Lok Sabha Question No. 27 (STARRED), answered on 2023-12-05
Subject: Crop Insurance Scheme under PMFBY
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu

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

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 27

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 5 TH  DECEMBER, 2023

## CROP INSURANCE SCHEME UNDER PMFBY

*27. SHRI LAVU SRI KRISHNA DEVARAYALU:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE क ृ िष एवं िकसान कʞाण मंũी be pleased to state:

(a) the details of farmers who have availed the crop insurance scheme under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), State-wise; (b) whether  the  Government  is  aware  of  the  declining  share  of  insured  farmers benefiting from crop insurance scheme; (c) if  so,  the  measures  taken  by  the  Government  to  ensure  that  more  funds  are disbursed to farmers; (d) whether  the  Government  has  plans  to  increase  the  insurance  premiums  for commercial and horticultural crops, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; (e) whether  the  Government  is  exploring  ways  to  enhance  the  responsiveness  of insurance companies to local calamities and to make the crop insurance system more dynamic and localized; and

- (f) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE क ृ िष एवं िकसान कʞाण मंũी (SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

(a) to (f) : A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  PART  (a)  TO  (f)  OF  LOK  SABHA  STARRED QUESTION NO. 27 REGARDING CROP INSURANCE SCHEME UNDER PMFBY FOR REPLY ON 5 TH  DECEMBER, 2023

- (a): The Pradhan Mantri Fasal  Bima  Yojana (PMFBY) introduced in the country from  Kharif  2016  season  is  voluntary  for  States  and  farmers.  Comprehensive  risk coverage  for  crops  of  farmers  against  all  non-preventable  natural  risks  from  presowing to post-harvest stages of the crops at very minimum premium for the farmers is  provided  under  the  scheme.  Actuarial/bidded  premium  rates  are  charged  by insurance companies but the farmers have to pay maximum 2% for Kharif, 1.5% for Rabi  food  and  oilseed  crops  and  5%  for  commercial/horticultural  crops  and  the balance of actuarial/bidded premium is shared by the Central and State Government on 50 : 50 basis and 90 :10 in case of North Eastern States (from Kharif 2020 season) and Himalayan States (from Kharif 2023) as per provisions of the scheme.  Based on the experience gained, views of various stakeholders and with a view to ensure better transparency, accountability, timely payment of claims to the farmers and to make the scheme more farmer friendly, Government has periodically revised the Operational Guidelines of the PMFBY comprehensively to ensure that the eligible benefits under the scheme reach the farmers timely and transparently.

State-wise details of the number of farmer applications enrolled from 2020-21 to 2022-23 under the scheme for the States which have implemented the scheme, is Annexed.

- (b) & (c): Year-wise details of coverage in terms of farmer applications enrolled and  area  insured  along  with  rate  of  growth  therein  during  last  three  years  under PMFBY is given below:

| Year      |   Farmer Applications (In Lakhs) | Growth Rate   |   Area Insured (in lakh ha.) | Growth Rate   |
|-----------|----------------------------------|---------------|------------------------------|---------------|
| 2020-2021 |                           622.7  | -             |                       469.23 | -             |
| 2021-2022 |                           830.56 | 33.4%         |                       443.08 | -5.6%         |
| 2022-2023 |                          1169.56 | 40.8%         |                       498.91 | 12.6%         |

Further, comparison of coverage in terms of number of farmer applications and area insured along with their growth rates during Kharif seasons is given in the table below:

| Season (FY upto November)   |   Farmer Applications (In Lakhs) | Growth Rate   |   Area Insured (in lakh ha.) | Growth Rate   |
|-----------------------------|----------------------------------|---------------|------------------------------|---------------|
| Kharif 2021                 |                              453 | -             |                          236 | -             |

| Kharif 2022   |   606 | 33.8%   |   242 | 2.5%   |
|---------------|-------|---------|-------|--------|
| Kharif 2023   |   781 | 28.9%   |   300 | 24%    |

As seen from table above, number of farmer applications has grown by 33.4% and  41%  year-on-year  during  2022-23  and  2021-22,  respectively.  There  is  also significant growth of 28.9% in number of farmer applications and 24% in area insured under the scheme in Kharif 2023 season (upto November 2023) as compared to Kharif 2022.

Due to the various measures like regular monitoring of implementation of the scheme & resultant revision of  the Operational Guidelines of the scheme, infusion of improved technology -  National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP), YES-TECH, WINDS, CROPIC, integration of State Land Records with NCIP, increased IEC activities etc. coverage under the scheme has been increasing year-on-year.   Since inception of the scheme till Rabi 2022-23, against farmers share of premium of Rs. 30,800 crore claims of Rs. 1,50,589 crore have been paid to the farmers, which is about 5 times of the farmers share.

(d): Payment  of  premium  share  as  per  the  provisions  of  the  scheme  is  the committed  liability  of  the  Government  and  sufficient  budget  provision  is  made accordingly.  In fact, the budget of the scheme has been increased to Rs. 15,000 crore at  Revised  Estimates  (RE)  stage  in  the  current  financial  year  as  compared  to  Rs. 12,375.76 crore in RE 2022-23.

There is no  proposal under consideration,  at present, to  modify the  existing premium structure under PMFBY.

(e) & (f): Scheme is implemented by the insurance companies as per Operational Guidelines issued by the Government.  Government has taken various steps to make the scheme responsive to farmers and insurance companies in cases like losses due to localized risks of hailstorm, landslide, inundation, cloud burst & natural fire and postharvest losses due to cyclone, cyclonic/unseasonal rains & hailstorms.  Claims due to these localized risks are calculated on an individual insured farm basis and claims are assessed by a joint committee comprising representatives of the State Government and  concerned  insurance  company.  Various  steps  taken  by  the  Government  for smooth implementation of the scheme are given below:

-  National Crop Insurance Portal  (NCIP) has  been  developed  for  ensuring auto-administration, subsidy payment, co-ordination, transparency, dissemination  of information and  delivery  of  services  including  direct online enrollment of farmers, uploading/obtaining individual insured famer's  details for better monitoring and to ensure transfer of claim amount electronically to the individual farmer's Bank Account.
-  Digiclaim : For transparent calculation and settlement of claims by insurance companies,  a  claims  management  module  namely  'Digiclaim'  has  been developed w.e.f. Kharif 2022 season wherein all the claims are worked out through National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP) and paid to farmers' accounts using Public Finance Management System (PFMS). This ensures full cycle monitoring of claims right upto the farmer level.
-  Integration  of  Land  Record  with  NCIP has  been  completed  for  Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Odisha, wherein 90% of the insured area is now being validated through e-land records of the states through land record integration.
-  With a view to leveraging technology in implementation of scheme, various steps have been taken like capturing of yield data/Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs)  data  through  CCE-Agri  App  &  uploading  it  on  the  NCIP,  allowing insurance companies to witness the conduct of CCEs, integration of State land records with NCIP etc. to improve timely settlement of the claims to farmers.

Further,  following  technology  initiatives  for  Objective  Crop  Damage  &  Loss Assessment and transparency have been approved for implementation w.e.f. 2023-24 :

-  YES-TECH  (Yield  Estimation  System  Based  on  Technology)  for  gradual migration to Remote-Sensing based yield estimation to help assess yields as well  as  fair  and  accurate  Crop  Yield  Estimation . This  initiative  has  been launched for paddy & wheat crops from Kharif 2023 wherein 30% weightage to yield estimation will mandatorily be assigned to YES-TECH derived yield.
-  WINDS  (Weather  Information  Network  and  Data  System)  for  Network  of Automatic  Weather  Stations  (AWS)  &  Automatic  Rain-Gauges  (ARG)  for collecting hyper-local weather data at GP & Block level.  This will be fed into a National unified network of AWS & ARG with interoperability & sharing of data in  coordination  with  India  Meteorological  Department  (IMD).    WINDS  will provide data not only for YES-TECH but also for effective drought & disaster management,  accurate  weather  prediction  and  offering  better  parametric insurance products.
-  CROPIC (Collection of Real-time photos and Observations of Crops) for Geotagged photographs for validation of sown Crop with Insured Crop and use of pictorial  analytics  for  Objective  Crop  Damage  Assessment  &  Crop  Yield Estimation.

*****

## Annexure

## State-wise details of number of farmer applications enrolled during 2020-21 to 2022-23 under PMFBY for States implemented the scheme

| State/UT         | Number of Farmer Applications Enrolled (in lakhs)   | Number of Farmer Applications Enrolled (in lakhs)   | Number of Farmer Applications Enrolled (in lakhs)   |
|------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|
|                  | 2020-21                                             | 2021-22                                             | 2022-23                                             |
| A & N Islands#   | 0.00                                                | 0.01                                                | 0.00                                                |
| Andhra Pradesh*  | NI                                                  | 0.00                                                | 175.40                                              |
| Assam            | 16.60                                               | 9.96                                                | 4.90                                                |
| Chhattisgarh     | 51.63                                               | 58.39                                               | 77.24                                               |
| Goa#             | 0.00                                                | 0.00                                                | 0.00                                                |
| Haryana          | 16.51                                               | 14.53                                               | 14.46                                               |
| Himachal Pradesh | 2.41                                                | 2.34                                                | 2.67                                                |
| Jammu & Kashmir  | NI                                                  | 0.91                                                | 0.92                                                |
| Karnataka        | 16.07                                               | 19.34                                               | 26.45                                               |
| Kerala           | 0.76                                                | 0.99                                                | 1.47                                                |
| Madhya Pradesh   | 84.41                                               | 92.67                                               | 177.26                                              |
| Maharashtra      | 124.06                                              | 99.03                                               | 107.44                                              |
| Manipur          | NI                                                  | 0.03                                                | 0.04                                                |
| Meghalaya#       | 0.00                                                | 0.00                                                | 0.00                                                |
| Odisha           | 97.52                                               | 81.70                                               | 80.06                                               |
| Puducherry       | 0.11                                                | 0.36                                                | 0.31                                                |
| Rajasthan        | 107.59                                              | 345.31                                              | 390.74                                              |
| Sikkim           | 0.00                                                | 0.02                                                | 0.05                                                |
| Tamil Nadu       | 58.88                                               | 59.14                                               | 61.60                                               |
| Tripura          | 2.57                                                | 3.36                                                | 3.21                                                |
| Uttar Pradesh    | 41.90                                               | 40.67                                               | 42.53                                               |
| Uttarakhand      | 1.71                                                | 1.83                                                | 2.82                                                |
| TOTAL            | 622.74                                              | 830.56                                              | 1,169.56                                            |

# Numbers rounded in lakhs, hence shown as 0.

NI : Not Implemented