(PMFBY) Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana [2021] | UPSC

(PMFBY) Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana

HEADLINES:

Crop Insurance Scheme- The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yajana (PMFBY) successfully completes 5 Years of operations on 13th January 2021

WHY IN NEWS:

The Scheme benefits farmers who face crop losses due to various reasons

MINISTRY? :-Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare

SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3: Schemes

ISSUE:

PMFBY successfully completes 5 Years of operations on 13th January 2021

PRADHAN MANTRI FASAL BIMA YOJANA

OVERVIEW

Crop Insurance is an integrated IT solution and a web-based ecosystem to speed up service delivery, unify fragmented databases, achieve a single view of data, and eliminate manual processes.
Crop Insurance provides insurance services to farmers faster than before.
The Government is endeavouring for the integration of all the stakeholders viz. farmers, insurance companies, financial institutions & Government agencies on single IT platform.

This will ensure better administration, coordination & transparency for getting real time information and monitoring

This is a stable, secure and seamlessly integrated ecosystem created with a comprehensive view of data in a secure environment thereby enabling information access to multiple stakeholders viz.

EXAMPLE

Farmers, Govt. Functionaries, Insurance Companies, Intermediaries, Bankers and social & community bodies.

LAUNCH

5 years ago, on 13th January 2016, the Government of India took a historic step towards strengthening risk coverage of crops for farmers of India.

Cabinet approved the flagship crop insurance scheme – the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).

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.

FOCUS

The scheme was conceived as a milestone initiative to provide a comprehensive risk solution at the lowest uniform premium across the country for farmers.
The Government of India is committed towards protecting the interests of the farmers.
Premium cost over and above the farmer share is equally subsidized by States and GoI.
However, GoI shares 90% of the premium subsidy for North Eastern States to promote the uptake in the region.

The scheme has extended coverage under localized risks, post-harvest losses etc. and aims at adoption of technology for the purpose of yield estimation.

The average sum insured per hectare has increased from ₹15,100 during the pre-PMFBY Schemes to ₹40,700 under PMFBY.
As an end to end risk mitigation mechanism for farmers, 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.

Individual farm level losses arising out of localized calamities and post-harvest losses are also covered due to perils such as inundation, cloudburst and natural fire.

NOTABLE EXAMPLES

Some notable examples of these covers include prevented sowing claims over Rs 500 crore in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka during the Kharif 2019 dry spell.
Localized calamity claims of over Rs 100 crore in Haryana during Kharif 2018 hailstorm, mid-season adversity claims of nearly Rs 30 crore in Rajasthan during Rabi 2019-20 locust attack.
Claims to the tune of Rs 5000 crore in Maharashtra during the Kharif 2019 unseasonal rainfall.

TECHNOLOGICAL INTERVENTION

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 etc.

Machine learning to assess crop losses are some of the key features of the scheme.
The scheme makes 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.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

COMPULSORY COMPONENT : All farmers availing Seasonal Agricultural Operations (SAO) loans from Financial Institutions (i.e. loanee farmers) for the notified crop(s) would be covered compulsorily.
VOLUNTARY COMPONENT : The Scheme would be optional for the non-loanee farmers.

COVERAGE OF RISKS AND EXCLUSIONS

Following stages of the crop and risks leading to crop loss are covered under the scheme.

PREVENTED SOWING/ PLANTING RISK : Insured area is prevented from sowing/ planting due to deficit rainfall or adverse seasonal conditions
STANDING CROP (SOWING TO HARVESTING) : Comprehensive risk insurance ; Drought, Dry spells, Flood, Inundation, Pests and Diseases, Landslides, Natural Fire and Lightening, Storm, Hailstorm, Cyclone, Typhoon, Tempest, Hurricane and Tornado.
POST-HARVEST LOSSES : Coverage is available only up to a maximum period of two weeks from harvesting for those crops which are allowed to dry in cut and spread condition in the field after harvesting against specific perils of cyclone and cyclonic rains and unseasonal rains.
LOCALIZED CALAMITIES : Loss/ damage resulting from occurrence of identified localized risks of hailstorm, landslide, and Inundation affecting isolated farms in the notified area.

GENERAL EXCLUSIONS

Losses arising out of war and nuclear risks, malicious damage and other preventable risks shall be excluded.

BENEFICIARIES

The Scheme covers over 5.5 crore farmer applications year on year.
Till date, claims worth Rs 90,000 crores have already been paid out under the Scheme.
Aadhar seeding has helped in speedy claim settlement directly into the farmer accounts.

Even during COVID lock down period nearly 70 lakh farmers benefitted and claims worth Rs. 8741.30 crores were transferred to the beneficiaries.

The Government of India urges farmers to take advantage of the scheme by associating themselves to become self-sufficient in times of crisis and support the creation of an Aatmanirbhar Kisan.

RATE OF INSURANCE AND CLAIMS

The rate of Insurance Charges payable by the farmer will be as per the following table

(PMFBY) Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana [2021] | UPSC

SOURCES : NATIONALINSURANCE.IN

IASbhai WINDUP:

Crop Insurance portal has enabled the digitization of notification of areas, crops, schemes for enabling information access to multiple stakeholders thereby facilitating ease of access to the farmers in availing crop insurance services.
This automated solution has opened a window of opportunity to remote and economically-weak farmers to benefit from crop insurance services.

SOURCES: PIB | (PMFBY) Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana [2021] | UPSC

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