Lok Sabha Question No. 265 (STARRED), answered on 2023-08-08
Subject: PM Fasal Bima Yojana
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu, Y. S. Avinash Reddy

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

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 265

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 08 TH  AUGUST, 2023

## PM FASAL BIMA YOJANA

*265.  SHRI RAM MOHAN NAIDU KINJARAPU: SHRI Y.S. AVINASH REDDY:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ िष एवं ᳰकसान क᭨याण मंᮢी

be pleased to state: (a) whether the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) that aims at providing financial  support  to  farmers  suffering  from  crop  loss/damage  arising  out  of  natural calamities, is fulfilling its unique objective of stabilizing the income of farmers through crop insurance and if so, the details thereof; (b) the number of farmers who are eligible under the said Yojana and the breakdown of the number of beneficiaries under the same, State-wise; (c) the amount of funds disbursed to the farmers along with the details of total number of beneficiaries in the State of Andhra Pradesh during the last three years; (d) the average time taken by the State Government of Andhra Pradesh to settle the claims of farmers under the Fasal Bima Yojana; (e) the amount of premium paid by the State of Andhra Pradesh to farmers under the said Yojana; and the steps being taken by the Government to address the anomalies for smooth

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ िष एवं ᳰकसान क᭨याण मंᮢी (SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

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

(f) implementation of the said Yojana?

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO PART (a) TO (f) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 265 REGARDING PM FASAL BIMA YOJANA FOR REPLY ON 08 TH  AUGUST, 2023

(a) to (f): Yes Sir.  Since inception of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) in 2016-17 till 2021-22, against premium of Rs. 25,183 crore paid by farmers, claims of Rs. 1,30,403  crore have been paid under the scheme.   The scheme is voluntary for States.   All farmers growing notified crops in notified areas are eligible for coverage under the scheme voluntarily.  Comprehensive risk coverage for crops of farmers against all non-preventable natural risks from pre-sowing to post-harvest stages of the crops at very minimum  premium  for  the  farmers  is  provided  under  the  scheme.  The  PMFBY  is successfully fulfilling the objectives of the scheme including providing financial support to stabilize income of farmers especially in natural calamity hit seasons/years/areas.

Though the scheme is voluntary for  the  farmers, more than  30%  of  the  Gross Cropped Area (GCA) and non-loanee farmers of implementing States are covered under the scheme, which shows the acceptance of the scheme among farmers.

State-wise details of number of farmer applications insured during 2022-23 under the scheme are given in Annexure .

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) is a  demand driven Central Sector Scheme, therefore, no State/UT-wise allocation and release is made under the scheme.

However,  the  State  Government  of  Andhra  Pradesh  had  withdrawn  from  the scheme  from  Rabi  2019-20  season  but  has  re-joined  the  scheme  from  Kharif  2022 season. Details of State Government share and Central Government share in premium subsidy paid to farmers during 2022-23 in Andhra Pradesh is given in following table :

| State          | State Share in Premium (Rs. in Cr.)   |   Center Share in Premium (Rs. in Cr.) |
|----------------|---------------------------------------|----------------------------------------|
| Andhra Pradesh | 1367.72*                              |                                 784.24 |

The  admissible  claims  under  the  PMFBY  are  generally  paid  by  the  concerned insurance  companies  within  two  months  of  completion  of  Crop  Cutting  Experiments (CCEs)/harvesting period and one month of notification for invoking the risks/perils of prevented sowing, mid-season adversity and post-harvest losses subject to receipt of total share of premium subsidy from concerned Government within time.  The claims to the farmers of Andhra Pradesh have been paid after the release of State and Government of  India  share  of  subsidy.    The  claims  of  farmers  have  been  settled  timely  through Digiclaim module on National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP) and using the Public Finance Management System (PFMS) platform.

The scheme envisages use of improved technology in implementation.   Accordingly,  various  steps  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. have already been taken to improve timely settlement of the claims to farmers have been taken.  Following technologies for Objective Crop Damage & Loss Assessment and transparency have recently 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 hyperlocal 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 YESTECH 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.

Department has been regularly monitoring the functioning of insurance companies, including timely settlement of claims through weekly video conferences of all stakeholders, one to one meeting as well as National Review Conferences.  To more rigorously  monitor  claim  disbursal  process  an  end  to  end  module  by  the  name  of 'Digiclaim  Module'  has  been  operationalized  for  payment  of  claims  from  Kharif  2022 onwards.  It involves integration of National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP) with PFMS and accounting system of Insurance Companies to provide timely & transparent processing of all claims. 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 comprehensively revised  the  Operational  Guidelines  of  the  PMFBY  to  ensure  that  the  eligible  benefits under the scheme reach the farmers timely and transparently.

Annexure State-wise details of number of farmer application insured during 2022-23 under

## PMFBY

| States/UTs       |   Total farmer applications (In Lakhs) |
|------------------|----------------------------------------|
| A & N Islands    |                                 0.0013 |
| Andhra Pradesh   |                                93.92   |
| Assam            |                                 4.84   |
| Chhattisgarh     |                                76.43   |
| Goa              |                                 0.0007 |
| Haryana          |                                13.96   |
| Himachal Pradesh |                                 2.67   |
| Jammu & Kashmir  |                                 0.92   |
| Karnataka        |                                26.37   |
| Kerala           |                                 1.47   |
| Madhya Pradesh   |                               177.23   |
| Maharashtra      |                               107.1    |
| Manipur          |                                 0.04   |
| Meghalaya        |                                 0.0034 |
| Odisha           |                                80      |
| Puducherry       |                                 0.3    |
| Rajasthan        |                               388.97   |
| Sikkim           |                                 0.02   |
| Tamil Nadu       |                                58.5    |
| Tripura          |                                 3.21   |
| Uttar Pradesh    |                                42.02   |
| Uttarakhand      |                                 2.82   |
| GRAND TOTAL      |                              1080.78   |

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