Lok Sabha Question No. 2111 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-14
Subject: States Opting out from PMFBY
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Arvind Ganpat Sawant, Sanjay Haribhau Jadhav, Jadon Chandra Sen

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2111

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 14 TH  MARCH, 2023

## STATES OPTING OUT FROM PMFBY

2111.  SHRI ARVIND GANPAT SAWANT: SHRI SANJAY JADHAV: DR. CHANDRA SEN JADON:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE क ृ षि एवं षकसान कल्याण मंत्री be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  many  States  are  opting  out  of  the  Prime  Minister  Fasal  Bima  Yojana (PMFBY);
- (b) whether the delay in settling farmers' claims is one of the reasons for opting out;
- (c) if  so,  the  details  of action taken by the Government to address this issue and the other related issues due to which the States are opting out of the scheme/yojana;
- (d) whether the coverage under PMFBY has been steadily declining to low level during the last three years;
- (e) if so, the details of its coverage during last year; and
- (f) the action plan of the Government to address these issues related to this scheme?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE क ृ षि एवं षकसान कल्याण मंत्री

(SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

- (a)  to  (c)  :      The  Pradhan  Mantri  Fasal  Bima  Yojana  (PMFBY)  was introduced in the country from Kharif 2016 season.   Since inception of the scheme in Kharif 2016, 27 States/Union Territories implemented the PMFBY in one or more seasons.

Some  States/UTs  like  Bihar,  Telangana,  Andhra  Pradesh  Jharkhand,  West Bengal  and  Gujarat  have  opted  out  of  the  scheme  after  implementing  it  for  some seasons due to their own reasons like perception about risk and financial constraints. Due to the efforts of Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Andhra Pradesh has rejoined  the  scheme  from  Kharif  2022  season  and  Punjab  has  made  a  budget announcement to do so. The PMFBY is available for all States/UTs and is voluntary for them.   States/UTs are free to subscribe under the scheme keeping in view their risk perception  and  financial  considerations  etc.      The  scheme  is  also  voluntary  for  the farmers to enroll themselves as per their risk perception.

Though timelines for each activity including settlement of claims are provided in the  Operational  Guidelines  of  PMFBY,  settlement  of  few  claims  in  some  States  got slightly delayed due to reasons like delayed transmission of yield data and late release of  State  share  in  premium  subsidy  by  the  States,  yield  related  disputes  between insurance  companies  and  States,  non-receipt  of  account  details  of  some  farmers  for transfer of claims to the bank account of eligible farmers and National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) related issues, erroneous/incomplete entry of individual farmers data on  National  Crop  Insurance  Portal  (NCIP),  delay  in  remittance  of  farmers  share  of premium/non-remittance of farmers share of premium to concerned insurance company etc.

This Department is regularly monitoring the implementation of PMFBY including timely  settlement  of  claims  through  weekly  video  conference  of  stakeholders,  one  to one meetings with insurance companies/States etc.  Various innovative technologies are  also  adopted  to  increase  the  timeliness  for  flow  of  requisite  information/data amongst stakeholders.

(d) to (f) :  Since inception of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) in 201617, coverage under the scheme has been around 30% of Gross Cropped Area (GCA) in the States/UTs who are implementing the scheme.  Year-wise details of coverage in terms of farmer applications  enrolled  and  area  insured  during  last  three  years  under PMFBY is given below :

| Year      |   Farmer Applications (In Lakhs) |   Area Insured (in lakh ha.) |
|-----------|----------------------------------|------------------------------|
| 2019-2020 |                           616.16 |                        508.4 |
| 2020-2021 |                           623.19 |                        495.4 |
| 2021-2022 |                           831.76 |                        459   |

Compulsory use of Aadhar number for coverage and technology interventions such as API based land record integration have weeded out the instances of over-insurance in terms of area even when enrollment under the scheme has grown.

The 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 provisions to ensure availability of adequate funds for awareness of PMFBY. The revised Operational Guidelines for PMFBY which came  into  effect  from  1 st   October  2018  have  inter-alia  provided  that  the  insurance companies  should  compulsorily  spend  atleast  0.5%  of  the  total  gross  premium collected by them for Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities.

The Government has actively supported the awareness activities being carried out  by  the  States,  implementing  Insurance  Companies,  financial  institutions,  and Common  Service  Centres  (CSCs)  network  to  disseminate  key  features  of  PMFBY amongst farmers and members of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs).

Further,  a  structured awareness  campaign  'Crop  Insurance Week/Fasal  Bima Saptah'  has  been  initiated  by  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture  and  Farmers  Welfare  since Kharif  2021  season  onwards.  The  core  focus  of  the  campaign  is  to  increase  the awareness about benefits of the scheme, sensitize the stakeholders  and to increase overall  enrolment  of  farmers,  thereby  helping  them  to  reap  the  benefits  of  crop insurance with special focus on identified aspirational/tribal districts.

Along with this, Fasal Bima Pathshalas are also being organized at village/GP level for knowledge building of farmers on various aspects of scheme implementation.

Apart from this, other activities for awareness generation involve the publicity of key  features  and  benefits  of  the  scheme  through  advertisements  in  leading  National and  local  newspapers,  airing  of  audio-visual  spots  on  regional  /  local  channels, distribution of IEC material in local languages, dissemination of SMS through Kisan / National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP) portal and organisation of online workshops of all stakeholders including farmers, Panchayat Members, and other key stakeholders.

Government  had  also organized a nationwide Doorstep Crop Insurance Policy/receipt Distribution mega drive - 'Meri Policy Mere Haath'. Hard copies of crop insurance  policy  receipts  are  distributed  to  farmers  enrolled  under  PMFBY  through special camps at gram Panchayat/village level. All implementing State/UT Governments along with respective insurance companies have been organizing Gram Panchayat level mega policy distribution drive.

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