India allocates $808 million for crop insurance scheme

NEW DELHI, 19 November 2016 : India has made a budgetary allocations on $808 million (Rs 5501.15 crore) for implementation of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) during 2016-17, Indian minister of state for agriculture & farmers welfare, Parshottam Rupala informed the upper house recently.

As per provisions of PMFBY, admissible claims are worked out on the basis of yield data generated from Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) submitted by concerned State Governments to the insurance companies. 

Hence, the number of beneficiaries (to whom the claims are paid) are known only thereafter.  The cut-off date for receipt of yield data for Kharif 2016 season is one month from the final harvest i.e. 15^th December, 2016. Claims are estimated accordingly.

State-wise details of farmers covered under PMFBY/Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS) are given below.

 

State-wise details* of loanee and non-loanee farmers covered  under PMFBY and WBCIS (combined) during Kharif 2016

 

Sl. No	States/UTs	No. of Farmers Insured (MN)
1	Assam	51,000
2	Andhra Pradesh	1.50
3	Bihar	1.39
4	Chhattisgarh	1.32
5	Goa	700
6	Gujarat	1.19
7	Haryana	696,000
8	Himachal Pradesh	97,000
9	Jharkhand	849,000
10	Karnataka	1.05
11	Kerala	22,000
12	Madhya Pradesh	3.65
13	Maharashtra	6.67
14	Manipur	Data not available
15	Meghalaya	600
16	Odisha	1.74
17	Rajasthan	5.30
18	Tamil Nadu	13000
19	Telangana	655,000
20	Tripura	2000
21	Uttar Pradesh	3.00
22	Uttarakhand	128,000
23	West Bengal	3.24
	Total	32.62

       *Provisional.

Assistance to farmers for crop loss 

Under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) comprehensive risk insurance is provided to cover yield loss due to non-preventable risks viz. natural fire and lightening; Storm, Hailstorm, Cyclone, Typhoon, Tempest, Hurricane, Tornado etc.; Flood, Inundation and Landslide; Drought, Dry Spells; Pests/ Diseases etc.

PMFBY has replaced the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) & Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS) from Kharif 2016 season.

Apart from this, government also provides Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS) insurance protection to the farmers against adverse weather incidence, such as deficit and excess rainfall, high or low temperature, humidity etc. which are deemed to impact adversely the crop production.

Crop insurance is a financial tool to insure the crop losses on payment of admissible premium to the insurance company.

Further, under the crop insurance schemes, claims are paid to those farmers who insure their crops and pay premium under any of the notified crop/area, notified by the concerned State Govt.

Admissible claims are worked out and paid as per the provisions of the respective schemes and not on any other basis like by the representation from the State Govt., team sent by the Government of India, declaration of drought/flood etc. by the State/Central Govt.

Financial assistance is also provided to farmers as per guidelines on the items and norms of assistance from State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF)/ National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) dated 8th April, 2015 of Ministry of Home Affairs, where assistance is admissible for crop loss of 33% and above due to notified natural calamities viz. Avalanches, Cyclone, Cloud burst, Drought, Earthquake/Tsunami, Fire, Flood, Hailstorm, Landslides, Pest attack, Frost and Cold wave.

The norms of relief under SDRF/NDRF are Rs. 6800/- per ha for rainfed areas, Rs.13500/-per ha for assured irrigated areas and Rs.18000/-per ha for all types of perennial crops. Assistance under SDRF/NDRF provided is for immediate relief and not by way of compensation for the loss suffered.