Government unveils pro-farmer Crop Insurance Scheme
Farmers to pay lower premiums, to get full sum insured unlike the capping previously
Efforts to be made to enhance coverage of area under crop insurance schemes from 23% at present to 50% of gross cropped area
Remote Sensing Technology, smart phones and drones would be used for quick estimation of crop losses and early settlement of claims
- In a historic move, Government has unveiled the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana will replace the existing National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) and Modified NAIS (MNIAS). A new Pilot Scheme namely UPIS has also been approved. These schemes will be implemented from Kharif 2016.
- Under crop insurance schemes, efforts will be made to enhance the coverage of area from 23% at present to 50% of gross cropped area during next three years.
- The new crop schemes are pro-farmer and have been prepared after extensive consultations with various stakeholders including Ministries/Department, NITI Aayog, State Governments, Insurance regulatory and Development Authority, insurance companies etc.
- Farmer’s share of premium has been reduced as per following details:
|
S.No |
Crops |
Maximum Insurance charges payable by farmer (% of Sum Insured) |
|
1 |
Kharif |
2.0% |
|
2 |
Rabi |
1.5% |
|
3 |
Annual Commercial / Annual Horticultural crops |
5% |
- Capping of actuarial premium rates has been removed that existed in the Modified NAIS scheme effective since 2010. Premium paid by farmers has now been fixed at very low rates. Government will provide subsidy on premium.
- For example, in Lalitpur district of Uttar Pradesh, Actuarial Premium of 22 percent was fixed for the crop. Farmers, because of the cap, had to pay Rs 900 and government had to pay Rs. 2400 as premium on a sum insured of Rs 30 crore. But in the case of the complete damage farmer received only 15 thousand rupees as claim amount.
- Under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, for a sum insured of Rs. 30 thousand, the farmers would now pay only Rs. 600 as premium and government would pay Rs. 6000 as premium. In case of complete damage, the premiums for farmers have been slashed to Rs. 600 from existing Rs. 900. Claim amount has been increased from existing Rs. 15 thousand to Rs. 30 thousand. If an insured farmer, due to any natural calamity, isn’t able to sow, still the farmer would be liable to get the claimed amount.
- Hailstorms, landslides will be considered localized disasters. Under the old scheme, if the farmer's field was waterlogged, the amount the farmer received used to depend on the total loss on the unit of Insurance (in village or group of villages). Many a times, due to this reason, farmers did not receive the claim amount because of damage caused to crops in the low-lying areas or areas near to rivers. Under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, it would be assumed as localized loss of farmers and claim amount would be provided after surveying the affected farmer.
- Keeping Post- harvesting damage in mind, it has been decided that if any damage is caused to crops after 14 days of harvesting it, then also the farmers would be liable for getting claim amount.
- Technology will be used for estimation of the harvest / losses so that farmers could get the claim amount quickly. Remote Sensing Technology, smart phones and drones would be used for quick estimation of crop losses and early settlement of claims.
