmer applications are being received under the scheme every year. The acceptability of the scheme has increased amongst the farmers in the last 6 years, with share of non-loanee farmers, marginalized farmers and small farmers increasing by 282% since the initiation of the scheme in 2016.

In the last 6 years, Rs 25,186 crores have been paid by farmers as the premium, wherein Rs. 1,25,662 crores have been paid to the farmers against their claims as on 31st October, 2022 with Central and State Governments bearing most of the premium under the scheme.

While the implementing States are moving ahead with the enrolment of farmers under Rabi 22-23, a factually incorrect news report (as has been observed in the matter of the examined case)  was published in some sections of the media stating that a paltry sum of insurance claims being paid to the farmers in certain districts of Maharashtra,

The Ministry has attempted to examine the cases reported in the news item, however due to the lack of specific data points only one farmer has been identified namely Sh. Pandurang Bhaskar Rao Kadam. It has been reported in the news items that while he paid Rs.595 as the total premium, he received claim of Rs 37.31 as compensation for one crop and Rs 327 for another. But, as per actual claim data, till date, he has received the total claim amount of Rs.2080.40 , almost four times of premium paid by him. It is reiterated that the amount of Rs. 2080.40/- is only part claims and part payments paid and not the actual payment. Pandurang Rao may get more money, once the final settlement of claims is completed. It is also noteworthy that some of the farmers in the Parbhani District have received more than Rs. 50,000 as insurance claims and one farmer even received Rs. 94,534 before the final settlement of the claims of the district.

In Parbani district, 6.66 lakh farmer applications were received in which premium of Rs.48.11 crores have been paid by the farmers against which claims of Rs.113 crores have been paid till date. However, those farmers whose claim is less than Rs.1000/- will be paid at the time of final settlement with the condition that minimum of Rs.1000/- will be paid to an individual farmer if any claim arises.

The Government of Maharashtra has informed that out of 79.53 lakh applications, in Kharif-22,in the State about 283 applications has sum insured below Rs.100/- and 21,603 applications have sum insured below Rs.1000/- Some farmers have multiple applications and, in some cases, the total claim is low because their area insured is very low. To overcome this problem, Government of Maharashtra has provisioned that minimum of Rs.1000/- claim shall be paid against any unique farmer ID.

The scheme is being implemented on actuarial/bidded premium rates however, farmers including small farmers have to pay maximum 2% for Kharif, 1.5% for Rabi food and oilseed crops and 5% for commercial/horticultural crops respectively. Premium over and above these limits is shared by the Central and State Governments on 50: 50 basis except in North Eastern Region where it is 90: 10 from Kharif 2020. The scheme operates on the insurance principles therefore the extent of area insured, extent of damage occurred, sum insured are the important determinants in arriving at the claim amount.

A top official of the Ministry said that Digitisation and Technology are playing a significant role in scaling up the reach and operations of PMFBY with precision agriculture. Union of Agri-tech and rural insurance can be the magic formula for financial inclusion, enabling a trust in the scheme. Recently introduced Weather Information and Network Data Systems (WINDS), Yield Estimation System based on Technology (YES-Tech), Collection of Real Time Observations and Photographs of Crops (CROPIC) are some of the key steps taken under the scheme to bring in more efficiency and transparency. To address farmer grievances in real time, an integrated help line system is under beta testing in Chhattisgarh. 

24-Nov-2022: Union Agriculture Ministry is open to taking pro-farmer changes in PMFBY in response to the recent climate crisis and rapid technological advances

Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare is open to taking pro-farmer changes in Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) in response to the recent climate crisis and rapid technological advances.

Secretary, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Manoj Ahuja said, since farming is exposed directly to such climatic catastrophes, it is important and critical to protect the vulnerable farming community of the country from the vagaries of nature. As a result, demand for crop insurance is likely to increase and therefore we need much more emphasis on crop and other forms of rural/agricultural insurance products to provide sufficient insurance protection to the farmers in India.

Shri Ahuja pointed out that after the introduction of PMFBY in 2016, the scheme brought in comprehensive coverage of all the crops and perils, from the pre-sowing to post harvest period which was not included in previous schemes of National Agricultural Insurance Scheme(NAIS) and Modified NAIS. He said, several new fundamental features were also added during its revision in 2018, such as increasing the crop loss intimation period for farmers from 48 hours to 72 hours, keeping in mind that damage signatures disappear or are lost in case of localized calamities after 72 hours. Similarly, post its revamp in 2020, the scheme added voluntary enrolment and inclusion of add on cover for wildlife attack, to make the scheme even more farmer friendly.

Shri Ahuja said, PMFBY has been facilitating adaptation of Crop Insurance, while addressing several challenges on the way and pointed out that the major changes made in the Revamped Scheme were giving more flexibility to States for coverage of risks under the Scheme and making the Scheme Voluntary for all farmers to meet the long-standing demand of the farmers.

He also clarified that some States have opted out of the Scheme primarily due to inability to pay their state share of premium subsidy due to financial constraints, and it must be noted that post resolution of their issues, Andhra Pradesh joined back the scheme from July 2022 onwards and it is expected that the other states are also considering to join the scheme to provide comprehensive coverage to their respective farmers. It is pertinent to note that most of the States have opted for Compensation Models in place of PMFBY, that do not provide same comprehensive risk coverage to farmers as PMFBY.

Shri Ahuja said, in era of Rapid Innovations, Digitisation and Technology are playing a significant role in scaling up the reach and operations of PMFBY with precision agriculture. Union of agri-tech and rural insurance can be the magic formula for financial inclusion, enabling a trust in the scheme. Recently introduced Weather Information and Network Data Systems (WINDS), Yield Estimation System based on Technology (YES-Tech), Collection of Real Time Observations and Photographs of Crops (CROPIC) are some of the key steps taken under the scheme to bring in more efficiency and transparency. To address farmer grievances in real time, an integrated help line system is under beta testing in Chhattisgarh.

Dwelling in detail about the contribution of Centre and State in the premium, Shri Ahuja pointed out that in the last 6 years, only Rs 25,186 crores have been paid by farmers wherein Rs 1,25,662 crores have been paid to the farmers against their claims, with Central and State Governments bearing most of the premium under the scheme. It is to be noted that the acceptability of the scheme has increased amongst the farmers in last 6 years, with share of non-loanee farmers, marginalized farmers and small farmers increasing by 282% since the initiation of the scheme in 2016, the Secretary added.

It may be recalled that in 2022, several reports of excess rainfall came from Maharashtra, Haryana and Punjab while Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand reported deficit rainfall, eventually damaging crops like paddy, pulses and oilseeds. Of late, instances of such uncertainties - thunderstorms, cyclones, droughts, heat waves, lightening, floods and landslides have also increased, occurring almost every day in India in the first 9 months of 2022, as reported in several Science and Environment Dailies and Journals.

Shri Ahuja also pointed out that World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report 2022 categorise Extreme Weather Risk as 2nd largest risk over next 10 years period and such sudden shifts in weather patterns are capable of adversely impacting our country, where the responsibility to feed world’s 2nd highest population lies solely on the shoulders of the agriculture community. It therefore becomes imminent to provide a safety net to the farmers to protect their financial position and encourage them to continue farming and ensue food security for not only the country but for the world as well.

PMFBY is currently the largest crop insurance scheme in the world in terms of farmer enrolments, averaging 5.5 crore applications every year and third largest in terms of premium received. The scheme promises minimal financial burden on the farmer, with farmers paying only 1.5% and 2% of total premium for Rabi and Kharif season, respectively, with Centre and State Governments bearing most of the premium. In last 6 years of its implementation, farmers paid a premium of Rs 25,186/- crores and received claims amounting to Rs 1,25,662/- crores* (as on 31st Oct 2022). The increase in acceptability of the scheme amongst the farmer can be ascertained from the fact that share of non-loanee, marginalized and small farmers increased by 282% since the inception of the scheme in 2016.

During arduous seasons of 2017, 2018 and 2019 marred by weather extremities, the scheme proved to be a decisive factor in securing livelihoods of farmers wherein claims paid ratio in several states averaged more than 100 % against the gross premium collected. For example, States of Chhattisgarh (2017), Odisha (2017), Tamil Nadu (2018), Jharkhand (2019) received 384%, 222%, 163% and 159% of claims ratio against gross premium.

5-Aug-2022: Crop Insurance Schemes

National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP) is the only source of enrolment for Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), on which farmer applications from various designated sources including banks/financial institutions are entered. Specific cut-off dates have been prescribed for enrolment of farmers, debit of premium, remittance of farmers’ premium to concerned insurance company and uploading of data of farmers on NCIP.  However, it was noticed that sometimes some banks/financial institutions in some States/Union Territories did not enter the data on NCIP, due to which some farmers could not be enrolled in time. In order to ameliorate against such instances, additional 15 days above the cut-off date for submission of proposal/application by farmers for enrolment have been provided to Banks/Financial Institutions for entry of individual farmer-wise data on the NCIP for enrolment and premium subsidy calculation purposes. However, as banks have to ensure that eligible loanee farmers are not deprived of any benefit under the Scheme due to errors/omissions/commissions of the concerned branch/ PACS, and in case of such errors, the concerned agencies shall have to make good of all such losses.    

19-Jul-2022: Claims paid under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna-PMFBY

The PMFBY envisages coverage of all food crops (cereals, millets and pulses), oilseeds and commercial/horticultural crops subject to availability of past yield data of requisite number of years based on Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) as well as capacity of the State Government to conduct requisite number of CCEs to assess the yield of the crop to calculate claims.  However, specific crop is notified by the concerned State Government keeping in view the aforesaid provision.   For the crops not meeting the aforesaid conditions, the concerned State Government is free to notify them for coverage under Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) under which claims payment are being structured on the basis of weather index parameters.          

The admissible claims under the PMFBY are generally paid by the concerned insurance companies within two months of completion of Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs)/harvesting period and one month of notification for invoking the risks/perils of prevented sowing, mid-season adversity and post-harvest losses subject to receipt of total share of premium subsidy from concerned State Government within time.  However, settlement of few claims in some States got delayed due to reasons like delayed transmission of yield data; late release of their share in premium subsidy, yield related disputes between insurance companies and States, non-receipt of account details of some farmers for transfer of claims to the bank account of eligible farmers and National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) related issues, erroneous/incomplete entry of individual farmers data on National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP), delay in remittance of farmers share of premium/non-remittance of farmers share of premium to concerned insurance company etc. The details of claims disbursed from 2018-19 onwards under the scheme are given below :

(Rs. in crore)

*  As on 30.06.2022.

This Department is regularly monitoring the implementation of PMFBY including timely settlement of claims through weekly video conference of stakeholders, one to one meetings with insurance companies/States etc.  Insurance companies have to pay penal interest @12% per annum to the farmers for the period beyond the stipulated period in the PMFBY Guidelines from the date of receipt of final yield data from the State Government and completion of crop damage survey.  State Governments have been advised to calculate the admissible interest, if any and direct the concerned insurance companies to pay to eligible farmers.

To resolve the technical disputes between insurance companies and other stakeholders including States, Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) at Centre level and State Technical Advisory Committees (STAC) at State level have also been constituted under the scheme.

18-Feb-2022: Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) enters its 7th year of implementation

The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) has successfully entered its 7th year of implementation with the upcoming Kharif 2022 season, completing 6 years of its implementation since its launch announcement on 18th February 2016 by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi at Sehore, Madhya Pradesh.

A flagship scheme of the Government of India, PMFBY aims to provide financial support to farmers suffering crop loss/damage arising out of natural calamities. Over 36 crore farmer applications have been insured under PMFBY, with over INR 1,07,059 crores of claims have already been paid under the scheme as of 4th February, 2022.

Launched 6 years ago, the scheme was revamped in 2020 enabling voluntary participation of the farmers. It also made it convenient for the farmer to report crop loss within 72 hours of the occurrence of any event - through Crop Insurance App, CSC Centre or the nearest agriculture officer, with claim benefit transferred electronically into the bank accounts of the eligible farmer.

Integration of land records with the PMFBY’s National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP), Crop Insurance mobile app for easy enrollment of farmers, remittance of farmer premium through NCIP, a subsidy release module and a claim release module through NCIP are some of the key features of the scheme.

Through its State/District Level Grievance Committee’s, the scheme also enables farmers to submit their grievances at the grassroots level. This also includes acknowledging and resolving farmer grievances through IEC activities such as Crop Insurance Week which is celebrated twice bi-yearly, PMFBY Paathshaala, social media campaigns, a toll-free helpline and email communication.

The scheme has been able to provide financial assistance to the most vulnerable farmers, as around 85% of the farmers enrolled with the scheme are small and marginal farmers. The recent announcement by Finance Minister of India Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman during her 2022-23 budget speech on the use of drones for crop insurance will further strengthen the integration of technology for smooth implementation of the scheme on the ground.

It is to be noted that the scheme will be launching a doorstep distribution drive to deliver crop insurance policies to the farmers ‘Meri Policy Mere Hath’ in all implementing States. The campaign aims to ensure all farmers are well aware and equipped with all information on their policies, land records, the process of claim and grievance redressal under PMFBY.

17-Dec-2021: Central Share in Premium Subsidy under PMFBY

Government has recently revamped the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) with effect from Kharif 2020 and inter alia revised the premium subsidy sharing pattern for North Eastern States from 50:50 to 90 : 10 between Central and State Government. The premium sharing pattern of remaining States/UTs is 50:50 subject to other provisions of the scheme. 

Further, a provision has been made in the revamped Operational Guidelines of the scheme for earmarked administrative expenses @ 3% of the total budget for strengthening the infrastructure and technology for better delivery of the Scheme by the Centre and concerned State Government from their own budget. 

Further, Central Government is providing 50% of procurement cost of smart phone along with internet data charges to the States to incentivize them for use of CCE Agri App for reporting Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) data on National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP) with Geo-coded and time stamped data.   States implementing the scheme at the Village/ Village Panchayat level for major crops are also entitled for 50% reimbursement of incremental expenses of Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs).   Provision has also been made to share 50% expenses on use of improved technology on receipt of proposal from concerned State Governments.  Central Government is also providing 50% of the viability gap funding to the implementing States for establishment of Automatic Weather Stations/Automatic Rain gauges network on Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.

30-Jul-2021: Transparency and Accountability under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)

The farmers can get enrolled through various sources under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).  In addition to the conventional channels of enrollment of farmers through Rural financial institutions/banks and insurance companies/their intermediaries, Common Service Centers (CSCs) are also available at village level for facilitating free enrollment.  Farmers can also do direct online enrollment on National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP) or through Crop Insurance App.

To motivate and to increase the coverage/enrollment of farmers under the scheme, Government has taken several steps to create substantial awareness amongst the farmers on the benefits/key features of PMFBY.   The Government has actively supported the awareness activities being carried out by the States, implementing Insurance Companies, financial institutions and Common Service Centre (CSC) network to disseminate key features of PMFBY amongst farmers and members of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). All the grass root level organisations including ATMA functionaries responsible for implementing PMFBY are actively involved in building capacity of farmers to take informed decisions.    As envisaged in the operational guidelines of the PMFBY, the Insurance companies have been asked to utilize 0.5% fund of the gross premium collected by them on Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities to build overall insurance literacy of farmers.

Apart from this, other activities for awareness generation involve the publicity of key features and benefits of the scheme through advertisements in leading National and local newspapers, airing of audio-visual spots on regional / local channels, distribution of IEC material in local language, dissemination of SMS through Kisan / National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP) and organisation of online workshops of all stakeholders including farmers and other key stakeholders.

Recently, a structured awareness campaign ‘Crop Insurance Week/Fasal Bima Saptah’ was initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare between 1st July 2021 to 7th July 2021 under Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav,  an initiative to celebrate 75 years of India’s independence, in all the districts/areas notified under the scheme with special emphasis on 75 aspirational/tribal districts.

As a result of these measures, since inception of the scheme in 2016-17, over 2929 lakh farmer applications have been enrolled.   Against the premium of Rs. 21574 crore paid by farmers, the claims amounting to Rs. 98108 crore have been paid to 843.4 lakh farmer applications.

This Department has taken various steps/measures to strengthen the capacity of various stakeholders involved in implementation of the Scheme through various channels like stratified training programme,  interaction workshop, conference e-learning etc.   Standardized training manuals and material including training material, pamphlets, broachers and Standard Operating procedures etc. have also been prepared for capacity building purposes of various stakeholders of the scheme.  

Review and improvement of the scheme is a continuous process.  Based on the experience gained, views of various stakeholders and with a view to ensure better transparency, accountability, timely payment of claims to the farmers and to make the scheme more farmer friendly, Government has comprehensively revised and revamped the Operational Guidelines of the PMFBY with effect from Rabi 2018 and Kharif 2020 respectively to ensure the targeted delivery of benefits of the scheme to the farmers adequately and timely. 

National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP) – www.pmfby.gov.in with the objective to digitize the entire process/activities of the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and to ensure better administration, co-ordination, transparency, dissemination of information and delivery of services including direct online enrollment of farmers, uploading/obtaining individual insured farmer’s details for better monitoring and to ensure transfer of claim amount electronically to the individual farmers Bank Accounts has been developed. To ensure timely payment of claims, use of smartphone/CCE-Agri App for real time transfer of yield data on NCIP has also been initiated. Through NCIP and Crop Insurance App, farmers can track their crop insurance and get all information about it.

28-Jul-2021: Operational Guidelines of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) with effect from Rabi 2018 and Kharif 2020

The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) is available for all States/UTs and farmers whether loanee, non-loanee, share cropper or tenant farmers on voluntary basis.   The concerned State Government notifies the crops and areas under the Scheme. Therefore, benefits of the scheme are available to all those farmers who are growing notified crops in areas/insurance units notified by the concerned State Government.

Based on the experience gained, views of various stakeholders and with a view to ensure better transparency, accountability, timely payment of claims to the farmers and to make the scheme more farmer friendly, Government has comprehensively revised and revamped the Operational Guidelines of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) with effect from Rabi 2018 and Kharif 2020 respectively to ensure the targeted delivery of benefits of the scheme to the farmers adequately and timely. 

Further, National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP) has been developed for ensuring better administration, co-ordination, transparency, dissemination of information and delivery of services including direct online enrollment of farmers, uploading/obtaining individual insured farmer’s details for better monitoring and to ensure transfer of claim amount electronically to the individual farmers Bank Account.  To ensure timely payment of claims, use of smartphone/CCE-Agri App for real time transfer of data on national crop insurance portal has been initiated.     Crop Insurance app has also been launched, on which farmers can enroll themselves under the scheme, track their crop insurance and get all information about it.

Penalty provisions @12% per annum for late settlement of claims by insurance companies and late release of funds by State Governments have also been stipulated under the scheme.

As a result of these measures farmer friendly measures since inception of the scheme in 2016-17, against the premium of Rs. 21614 crore paid by farmers, the claims amounting to Rs. 97719 crore have been paid to 834.6 lakh farmer applications.

23-Jul-2021: Benefits to Farmers under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) is being implemented on actuarial/bidded premium rates however, farmers including small farmers have to pay maximum 2% for Kharif, 1.5% for Rabi food and oilseed crops and 5% for commercial/horticultural crops and the balance of actuarial/bidded premium is shared by the Central and State Government on 50 : 50 basis and in case of North Eastern States on 90 : 10 basis from Kharif 2020.

Salient Features of PMFBY

1. Provides comprehensive insurance coverage against crop loss on account of non-preventable natural risks, thus helping in stabilizing the income of the farmers and encourage them for adoption of innovative practices.
2. Increased risk coverage of Crop cycle – pre-sowing to post-harvest losses.
3. Area approach for settlement of claims for widespread damage. Notified Insurance unit has been reduced to Village/Village Panchayat  for major crops.
4. Actuarial/bidded premium but uniform maximum premium of only 2%, 1.5% and 5% to be paid by farmers for all Kharif crops, Rabi Crops and Commercial/ horticultural crops respectively.   Premium over and above these limits is shared by the Central and State Governments on 50 : 50 basis except in North Eastern Region where it is 90 : 10.
5. The difference between premium and the rate of Insurance charges payable by farmers is provided as subsidy and shared equally by the Centre and State.
6. Uniform seasonality discipline & Sum Insured  for both loanee & non-loanee farmers
7. Removal of the provision of capping on premium which led to reduction in sum insured to facilitate farmers to get claim against full sum insured without any reduction.
8. Individual farm level assessment and settlement of claims for localized calamities of hailstorm, landslide, Inundation, Cloud Burst and Natural Fire and post-harvest losses due to cyclone, cyclonic/unseasonal rains and hailstorm for the crops kept in the field for drying upto a period of 14 days, throughout the country.
9. Provision of claims upto 25% of sum insured for prevented sowing.
10.  “On-Account payment” upto 25% of sum insured for mid-season adversity, if the crop damage is reported more than 50% in the insurance unit.  Remaining claims based on Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) data.
11. Use of Remote Sensing Technology, Smartphones & Drones for quick estimation of crop losses to ensure early settlement of claims.
12. Crop Insurance Portal has been developed for ensuring better administration, co-ordination, transparency, dissemination of information and delivery of services including  crediting the claim amount electronically to the individual farmer’s Bank Account.
13. Focused attention on increasing awareness about the schemes among all stakeholders and appropriate provisioning of resources for the same.
14. Making the scheme voluntary for all farmers instead of compulsory for loanee farmers.

23-Mar-2021: Empanelment of Insurance Companies under PMFBY

18 general insurance companies have been empanelled for implementation of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) during 2020-21. One new company has also been empanelled during the year 2020-21.

Further, as per provisions of the Operational Guidelines of PMFBY, each insurance company is required to compulsorily bid for any 4 North Eastern States, 2 hilly States and 2 Union Territories so that the scheme can be implemented in low penetrated States/UTs.

All the empanelled companies have not participated in bidding process in each State/each season.   In Kharif 2020 season only 9 insurance companies have bid for implementation of PMFBY during 2020-21 due to financial considerations and hardening of reinsurance market. 

Non-participation in bidding process by insurance companies is one of the key performance indicators and specific negative points have been allocated for non-performance of this provision at the time of monitoring/evaluation of empanelled insurance companies with imposition of monetary penalty.

However, in reply to the show-cause notices issued by the Government, most of these companies have assured to continue participation in bidding in coming years.

Even if any empanelled insurance company discontinues the implementation of PMFBY, they are bound to assess the crop losses and settle/pay the admissible claims of previous seasons to the insured farmers who have paid premium as per the rules and regulations of the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (IRDAI). 

Detailed provisions regarding settlement of claims of insured farmers by the insurance companies have also been made in the Operational Guidelines of PMFBY.  The Government monitors the scheme implementation including settlement of claims by insurance companies regularly through weekly video conferences with stakeholders including insurance companies, banks and State Governments.  Government has also issued instructions from time to time to the financial institutions to remit the premium and upload the famers’ data correctly and timely on NCIP.  Stakeholders are also reminded from time to time to ensure adherence to the seasonality discipline and other requirements indicated in the Operational Guidelines of the scheme so that admissible claims of farmers can be paid well in time.

19-Mar-2021: Use of Satellite Imagery-Based Yield and Crop Health Estimation

The Dr. P K Mishra Committee was constituted in September, 2013 to review the implementation of crop insurance schemes in India. The Committee submitted its report in May, 2014 recommending the use of satellite remote sensing data for various applications related to yield and crop health estimation for crop insurance. In this regard, several activities have been carried out, such as -

1. Use of satellite remote sensing derived yield values for smart sampling and optimization of Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) being conducted under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).
2. Use of satellite remote sensing to assess the discrepancy between the actual sown area and the insurance area and compute the Areas Correction Factor (ACF).
3. Use of satellite imagery for resolving disputes between the State Governments and Insurance Companies related to crop yield estimates.
4. Yield data quality checking using remote sensing.
5. Qualitative crop loss and health assessment using satellite remote sensing.
6. Use of satellite remote sensing for assessing the areas of preventive sowing or failure of crop emergence.
7. Use of long-term satellite remote data for risk assessment which have been used for clustering of districts.

19-Mar-2021: Premium Subsidy on Crop Insurance

To address the issue of high premium rates for few crops/areas due to adverse selection, inconsistencies in the cultivation of crops as per the suitability of the climate, inconsistencies in collection of yield data etc. under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS),  the requisite central share of premium subsidy (i.e. 90 : 10 for North Eastern States and 50 : 50 for remaining States) will be provide for areas/crops having gross premium rate upto 25% for irrigated areas/crops and upto 30% for un-irrigated areas/crops from Kharif 2020 season. Though this may affect the State Governments liabilities initially, but will help/encourage them to examine the reasons/causes of such high premium rates and make suitable corrective measures in collection of yield data, issue weather advisory, advise crop diversification to the farmers etc.  More freedom has been given to the States to choose the risk including single peril based on prevailing climate conditions etc. to cover more and more crops under the scheme by the State Governments. 

Further, National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA) has also been requested to Study Operational issues in implementation of PMFBY and to recommend effective implementation strategies for most vulnerable districts.

Based on the requests/representations received from various quarters including farmer organizations, States etc. by the Government and to give choice to the farmers to assess their risk profile and accordingly decide on the issue of crop insurance, these schemes have been made voluntary for farmers w.e.f. Kharif 2020 season.

14-Feb-2021: Compensation to Farmers for Crop Loss due to Unseasonal Climate

The State Governments undertake relief measures in the wake of natural disasters from the State Disaster Response Fund already placed at their disposal in accordance with Government of India’s approved items and norms. Additional assistance is extended from the National Disaster Response Fund as per established procedure. The assistance approved under SDRF/NDRF norms is provided in the form of relief.

Unseasonal climate change is not a calamity notified by the Ministry of Home Affairs. However, the State Governments are empowered to utilize up to 10 percent of the funds available under SDRF for providing immediate relief to the victims of natural disasters that they consider to be ‘disasters’ within the local context in the State and which are not included in the notified list of disasters of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. The States can incur expenditure as per the SDRF/NDRF guidelines, issued by Government of India (Ministry of Home Affairs) on 08.04.2015.

The Government of India has introduced yield based Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and weather based Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS) from Kharif 2016 to provide financial support to farmers suffering crop loss/damage arising out of natural calamities, adverse weather incidence and to stabilize  income of farmers. Comprehensive risk insurance is provided under the scheme from pre-harvesting to post-harvest losses.

7-Feb-2021: Government of India allocates Rs. 16000 crore for Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) for 2021-22

To boost the safety of farmers' crops and ensure maximum benefit of crop insurance reaches to farmers, the Government of India has allocated Rs 16000 crores for Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana(PMFBY)for the fiscal year 2021-22. This is a budgetary increase of around Rs 305 crore as against the previous fiscal year 2020-21, which reiterates the government's commitment towards growth of agriculture sector in the country.

The scheme extends coverage for the entire cropping cycle from pre-sowing to post-harvest including coverage for losses arising out of prevented sowing and mid-season adversities.

5 years ago, on 13th January 2016, the Government of India approved this flagship crop insurance scheme. The scheme was conceived as a milestone initiative to provide a comprehensive risk solution at the lowest uniform premium across the country for farmers.

Today, PMFBY is globally the largest crop insurance scheme in terms of farmer participation and 3rd largest in terms of premium. Over 5.5 crore farmer applications are received on year-on-year basis.

Over the past 5 years, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has worked extensively towards revamping the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) scheme by relooking at the structural, logistical, and other challenges. The scheme was made voluntary for farmers post its revamp in 2020.

The scheme has made it easier for the farmer to report crop loss within 72 hours of occurrence of any event through the Crop Insurance App, CSC Centre or the nearest agriculture officer. Claim benefit is then provided electronically into the bank accounts of eligible farmer.

Integration of land records with the PMFBY portal, Crop Insurance mobile-app for easy enrollment of farmers and usage of technology such as satellite imagery, remote-sensing technology, drones, artificial intelligence and machine learning to assess crop losses are some of the key features of the scheme. .

As of now. out of total farmers enrolled under PMFBY, 84% are small and marginal farmers. Thus, financial assistance is provided to most vulnerable farmers.

The government's aim is to resolve structural, logistical, and other challenges, and expand the benefit of PMFBY to all farmers for a #AatmaNirbharBharat.

13-Jan-2021: PM congratulates beneficiaries of PM-FBY on completion of 5 years

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has congratulated all the beneficiaries of PM Fasal Bima Yojana on completion of 5 years.

In a series of tweets, the Prime Minister said, "An important initiative to secure hardworking farmers from the vagaries of nature, PM Fasal Bima Yojana completes 5 years today. The Yojana has increased coverage, mitigated risk & benefitted crores of farmers. I congratulate all beneficiaries of the scheme.

How has PM Fasal Bima Yojana ensured greater benefit to farmers?

How has transparency been furthered in settlement of claims?

These, and other aspects relating to PM-FBY have been answered through innovative content on the NaMo App’s Your Voice Section."

18-Sep-2020: Timely Settlement of Claims under PMFBY

Delay in release of share in premium subsidy by some States/UTs is one of the main reasons for delay in settlement on claims under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).

The Operational Guidelines of PMFBY envisage timely release of State Government share in premium subsidy to ensure timely settlement of claims.  However, settlement of claims have been delayed due to delays in release of their share by some States like Assam, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Gujarat etc. in one or more season.

This Department is regularly monitoring the implementation of PMFBY including timely settlement of claims through one to one/weekly meetings and weekly video conference with all stakeholders.   Defaulting States/UTs are also being asked in writing from time to time to release their respective share in premium subsidy.   Moreover, provisions of penal interest @12% were made in the Revised Operational Guidelines for delay in release of their share in premium subsidy by States/UTs. Further, as per revamped guidelines w.e.f. Kharif 2020, the states delaying the release of subsidy beyond stipulated timelines cannot participate in upcoming seasons.

After detailed discussions with stakeholders, Government has recently approved the revamping of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) for implementation from Kharif 2020 season.  Changes made in the provisions/parameters of these schemes are Annexed.

To increase the coverage under the PMFBY, the Operational Guidelines of the PMFBY provides for creation of awareness among farmers.  Accordingly, Government has taken several initiatives including active involvement of all stakeholders especially States, implementing insurance companies, financial institutions and Common Service Centre (CSCs) network for conduct of publicity campaign/ awareness programmes including organization of camps in the rural areas to build farmer awareness about crop insurance schemes.  Since, the scheme has been made voluntary for all the farmers from Kharif 2020, the behavioral change communication activities were also conducted through various media tools viz Print, electronic, Digital and Social Media etc.  Mobile Information, Education and Communication (IEC) vehicles were used to motivate farmers during enrollment campaign carried out for Kharif 2020 at grass root level.

As enshrined in the Operational Guidelines of the scheme, insurance companies have been asked to mandatorily utilize 0.5% of gross premium collected by them for IEC activities at grass root level to build overall insurance literacy of farmers to take informed decisions.

Apart from this, other activities for awareness generation involve the publicity of features and benefits of the scheme through advertisements in leading National / local News Papers, telecast through audio-visual media, distribution of pamphlets in local languages, participation in agriculture fairs / mela / goshti, dissemination of SMS through Kisan Portal / national crop insurance portal and conduct of workshops/ trainings of State officials, financial institutions and farmers.

The integration of crop loss intimation feature in Crop Insurance App has been facilitating farmers to intimate their crop loss due to localised calamity within the prescribed time limit. 

The Government has also produced a series of audio-visual material on key features of PMFBY and promoted through a dynamic social and digital media campaign during the lockdown period due Covid-19.

Due to these efforts made by the Central Government, State Governments and other stakeholders coverage under the scheme has been increased to 30% of the Gross Cropped Area (GCA) from 23% in 2015-16 under erstwhile schemes.  Participation of non-loanee farmers have also increased from 5% under erstwhile schemes to 37% under PMFBY. These awareness activities also leads to following qualitative and quantitative changes in all stakeholders including farmers in most of the implementing States especially in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan etc.:

• Increased awareness level of farmers and other stakeholders about channels and procedure of enrolment, risks covered, premium rates of different crops, procedure for reporting claims, and claim settlement.
• Increased coordination and Synergy between State Government, banks, CSCs, Panchayati Raj Institutions and the respective Insurance Companies.
• Increased awareness amongst farmers on doubts and myths about the Scheme.
• Ensured retention of loanee farmers in the Scheme especially in complete voluntary regime from Kharif  2020.
• Effective implementation of Grievance Redressal Mechanism within stipulated time frame.
• Increased level of farmers trust in the PMFBY
• Created large number of opinion makers and master trainers through online training at grass root level to ensure continuous sensitization of farmers.
• Effective use of social and digital media to disseminate key features of PMFBY amongst online community and other stakeholders

Changes made in the provisions/parameters of PMFBY and RWBCIS w.e.f. Kharif 2020 season

• To address the demand of farmers, the scheme has been made voluntary for all farmers. However, there is no change in farmers’ share of premium.
• The premium subsidy sharing pattern between Centre and North Eastern States has been changed from 50:50 to 90:10.  This has been done to allow more States to notify the scheme and existing States to notify more crops and areas to facilitate greater coverage of farmers under the scheme.  For remaining States, subsidy sharing pattern will continue as 50:50.
• To address the issue of high premium rate for few crops/areas due to adverse selection, the requisite central share of premium subsidy (90:10 for North Eastern States and 50:50 for remaining States) will be provided for areas/crops upto gross premium rate of 25% for irrigated and 30% for un-irrigated areas/crops. Besides, alternate risk mitigation measures will be explored for these areas/crops.
• Insurance companies will now be selected by the States for 3 years in a go instead of one year thereby increasing their commitment and accountability to the farmers.
• Option has been given to the States to choose the notional value of average yield or the Scale of Finance as sum insured in the interest of the farming community.
• In view of the demand of many states, option has been given to states to choose additional risk covers besides shortfall in yield-based cover depending upon the local weather challenges and requirements of the farmers.
• The states delaying the release of subsidy beyond stipulated timelines cannot participate in upcoming seasons.
• Two-step process of crop yield estimation using weather and satellite indicators etc. is adopted, which will help in early assessment of loss.
• Use of smart sampling technique through satellite data for crop cutting experiments by some states has shown increased efficiency in implementation. This will now be universalized.
• The delay by some States in submission of crop yield data will now be suitably addressed using technological solutions.
• Provision has been made for earmarked administrative expenses @ 3% for strengthening the infrastructure and technology usage for better delivery of the Scheme.
• Insurance companies have been asked to mandatorily utilize 0.5% of gross premium collected by them for IEC activities at grass root level to build overall insurance literacy of farmers to take informed decisions.
• Use of more technology for transparency and quick assessment of crop yield/loss for early settlement of claims.

17-Jul-2020: Enrolment of farmers under PMFBY for Kharif-2020 going on in full swing

The enrolment of farmers under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) for Kharif-2020 season is going on in full swing in various States and UTs of the country. Government of India has made enrolment free for all the farmers who only need to pay premium amount. Farmers can get their food crops (cereals and oilseeds) insured at a minimal premium rate of 2% of sum insured, and commercial and horticulture crops at 5% of sum insured in Kharif -2020. The remaining premium will be subsidised by the Centre Government and States. The cut-off date for ongoing Kharif 2020 season in few States/UTs may end by 31st July 2020.

In order to motivate the farmers, the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar has appealed to them to get enrolled under PMFBY through video message and requested all farmers to protect themselves against financial loss due to crop failures/damages as a result of natural disasters. (Minister’s full message to all farmers can be viewed on PIB’s YouTube channel at : https://youtu.be/b9LooMrHdEk)

The Scheme ensures protection of crop loss for entire cropping cycle, from pre-sowing to post-harvest activities. Farmers are encouraged to enroll for the Scheme at the earliest to avail the coverage against prevented sowing due to any unforeseen calamity. In addition, there is comprehensive risk coverage against drought, floods, inundation, landslides unseasonable rainfall, hailstorm, natural fires, and cyclone for the standing crop as well as coverage against hailstorm, cyclone and unseasonal rainfall for post-harvest crop.

In February 2020, the Government of India approved revamping of PMFBY in order to address some previous challenges in the implementation of the crop insurance scheme. The Government made the scheme voluntary for all the farmers from Kharif-2020 onwards. Earlier, the scheme was compulsory for all the loanee farmers. Now, farmers with loan dues can opt out of the scheme by submitting a simple declaration to their bank branch seven days before the cut-off date of enrolment.

Any farmer who wishes to get enrolled under PMFBY should contact his nearest Bank, Primary Agricultural Credit Society, Common Service Centre (CSC)/ Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs), Office of Agriculture Dept, Representative of Insurance Company  or directly online through the National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP) at www.pmfby.gov.in and Crop Insurance App

(https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.farmguide.farmerapp.central).

Farmers need to carry Aadhaar number, bank passbook, land record/tenancy agreement, and self-declaration certificate to complete the enrolment process. This season, all farmers enrolled under the Scheme will be intimated about the status of their application through regular SMS on their registered mobile numbers.

In a bid to ensure hassle-free enrolment of farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare provided training to 29,275 officials from banks, insurance companies, Common Service Centres (CSC), State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC), Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs), State and District level Agriculture and ATMA officials etc. Besides this, insurance companies have also provided training to different stakeholders. The Ministry also aims at providing training to 600 executives of Kisan Call Centres.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has taken a slew of steps to create awareness among the farmers about the Scheme. Different insurance companies in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and State Agricultural Departments have launched a massive campaign across the country. Different activities such as local level awareness meetings, display of banners and posters at important locations, distribution of pamphlets, IEC Vans, advertisements in local and national newspapers, Mass Media Campaign among others, are being conducted to create awareness at the grassroots level.

The PM Fasal Bima Yojana is designed to protect farmers from natural calamities, pest or insect attack and diseases, and help them get back on their feet by providing financial support through claim settlement. All farmers are encouraged to enrol under PMFBY to avail the benefits of crop insurance as a protection against crop loss due to unforeseen natural calamities.

13-Jul-2020: Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman reviews Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana 

Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman chaired a meeting to review the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) through video conferencing here today. The meeting was attended by Shri Debasish Panda Secretary (Financial Services) , Shri Sanjay Agarwal ,Secretary DAC&FW , senior officials from Department of Financial Services, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW), General Insurance Companies implementing PMFBY and Scheduled Commercial Banks.

A presentation was made by Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & FW wherein the journey of PMFBY since Kharif 2016 as well as challenges encountered and the status of implementation for the current Kharif 2020 crop season, especially after the Revamp of PMFBY, were discussed.

The Finance Minister highlighted the need of carrying out awareness activities to ensure dissemination of information among all farmers in view of Scheme becoming voluntary for all farmers and the need for States to release Premium Subsidy on time to ensure timely settlement of claims. Smt Sitharaman suggested that stringent follow up should be done with States where subsidy is pending specially those which are not implementing the Scheme in Kharif 2020 with a view to ensure payment of all pending claims to farmers at the earliest.  

Secretary DAC&FW informed that leveraging technology was one of the main focus areas in revamped PMFBY and the Department was working towards migrating to technology assessment of yield by 2023 and survey would be conducted after Rabi-2020-21 to ascertain the impact of the revamped PMFBY.

13-Mar-2020: Implementation of PMFBY in States

Based on the experience of past crop insurance schemes and with a view to include more risks under crop insurance and making it more affordable to the farmers etc., Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) has been introduced for implementation from Kharif 2016 season. The scheme also aims to cover the risk of crop yield losses of insured farmers against all non-preventable natural risks from pre-sowing to post-harvest and to provide adequate claim amount and timely settlement of claims. As the scheme is voluntary for the States/Union Territories (UTs), only 27 States/UTs have participated in the scheme in one or more seasons. Further, the scheme was compulsory for loanee farmers obtaining operational agricultural/Kisan Credit Card loans for crops/areas notified by the concerned State Governments and is optional for other farmers. However, Government has recently revamped the PMFBY and made the scheme optional for all farmers for its implementation from Kharif 2020.

Due to the improved features of the scheme, coverage under the scheme has been increased to 30% of Gross Cropped area in the country from 23% in erstwhile crop insurance schemes in 2015-16. The coverage of non-loanee farmers, for whom the coverage is voluntary, has increased from 5% under erstwhile schemes in 2015-16 to 42% during Kharif 2019, which shows the acceptability and progress of the scheme on voluntary basis.

19-Feb-2020: Cabinet approves Revamping of PMFBY and RWBCIS

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has approved revamping of "Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)" and "Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS)" to address the existing challenges in implementation of Crop Insurance Schemes.

It is proposed to modify certain parameters/provisions of ongoing schemes of PMFBY and RWBCIS as under:

1. Allocation of business to Insurance Companies to be done for three years (Both PMFBY/RWBCIS).
2. Option shall be given to States/UTs to choose Scale of Finance or district level Value of Notional Average Yield (NAY) i.e. NAY* Minimum Support Price (MSP) as Sum Insured for any district crop combination (Both PMFBY/RWBCIS). Farm gate price will be considered for the other crops for which MSP is not declared.
3. Central Subsidy under PMFBY/RWBCIS to be limited for premium rates upto 30% for unirrigated areas/crops and 25% for irrigated areas/crops. Districts having 50% or more irrigated area will be considered as irrigated area/district (Both PMFBY/RWBCIS).
4. Flexibility to States/UTs to implement the Scheme with option to select any or many of additional risk covers/features like prevented sowing, localised calamity, mid-season adversity, and post-harvest losses. Further, States/UT can offer specific single peril risk/insurance covers, like hailstorm etc., under PMFBY even with or without opting for base cover (Both PMFBY/RWBCIS).
5. States not to be allowed to implement the Scheme in subsequent Seasons in case of considerable delay by States in release of requisite Premium Subsidy to concerned Insurance Companies beyond a prescribed time limit. Cut-off dates for invoking this provision for Kharif and Rabi seasons will be 31st March and 30th September of successive years respectively (Both PMFBY/RWBCIS).
6. For estimation of crop losses/admissible claims, two-Step Process to be adopted based on defined Deviation matrix" using specific triggers like weather indicators, satellite indicators, etc. for each area along with normal ranges and deviation ranges. Only areas with deviations will be subject to Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) for assessment of yield loss (PMFBY).
7. Technology solutions like Smart Sampling Technique (SST) and optimization of number of CCEs to be adopted in conducting CCEs (PMFBY).
8. In case of non-provision of yield data beyond cut-off date by the States to implementing Insurance Companies, claims to be settled based on yield arrived through use of Technology solution (PMFBY alone).
9. Enrolment under the Scheme to be made voluntary for all farmers (Both PMFBY/RWBCIS).
10. Central Share in Premium Subsidy to be increased to 90% for North Eastern States from the existing sharing pattern of 50:50 (Both PMFBY/RWBCIS).
11. Provisioning of at least 3% of the total allocation for the Scheme to be made by Government of India and Implementing State Governments for administrative expenses. This shall be subject to an upper cap fixed by DAC&FW for each State (Both PMFBY/RWBCIS).
12. Besides above, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare in consultation with other stakeholders/agencies will prepare/develop State specific, alternative risk mitigation programme for crops/areas having high rate of premium. Further, as the scheme is being made voluntary for all farmers, therefore, to provide financial support and effective risk mitigation tools through crop insurance especially to 151 districts which are highly water stressed including 29 which are doubly stressed because of low income of farmers and drought, a separate, scheme in this regard would also be prepared.
13. The concerned provisions/parameters of scheme and operational guidelines of the PMFBY and RWBCIS shall be modified to incorporate the above said modifications and shall be made operational from Kharif 2020 season.

Benefits: With these changes it is expected that farmers would be able to manage risk in agriculture production in a better way and will succeed in Stabilizing the farm income.  Further, it will increase coverage in north eastern region enabling farmers of NER to manage their agricultural risk in a better way.  These changes will also enable quick and accurate yield estimation leading to faster claims settlement.

These changes are proposed to be implemented from Kharif’ 2020 Season throughout the Country.

6-Jan-2020: Linking land records to PMFBY

Maharashtra is the first state in the country to seamlessly integrate its land records with the web portal of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). This integration has been rolled out during the 2019-20 rabi season, with farmers accessing their land details online at the enrollment centres.

Farmers opting to insure their crops under the PMFBY, are required to share their Aadhaar number, their bank details, as well as their land records at the enrollment centres. Although available online, the 7/12 land records were to be signed and stamped by the local talathi who verifies the same with the records available with him. Given the work load — the talathi is normally responsible for around 10-12 villages in the locality — farmers have to often wait for days before the talathi comes to their village to sign their land records.

Due to small clerical errors, farmers have failed to claim their insured amount in the past. The integration was possible after the Land Settlement Commissioner of Maharashtra agreed to share its data with the central portal of the PMFBY. Land records in Maharashtra have already been digitised. It is now being used to pinpoint the farmer’s land during enrollment process.

Maharashtra is among the top five states in the country in terms of payment of claims under the PMFBY. During the financial year 2018-19, the state had 1.39 crore farmers opting for the scheme and the total premium collected was Rs 4,778.30 crore. In the last fiscal, insurance companies had paid Rs 3,730.52 crore as compensation to 54.46 lakh farmers. In fact, Maharashtra presents an interesting scenario with farmers not opting for crop loans enrolling for the scheme with their own money. Farmers who opt for bank loans are automatically enrolled for the scheme. But there have been multiple protests by farmers groups as well as political parties, which claim that the scheme has failed to achieve its objectives.

Although the PMFBY mandates compulsory verification of land records by ground-level agriculture officers or bank officers, in reality this has not happened. As a result, cases of “over-insurance” — insurance of more land than in possession — as well as insurance of ineligible people have happened. Officers cited cases where the insured area was more than the cropped area of the district. Taking advantage of the lack of stringent verification, there were instances of people insuring the same land parcel multiple times. Also there were cases when non-land holders were found insuring land.

The integration has almost done away with chances of over insurance, as the land records will be available online. Once the farmer chooses his survey number, the drop-down menu will prompt the user to choose the land parcel that he or she chooses to insure. Once insured, the same land parcel will not be open for insurance again. Multiple training sessions were organised across the state to ensure proper implementation of the process in the current rabi season.

26-Jul-2019: Use of satellite imagery for assessing farmers' Crops

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) envisages use of improved technology to reduce time gap for settlement of claims of farmers. Accordingly, the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, through Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC), involved 8 agencies/ organizations to carry out pilot studies for Optimization of Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) in various States under PMFBY. The studies used various technologies, including Satellite data, Artificial Intelligence, Modeling tools etc. for reducing the number of CCEs required for insurance unit level for yield estimation. The studies were taken upto address a major issue of the need to carry out large number of CCEs for calculation of yield data vis-à-vis claims at Gram Panchayat level. The results are being evaluated for providing recommendations for their implementation in the upcoming seasons.

Further, an Expression of Interest (EOI) was floated with a view to migrate to technology based assessment of yield with minimum use of CCEs for Kharif 2019 season. 46 agencies participated in the EOI, out of which 26 agencies have been shortlisted on technical assessment.

The Government is also using satellite imagery to assess the crop area, crop condition and crop yield, at district level, under various programmes such as Forecasting Agricultural Output Using Space, Agrometeorology & Land based observations and Coordinated Horticulture Assessment and Management using Geo-informatics. Further, satellite data is also being used for drought assessment, to assess the potential area for growing pulses and horticultural crops.

With a view to ensure better transparency, accountability, timely payment of claims to the farmers and to make the scheme more farmer friendly, the Government of India has comprehensively revised the Operational Guidelines of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) which have become effective from Rabi 2018-19 season. Provision of 12% interest rate per annum to be paid by the Insurance Company to farmers for delay in settlement claims beyond 10 days of prescribed cut-off date for payment of claims. As the settlement of claims for Rabi 2018-19 season is underway, the admissible penal interest is not yet worked out.

17-May-2019: Crop insurance fail: only ₹8 cr. spent for NE

Out of ₹1,400 crore earmarked annually for the north-eastern States under the Centre’s flagship Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, only ₹8 crore — or just over half a per cent — was actually spent last year. Four north-eastern States — Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram — are not covered under the scheme at all.

In fact, farmers in seven States and four Union Territories nationwide will not be covered by the scheme in this kharif or summer season, for which sowing begins next month.

Some large States like Bihar and West Bengal have withdrawn from PMFBY to set up their own State-level schemes and Punjab has never participated in the scheme, while UTs like Delhi and Chandigarh are largely urban spaces. However, States in the Northeast, as well as the Union Territory of Daman and Diu, face challenges such as the lack of interest by insurance companies and the lack of State budgetary resources to pay their share of the premium. The Centre is now making it compulsory for insurance companies to bid for these States as well.

This lack of coverage has left thousands of maize farmers devastated by losses from the fall armyworm pest there without any hope of insurance.

Although the north-eastern States have only 2.5% of the country’s cultivable area, 10% of the budget for PMFBY and RWBCIS [Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme] is earmarked for them. But all the funds are lapsed.

While Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland have never been covered under the scheme, which was launched with much fanfare in 2016, the scheme was implemented in Mizoram and Manipur only in the initial season.

Insurance companies have been reluctant to bid for these States, as the administrative costs are high. There are no proper land records. Historic yield data is not available for these States, particularly at the gram panchayat and block level. It is difficult to conduct CCEs [crop-cutting experiments] needed for many of the horticulture crops. Insurance companies are also not interested because the coverage is so limited. There are low number of loanee farmers in the Northeast, except in Assam.

Lack of forecasting infrastructure has also hampered the penetration of the weather-based insurance scheme in these states. The Centre also argues that several State governments are not sufficiently interested in promoting the scheme.

8-Oct-2018: Government decides to cover crop damages in wild animal attacks under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna on trial basis

Union Agricultural Minister Radha Mohan Singh said that the government has decided to cover damages to crops in wild animal attacks under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna in select districts on an experimental basis.

The minister said, the government also brought under the Fasal Bima Yojna ambit certain horticultural crops on an experimental basis. He informed that damages to individual or limited number of cultivators in localised events like water logging, land slide, hailstorms etc. did not fall under the ambit of the Centre's crop insurance scheme earlier, but they too are being covered now under new provisions.

The Minister said that the provisions of the crop insurance scheme amended in consultation with various stakeholders and the amended provisions have been implemented from this month. He said the amended provisions also stipulate fines in cases of delay in clearing the insurance claims for crop damages.

1-Oct-2018: Gram Sabhas to inform farmers about the enrolment of farmers under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY)

Gram Sabhas across the country have been asked to inform the farmers about the enrolment and benefits of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) at the beginning of the Rabi Season. The Gram Sabhas will also inform the farmers on how they can insure their crops under the Scheme. The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare has requested the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and the State Governments to include this as an agenda in the upcoming Gram Sabhas, especially for the one scheduled on 2nd October 2018, in connection with Gandhi Jayanti.  This is as part of the awareness initiatives taken up at various levels by the Govt and Insurance Companies to create awareness about the Scheme and mobilise farmers to insure their crops.

This is also the first season for PMFBY with its revised operational guidelines in place. The Govt expects the companies to reduce premium rates, especially as the general cut-off date for enrolment has been advanced by 15 days for both seasons.  As per the revised operational guidelines, the farmers get 72 hours to intimate individual claims against the existing 48 hours.  This can be done through any of the channels provided under the Scheme and directly on the portal of PMFBY. In case of any grievance, the farmers can access dedicated grievance redressal authorities. Revised operational guidelines provide for appointment of District Level Grievance Redressal Officer and creation of State and District Grievance Redressal Cells for fast redressal of grievances.

Non-loanee farmers can approach designated Common Service Centres, banks and insurance agents for insuring their crops or directly enroll on the portal. Those farmers who avail short term crop loans from formal financial institutions at concessional rates of interest are automatically covered under the Scheme.

18-Sep-2018: Government modifies operational guidelines for Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY)

The Government has decided to incorporate the provision of penalties for States and Insurance Companies for the delay in settlement of insurance claims under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana(PMFBY). This crucial provision is part of the new operational guidelines issued by the Govt for the implementation of PMFBY. The farmers will be paid 12% interest by insurance companies for the delay in settlement claims beyond two months of prescribed cut-off date. State Governments will have to pay 12% interest for the delay in release of State share of subsidy beyond three months of prescribed cut-off date submission of requisition by insurance companies. The new operational guidelines come at the onset of the rabi season, which starts from 1st of October.

The new operational guidelines also detail a Standard Operating Procedure for evaluation of insurance companies and remove them from the scheme if found ineffective in providing services. The Government has also decided to include perennial horticultural crops under the ambit of PMFBY on a pilot basis. The scheme, as per the new operational guidelines provides add on coverage for crop loss due to attack of wild animals, which will be implemented on a pilot basis. Aadhaar number will be mandatorily captured to avoid duplication of beneficiaries.

In order to ensure that more non-loanee farmers are insured under the scheme, apart from various awareness activities being scheduled, the insurance companies are given a target of enrolling 10% more non-loanee farmers than the previous corresponding season. The insurance companies will have to mandatorily spend 0.5% of gross premium per company per season for publicity and awareness of the scheme.

The new operational guidelines address the current challenges faced while implementing the scheme by putting forth effective solutions. The much demanded rationalization of premium release process has been incorporated in the new guidelines. As per this, the insurance companies need not provide any projections for the advance subsidy. Release of upfront premium subsidy will be made at the beginning of the season based on 50% of 80% of total share of subsidy of corresponding season of previous year as GOI/State subsidy. Balance premium will be paid as a second instalment based on the specific approved business statistics on the portal for settlement of claims. Final installment will be paid after reconciliation of entire coverage data on portal based on final business statistics. This will reduce the delay in settling the claims of farmers.

2-Apr-2018: States allowed to set up crop insurance firms to execute PMFBY

The Centre has allowed states to set up their own insurance companies for implementing Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). The move comes after several requests from states as well as observations made by Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its 2017 report that old crop insurances schemes which have now been merged with PMFBY, were poorly implemented during 2011-2016.

Presently, five public sector insurers and 13 private insurance companies are empanelled for implementation of the scheme. The public insurers include Agriculture Insurance Company of India (AIC), United India Insurance Company (UIIC), National Insurance Company (NIC), Oriental Insurance Company (OIC) and New India Assurance Company(NIAC).

Launched in April 2016 , PMFBY provides comprehensive crop insurance from pre-sowing to post harvest against non-preventable natural risks at extremely low premium rate of 2% for kharif crops, 1.5% for Rabi crops and 5% for horticulture and commercial crops. The balance premium is paid equally by the centre and state.

Claims are settled on the basis of yield loss assessed at the end of the season. During the 2017-18 crop year (July-June), 4.79 crore farmers have been covered under PMFBY and the government is in the process of assessing the claims.