Lok Sabha Question No. 2594 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-09
Subject: Loss of Crops due to Natural Disasters
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Prataprao  Jadhav

O.I.H

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, COOPERATION AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK  SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2594 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 9 TH   JULY, 2019

## LOSS OF CROPS DUE TO NATURAL DISASTERS

2594.      SHRI  PRATAPRAO JADHAV:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी be pleased to state:

(a) whether  the  farmers  get compensation  under  Crop  Insurance Scheme for the loss of crops due to natural disaster keeping in view the produce of the prescribed years;

(b) whether the farmers are not getting  due compensation for loss of their crops due to the norms of prescribed years under the Crop Insurance Scheme;

(c) whether  the  Government  has  taken  or  proposes  to  take any  steps to provide compensation  to  the  farmers  for  loss  of their  crops  under  the  Crop  Insurance Scheme by determining a year in which the farmers got bumper crops due to favourable weather; and

- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER  OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी (SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

(a): Crop insurance is a financial tool to insure losses to crops of farmers against natural calamities  like  flood,  drought,  pests  &  diseases  and  deviation  in  weather  parameters  on payment of admissible premium to the  concerned insurance company.   The claims, if any, are paid to only those farmers who insured their crops and paid premium for the notified crop in the notified area by the State Govt.   At present, there are two schemes namely, yield based Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and weather index based Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS).  Admissible claims under PMFBY are worked out on the basis of yield data submitted by the concerned State Government and under RWBCIS, on  the  basis  of  weather  data  from  weather  stations  designated  in  the  notification  by  the concerned State Government.

In  addition,  assistance  is  also  provided  to  farmers  affected  due  to  natural  calamities under National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).

(b): No Sir.  Details of claims paid to farmers under PMFBY & RWBCIS during last three years are given in following table :

(Rs. in crore)

| Year        |   Farmers Enrolled (in lakhs) |   Estimated Claims |   Approved Claims |   Claims Paid |   No. of farmers benefitted (in lakhs) |
|-------------|-------------------------------|--------------------|-------------------|---------------|----------------------------------------|
| 2016-17     |                           579 |              16351 |             16261 |         16257 |                                    146 |
| 2017-18     |                           521 |              21828 |             21521 |         21270 |                                    175 |
| Kharif 2018 |                           348 |              14319 |             10247 |          9046 |                                     80 |

*  Provisional  for  Kharif  2018  season  only.    Some  claims  of  Kharif  2018  and  the  claims  of Rabi 2018-19 are not reported.

(c) & (d): No such proposal is under consideration of the Government at present.  However, Government  has  revised  the  Operational  Guidelines  of  PMFBY  from  Rabi  2018-19  season, methodology for calculation of Threshold Yield (TY) has been rationalised where average yield data  of  best  5  out  of  7  years  for  calculation  of  claim  amount  has  been  prescribed.    The insurance  unit  for  calculation  of  admissible  claims  has  also  been  reduced  to  village/village panchayat level to provide claims proportionate to their crop yield damage.

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