For every Rs 100 of premium paid for crop insurance under PMFBY; farmers received Rs 514 as claims: Govt

Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday informed Parliament that for every Rs 100 of premium paid by farmers under the flagship scheme Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), they have received about Rs 514 as claims.

Since implementation of PMFBY in 2016, around 38 crore farmer applicants have been enrolled and over 12.37 crore (provisional) have received claims, he said in his written reply to the Rajya Sabha. “During this period, nearly Rs 25,252 crore were paid by farmers as their share of premium against which claims of over Rs 1,30,015 crore (provisional) have been paid to them. Thus, for every 100 rupees of premium paid by farmers, they have received about Rs 514 as claims,” the minister said. PMFBY was launched with an aim to address problems of high premium rates for farmers and reduction in the sum-insured due to capping.

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In a separate reply, the minister said the PMFBY is available for all states/UTs and is voluntary for them. It is also voluntary for the farmers to enrol themselves as per their risk perception. The scheme is implemented through empanelled general insurance companies. The specific company for specific state/cluster (comprising few districts) is selected by the concerned state government through bidding process. Clusters/districts and crops under the scheme are also notified by the concerned state governments. Based on the experience gained and views/demands of the stakeholders, the scheme has been reviewed/modified/revised/revamped from time to time considering the prevailing policy regime and requirement of policy intervention in crop insurance in the country in the best interest of the farming community and is implemented as a continuing scheme.

The revamped scheme effective from Kharif 2020 season has many features which include voluntary participation for all farmers, selection of insurance companies by the states for three years in a go, two-step process of crop yield estimation, use of smart sampling technique through satellite data for crop cutting experiments, etc. The features have been included keeping in view the benefit of farmers and flexibility in implementation to the states.