Lok Sabha Question No. 390 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-05
Subject: Digitalization of PMFBY
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Brijendra Singh

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 390

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 5 TH  DECEMBER, 2023

## DIGITALIZATION OF PMFBY

390. SHRI BRIJENDRA SINGH:

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

- (a) whether the Government has implemented digitalization systems to streamline the administration and disbursement of benefits under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY);
- (b) if so, the details of the measures taken to ensure its user-friendliness and accessibility;
- (c) whether the Government has any grievance redressal mechanism for non-payment and delayed payments of claims;
- (d) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (e) whether there are mechanisms in place to ensure the security and privacy of farmers' data collected through digitalization systems for the PMFBY; and
- (f) If so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

कृ षि एवं ककसान कल्याण मंत्री

(SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

- (a)  &  (b)  :  Yes  Sir.    For  transparent  calculation  and  settlement  of  claims  by  insurance companies, claims module namely, DigiClaim has been developed and implemented w.e.f. Kharif 2022 season wherein all the claims are worked out through National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP) instead of by insurance company and  paid to farmers accounts using Public Finance  Management  System  (PFMS),      which  can  be  monitored  by  Central  and  State Government.  Farmers do not operate the DigiClaim module and only GoI & State Govt. functionaries have access to it. However, on settlement of claims, a SMS with a link is sent to the farmer from which farmer can track the status of payment of claims.
- (c) &  (d)  :  PMFBY  operational  guidelines  provide  for  stratified  grievance  redressal mechanism.  At  the  initial  level,  for  grievance  redressal,  each  block  &  district  have

designated block/district  level  grievance  redressal  officer  to  respond  to  the  grievances  of Farmers, Banks, Insurance Companies etc. within 7 days of receipt of grievance. In case of dissatisfaction  at  block  level,  the  matter  can  be  brought  before  District  Level  Grievance Redressal  Committee  (DGRC)  headed  by  the  District  Magistrate/Collector.  In  case  of disagreement with the decision by any party at district level; the same is represented to the State Level Grievance Redressal Committee (SGRC) within 15 days from the decision of DGRC.    SGRC  is  headed  by  Principal  Secretary/Secretary  of  Nodal  Department.  The SGRC  has  to  dispose  the  grievance  within  15  days  time  of  receipt  of  grievance.  The decision of the Committee shall be accepted by all the parties.

A Krishi Rakshak Portal & Helpline -a single toll-free phone number integrated grievance redressal mechanism having digital portal and a call centre has been developed to enable farmers to lodge their grievances/concerns/queries. This Krishi Rakshak Portal & Helpline was launched on pilot basis for Chhattisgarh

(e)  &  (f)  :  National  Crop  insurance  Portal  (NCIP)  was  launched  in  April,  2018  and henceforth  it  is  being  upgraded  with  new  functionalities  time  to  time  to  develop  it  as  a centralized IT platform to ensure the better administration, coordination, transparency and centralized  data  source  for  getting  real  time  information  and  monitoring  in  a  phased manner.  NCIP  is  a  web-based  portal  for  crop  insurance  (https://pmfby.gov.in)  that facilitates  to  digitize  the  processes  of  PMFBY like  notification, farmer enrolment through various channel like Banks, CSC, Intermediaries etc and claim calculation. It also enables the utilities  to  manage the processes under the IT setup. NCIP captures the entire data relating to insured crops and also serves as the repository for the data relating to the crop insurance scheme.

NCIP is hosted over SSL (https) and is accessible through login and password. Also, CAPTCHA is implemented to avoid machine intervention.  Request and response payload is encrypted at client side.  Under Digiclaim process, claims are paid in the claim account or Aadhar based account after Aadhar verification through PFMS platform.

*****