Lok Sabha Question No. 232 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-11-30
Subject: Withdrawal of States from PMFBY
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Balashowry Vallabbhaneni

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 232

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 30 TH  NOVEMBER, 2021

## WITHDRAWAL OF STATES FROM PMFBY

232.    SHRI BALASHOWRY VALLABHANENI:

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

- (a) whether  States  are  withdrawing  from  the  Pradhan  Mantri  Fasal  Bima  Yojana (PMFBY);
- (b) whether  one  of  the  reasons  for  the  withdrawal  is  delay  in  settling  the  claims  of farmers;
- (c) if so, the details of the action taken by the Ministry to address this and other issues resulting in withdrawal of States from the scheme;
- (d) whether the coverage of the PMFBY has been consistently coming down from 30 per cent (567.2 lakh hectares) in 2016-17 to 27 per cent in 2018-19 and 25 per cent (497 lakh hectares) in 2019-20); and
- (e) if  so,  the  details  of  the  coverage  in  2020-21 and  the  ways  in  which the  Ministry is planning to address the issues plaguing the scheme?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

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

- (a) to (e): The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) is voluntary for States/UTs. The major  reason  for  delay  in  settlement  of  claims  is  delayed  payment  of  their  share  in premium  subsidy  by  the  States.          Since  inception  of  the  scheme  in  Kharif  2016,  27 States/Union Territories implemented the PMFBY in one or more seasons.

Government is also regularly reviewing the implementation of Scheme in consultation with  State  Governments  and  other  stakeholders  to  streamline  the  process  for  early settlement of claims and to provide timely benefits to the eligible farmers under the scheme.

Since  inception  of  the  scheme  coverage  under  the  scheme  has  been  around  at 29.5% of Gross Cropped Area (GCA) in the States/UTs who are implementing the scheme.

Based  on  the  experience  and  feedback  from  the  stakeholders,  scheme  has  been revised  from  Rabi  2018  and  revamped  with  effect  from  Kharif  2020-21  season.  Brief features of revamped PMFBY are at Annexure .

The Government  is regularly monitoring the implementation  of  PMFBY  and persuading  the  States/UTs  to  notify  more  crops  and  areas  under  the  scheme.  Further,

Government has taken  several  steps  to  create  substantial  awareness  about  the  scheme amongst beneficiaries so that they can enroll themselves voluntarily under the scheme. The Government has made provision to ensure availability of adequate funds for awareness of PMFBY from Rabi 2018-19. The revised Operational Guidelines  for  PMFBY which  came into  effect  from  1 st October  2018  have  provided  that  the  insurance  companies  should allocate 0.5% of the total gross premium collected by them for Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities.   The Government has actively supporting the awareness activities  being  carried  out  by  the  States,  implementing  Insurance  Companies,  financial institutions, and CSC network to disseminate key features of PMFBY amongst farmers and members of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs).

## Salient Features of PMFBY

- i) Provides  comprehensive  insurance  coverage  against  crop  loss  on  account  of  nonpreventable  natural  risks,  thus  helping  in  stabilizing  the  income  of  the  farmers  and encourage them for adoption of innovative practices.
2. ii) Increased risk coverage of Crop cycle - pre-sowing to post-harvest losses.
3. iii) Area approach for settlement of claims for widespread damage. Notified Insurance unit has been reduced to Village/Village Panchayat  for major crops.
4. iv) Actuarial/bidded premium but uniform maximum premium of only 2%, 1.5% and 5% to be paid by farmers for all Kharif crops, Rabi Crops and Commercial/ horticultural crops respectively.   Premium over and above these limits is shared by the Central and State Governments on 50 : 50 basis except in North Eastern Region where it is 90 : 10.
- v) The  difference  between  premium  and  the  rate  of  Insurance  charges  payable  by farmers is provided as subsidy and shared equally by the Centre and State.
6. vi) Uniform seasonality discipline & Sum Insured  for both loanee & non-loanee farmers
7. vii) Removal of the provision of capping on premium which led to reduction in sum insured to facilitate farmers to get claim against full sum insured without any reduction.
8. viii) Individual  farm  level  assessment  and  settlement  of  claims  for  localized  calamities  of hailstorm, landslide, Inundation, Cloud Burst and Natural Fire and post harvest losses due to cyclone, cyclonic/unseasonal rains and hailstorm for the crops kept in the field for drying upto a period of 14 days, throughout the country.
9. ix) Provision of claims upto 25% of sum insured for prevented sowing.
- x) 'On-Account payment' upto 25% of sum insured for mid season adversity, if the crop damage is reported more than 50% in the insurance unit.  Remaining claims based on Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) data.
11. xi) Use of Remote Sensing Technology, Smartphones & Drones for quick estimation of crop losses to ensure early settlement of claims.
12. xii) Crop  Insurance  Portal  has  been  developed  for  ensuring  better  administration,  coordination, transparency, dissemination of information and delivery of services including    crediting  the  claim  amount  electronically  to  the  individual  farmer's  Bank Account.
13. xiii) Focused attention on increasing awareness about the schemes among all stakeholders and appropriate provisioning of resources for the same.
14. xiv) Making the scheme voluntary for all farmers instead of compulsory for loanee farmers.

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