Lok Sabha Question No. 1258 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-07-30
Subject: Performance of PMFBY in Tamil Nadu
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Km. Sudha R, Dr. Thirumaavalavan Tholkappiyan, Dr. D Ravi Kumar

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1258

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 30 TH  JULY, 2024

## PERFORMANCE OF PMFBY IN TAMIL NADU

1258   KM. SUDHA R: DR. THIRUMAAVALAVAN THOLKAPPIYAN: DR. D RAVI KUMAR:

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

(a) the total number of applications received and total amount of premium collected and total crop  insurance  claims  paid  by  insurance  companies  under  Pradhan  Mantri  Fasal  Bima Yojana (PMFBY) since the commencement of the scheme till date, year-wise, company-wise and State - wise and district-wise for the State of Tamil Nadu;

(b) the details of irregularities, if any, reported against the insurance companies and the action taken in this regard by the Government;

(c)  the  details  of  complaints  filed  by  farmers  and  the  action  taken  by  the  Government  to resolve such complaints, year-wise and State-wise;

(d)  whether  the  Government  has  considered  removing  the  insurance  companies  and providing an assurance based model where the Government directly pays the crop insurance payouts without insurance companies in the middle;

(e) whether there has been a substantial increase in the crop insurance penetration and if so, the details thereof;

(f) the steps taken by the Government to decrease the disbursal time of claims to the farmers; and

(g) the details of success achieved by the Government in the implementation of the PMFBY in the State of Tamil Nadu?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE क ृ िष एवं िकसान कʞाण राǛ मंũी (SHRI RAMNATH THAKUR)

(a):   Year-wise, District-wise and company-wise details of number of farmers applications insured, premium collected from farmers and claims paid during 2018-19 to 2023-24 in Tamil Nadu  under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) are given in Annexure-I, II and III, respectively .

(b) & (c): All the major work like selection insurance model, selection of Insurance Companies through transparent bidding process, assessment of crop yield/crop loss for calculation of admissible  claims  are  being  performed  by  the  concerned  State  Government  or  Joint Committee of State Government officials and concerned insurance company. The roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder are defined in the Operational Guidelines of the scheme for the proper execution of the scheme. However, during the implementation of PMFBY, some complaints  against  insurance  companies  about  non-payment  and/or  delayed  payment  of claims; under payment of claims on account of incorrect/delayed submission of insurance proposals  by  banks;  discrepancy  in  yield  data  &  consequent  disputes  between  State Government and insurance companies,  delay in providing State Government share of funds, non-deployment of sufficient personnel by insurance companies etc.,  have been received in the past which have been suitably addressed as per provisions of the scheme.

Since  the  scheme is implemented by the State Government, therefore, in order to resolve  the  grievances/complaints  including  those  related  to  claims  of  insured  farmers, provision  of  Stratified  Grievance  Redressal  Mechanism  viz.  District  Level  Grievance Redressal Committee (DGRC), State Level Grievance Redressal Committee (SGRC) has been made in the Revised Operational Guidelines of the Scheme.    These committees have been given the detailed mandate as outlined in the Operational Guidelines for hearing the complaints/ grievances   and to dispose them as per the stipulated procedure.

To further  improve  the  grievance  redressal mechanism, Krishi Rakshak Portal and Helpline (KRPH) has been developed.  A single Pan-India toll free number 14447 has been deployed and linked to the insurance companies database, where farmers can raise their grievances/issues.  Timelines to resolve these grievances/issues has also been fixed.  Till date 4.9 lakh calls have been received on KRPH.  Out of these 1.90 lakh issues related etickets were generated and forwarded for action to the insurance companies.  Rest of the issues were either informatory or seeking advisory.  Out of the 1.90 lakh issue related Etickets generated, 1.83 lakh (96%) have been resolved.  This has helped the Central Govt. and State Governments to monitor the grievances of stakeholders at a unified platform.

(d): At present, no such proposal is under consideration of the Government.

(e) to (g):  Government has taken various steps to strengthen implementation of this scheme including reduction in disbursal time of claims, which are as under:

Government has undertaken development of National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP) as a single source of data ensuring 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.

In order to rigorously monitor claim disbursal process, a dedicated module namely 'Digiclaim  Module' has  been  operationalized  for  payment  of  claims  from  Kharif  2022 onwards.    It  involves  integration  of  National  Crop  Insurance  Portal  (NCIP)  with  Public Finance Management System (PFMS) and accounting system of Insurance Companies to provide timely & transparent processing of all claims.

Further, the PMFBY operational guidelines provide for stratified grievance redressal mechanism.  To better resolve all the grievances/complaints under the scheme, a Unified Krishi  Rakshak  Portal  and  Helpline  (KRPH) has  been  developed  to  serve  as  the centralized grievance redressal platform.

Also, towards leveraging technology in implementation of the scheme, 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.

Following technologies for Objective Crop Damage & Loss Assessment and transparency have also been approved recently 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. Soybean crop has been added from Kharif 2024 season.  Claim payouts in 4 States have been done on basis of YESTECH in Kharif 2023.
-  WINDS (Weather Information Network and Data System) for setting up of Network of Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) & Automatic Rain-Gauges (ARG) to the tune of 5 times of existing  network 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.

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.

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.

Due to various initiatives taken under the scheme, the Gross Cropped Area (GCA) covered in 2023-24 was 598 lakh Ha. as compared to 501 lakh Ha. in 2022-23, with a growth of over 19%.  The number of unique farmers enrolled was 3.97 crore in 2023-24 as compared to  3.17 crore in 2022-23 with a growth of over 25%.   Hence, the coverage of area and farmers is at all time highest level till date under the scheme.   Recently Jharkhand and Telangana States have also decided to rejoin the scheme which is likely to further increase area and farmers coverage.  As against the premium of Rs.32,440 Crore paid by farmers till date, claims of Rs.1,63,519 crore have been paid out.  Therefore, 5 times more claims have been paid out when compared to premium paid by the farmers.

Though the scheme is voluntary for the farmers, non-loanee farmers' coverage has increased to 55% of the total coverage under the scheme during 2023-24, which shows the voluntary acceptability/popularity of the scheme.

## Annexure-I

## Year-wise details of number of farmer applications insured, premium collected from farmers and claims paid from 2018-19 to 2023-24 in Tamil Nadu under PMFBY

| Year    | Farmers Applications Enrolled   | Premium collected (from farmers) (in Rs.)   | Claims Paid (in Rs.)   |
|---------|---------------------------------|---------------------------------------------|------------------------|
| 2018-19 | 25,45,790                       | 1,70,01,27,385                              | 26,51,42,50,453        |
| 2019-20 | 38,93,793                       | 1,77,53,85,505                              | 12,61,90,34,213        |
| 2020-21 | 58,87,616                       | 1,76,07,64,378                              | 26,48,47,36,868        |
| 2021-22 | 59,11,016                       | 1,66,92,83,643                              | 8,17,09,86,384         |
| 2022-23 | 61,37,588                       | 1,61,85,50,424                              | 9,09,53,98,210         |
| 2023-24 | 54,64,309                       | 1,49,48,03,927                              | 1,05,00,74,642         |
| Total   | 2,98,40,112                     | 10,01,89,15,261                             | 83,93,44,80,769        |

Note: The scheme has been implemented since 2016-17, with granular data available from 2018-19 onwards. (Data as of June 2024)

Annexure-II District-wise details of number of farmer applications insured, premium collected from farmers and claims paid from 2018-19 to 2023-24 in Tamil Nadu under PMFBY

| District Name   | Farmer Applications Enrolled   | Premium collected (from farmers) (in Rs.)   | Claims Paid (in Rs.)   |
|-----------------|--------------------------------|---------------------------------------------|------------------------|
| Ariyalur        | 9,87,686                       | 18,52,71,006                                | 1,21,32,66,548         |
| Chengalpattu    | 71,240                         | 2,49,24,523                                 | 11,34,96,676           |
| Coimbatore      | 15,064                         | 2,12,21,534                                 | 12,56,95,106           |
| Cuddalore       | 20,63,603                      | 57,14,98,652                                | 4,50,16,45,920         |
| Dharmapuri      | 1,32,241                       | 9,02,40,911                                 | 58,66,58,385           |
| Dindigul        | 1,01,729                       | 5,15,25,917                                 | 39,50,32,753           |
| Erode           | 36,446                         | 10,48,32,852                                | 10,30,10,661           |
| Kallakurichi    | 8,48,353                       | 16,21,75,363                                | 1,30,51,22,824         |
| Kancheepuram    | 2,68,144                       | 10,97,51,790                                | 98,90,11,976           |
| Kanniyakumari   | 28,270                         | 1,15,30,847                                 | 5,77,21,391            |
| Karur           | 1,18,175                       | 7,63,48,299                                 | 53,70,43,711           |
| Krishnagiri     | 29,153                         | 1,07,07,060                                 | 7,84,30,106            |
| Madurai         | 3,06,493                       | 12,23,03,811                                | 57,65,24,950           |
| Mayiladuthurai  | 10,01,206                      | 28,95,45,772                                | 1,54,48,88,233         |
| Nagapattinam    | 22,54,036                      | 84,74,79,024                                | 7,39,37,72,186         |
| Namakkal        | 4,15,327                       | 16,50,83,791                                | 2,32,82,98,392         |
| Perambalur      | 4,90,462                       | 14,81,31,247                                | 63,17,35,677           |
| Pudukkottai     | 17,62,292                      | 49,74,74,654                                | 3,65,82,94,712         |
| Ramanathapuram  | 29,21,591                      | 70,18,45,841                                | 8,49,50,45,237         |
| Ranipet         | 1,85,059                       | 6,44,46,659                                 | 35,98,34,008           |
| Salem           | 1,56,707                       | 7,52,94,916                                 | 48,72,15,641           |
| Sivaganga       | 18,51,424                      | 40,68,06,261                                | 3,52,76,61,722         |
| Tenkasi         | 4,56,662                       | 9,63,97,240                                 | 66,46,63,917           |
| Thanjavur       | 24,30,015                      | 97,56,31,129                                | 8,93,47,73,634         |
| The Nilgiris    | 9,633                          | 3,96,89,191                                 | 6,66,09,070            |
| Theni           | 10,516                         | 2,39,98,574                                 | 7,26,50,701            |
| Thiruvallur     | 9,72,543                       | 25,53,52,347                                | 2,62,46,18,798         |
| Thiruvarur      | 27,93,802                      | 1,25,02,06,239                              | 12,10,19,57,565        |
| Thoothukkudi    | 12,76,423                      | 45,94,04,337                                | 6,00,33,20,510         |
| Tiruchirappalli | 7,61,648                       | 29,86,38,917                                | 2,01,14,34,783         |
| Tirunelveli     | 3,23,106                       | 9,77,45,202                                 | 92,27,35,963           |
| Tirupathur      | 30,936                         | 1,02,10,139                                 | 10,84,99,253           |
| Tiruppur        | 48,023                         | 4,42,00,465                                 | 25,76,89,731           |
| Tiruvannamalai  | 11,20,163                      | 50,46,66,618                                | 2,04,81,70,097         |
| Tuticorin       | 6,26,758                       | 22,78,36,586                                | 45,73,12,235           |
| Vellore         | 91,904                         | 8,53,43,629                                 | 1,07,97,44,771         |
| Villupuram      | 19,18,565                      | 58,12,46,559                                | 4,12,63,57,111         |
| Virudhunagar    | 9,24,714                       | 32,99,07,359                                | 3,44,45,35,816         |

Note: The scheme has been implemented since 2016-17, with granular data available from 2018-19 onwards. (Data as of June 2024)

## Annexure-III

Company-wise details of number of farmer applications enrolled, premium collected from farmers and claims paid from 2018-19 to 2023-24 in Tamil Nadu under PMFBY

| Company Name       | Farmer Applications Enrolled   | Premium collected from farmers (in Rs.)   | Claims Paid (in Rs.)   |
|--------------------|--------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|------------------------|
| AIC                | 1,36,68,380                    | 4,58,21,67,986                            | 39,24,16,04,596        |
| BAJAJ ALLIANZ      | 12,56,480                      | 29,79,75,301                              | 1,36,39,75,825         |
| CHOLAMANDALAM MS   | 6,22,036                       | 39,99,29,733                              | 3,65,29,79,031         |
| FUTURE GENERALI    | 2,48,185                       | 7,88,13,946                               | 18,63,77,828           |
| HDFC ERGO          | 19,42,727                      | 45,77,05,379                              | 2,42,08,16,387         |
| IFFCO TOKIO        | 83,45,127                      | 2,54,29,46,329                            | 18,53,21,30,915        |
| NEW INDIA          | 12,45,758                      | 77,83,28,864                              | 13,13,12,47,014        |
| ORIENTAL INSURANCE | 16,45,805                      | 66,36,18,023                              | 5,32,64,07,099         |
| RELIANCE GENERAL   | 5,17,020                       | 14,75,63,889                              | 1,80,47,729            |
| UNIVERSAL SOMPO    | 3,48,594                       | 6,98,65,811                               | 6,08,94,344            |
| Total              | 2,98,40,112                    | 10,01,89,15,261                           | 83,93,44,80,769        |

Note: The scheme has been implemented since 2016-17, with granular data available from 2018-19 onwards. (Data as of June 2024)

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