Lok Sabha Question No. 807 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-07-25
Subject: Farmers Benefitted under PMFBY
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Aparajita Sarangi, Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi, Shyam Yadav Singh, Ramesh Bidhuri

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 807

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 25 TH  JULY, 2023

## FARMERS BENEFITTED UNDER PMFBY

807.   SHRIMATI APARAJITA SARANGI: SHRI GHANSHYAM SINGH LODHI: SHRI SHYAM SINGH YADAV:

SHRI RAMESH BIDHURI:

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

(a) the details of aims, objectives and features of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and the steps being taken by the Government to increase awareness regarding this Yojana specially in Jaunpur of Uttar Pradesh; (b) whether the Government has set up any complaint redressal mechanism and if so, the number of complaints received so far and the action taken thereon; (c) the details of beneficiaries, State/UT-wise particularly in the districts of Uttar Pradesh specially in Jaunpur district under this Yojana during the last three years; (d) the steps being taken by the Government to bring more areas and crops thereunder particularly in the district of Jaunpur; (e) whether the Government has taken any steps to reduce delays in disbursing claims and bring more crop area under PMFBY and if so, the details thereof; (f) whether the Government has taken any steps to increase enrollment in PMFBY among small and marginal farmers and if so, the details thereof; and (g) the details of various steps taken by the Government to encourage farmers to adopt innovative and modern agricultural practices?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

क ृ िष एवं िकसान कʞाण मंũी

(SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

(a) to (g) : Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) aims at supporting sustainable income in crop production, especially in adverse climatic conditions by way of :

-  Providing financial support to farmers suffering crop loss/damage arising out of unforeseen events.
-  Stabilizing the income of farmers to ensure their continuance in farming.
-  Encouraging farmers to adopt innovative and modern agricultural practices.
-  Ensuring credit worthiness of the farmers, crop diversification and enhancing growth and competitiveness of agriculture sector besides protecting the farmers from production risks.

## Salient features of the scheme are at Annexure-I .

State-wise details of farmer applications enrolled under the scheme during 2021-

## 22 are given in Annexure-II.

District-wise details of farmer applications enrolled in Uttar Pradesh during 202122 are given in Annexure-III .

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.

The PMFBY envisages coverage of all food crops  (cereals, millets and pulses), oilseeds  and  commercial/horticultural  crops  subject  to  availability  of  past  yield  data  of requisite number of years based on Crop Cutting Experiments  (CCEs)  as well as capacity of the State Government to conduct requisite number of CCEs to assess the yield of the crop  to  calculate  claims.    However,  specific  crop  is  notified  by  the  concerned  State Government  keeping  in  view  the  aforesaid  provision.      For  the  crops  not  meeting  the aforesaid conditions, the concerned State Government is free to notify them for coverage under Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme  (RWBCIS)  under  which claims payment are being structured on the basis of weather index parameters.

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 to increase the coverage in terms of different crops and areas. 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.

The systematic monitoring  of  IEC  activities  has  been  diligently  overseen  by  the Central  IEC  Advisory  Committee.  This  committee,  in  close  collaboration  with  local Insurance Companies, assumes a pivotal role in ensuring the effective implementation and impact assessment of the IEC initiatives related to crop insurance.

Jaunpur District  has  been  actively  participating  in  these  initiatives,  and  here  are some key highlights in respect of Jaunpur District :

-  Details  of  data  relating  to  Crop  Insurance  Week  Campaign  done  in  the  Jaunpur district is given below :

| Year    | No. of Policies distributed   |   Fasal Bima Pathshala | Publicity through Van    |
|---------|-------------------------------|------------------------|--------------------------|
| 2020-21 | NA                            |                    347 | One van in all 7 tehsils |
| 2021-22 | 11,521                        |                    357 | - do -                   |
| 2022-23 | 16,887                        |                    357 | - do -                   |

The core focus of the campaign in Jaunpur District continues to revolve  around expanding coverage among small and marginal farmers, enabling them to avail the benefits of crop insurance.

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.

The  scheme  envisages  use  of  improved  technology  in  implementation  of  the scheme.  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 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.

For  better  operationalisation  of  the  scheme  three  Alternative  Risk  Management models have also been given as an option to the States for the ongoing tender cycle from Kharif 2023.

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 from 23-03-2023.  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.

## Salient Features of PMFBY

- i)  Provides comprehensive insurance coverage against crop loss on account of non-preventable natural  risks,  thus  helping  in  stabilizing  the  income  of  the  farmers  and  encourage  them  for adoption of innovative practices.
2. ii) Increased risk coverage of Crop cycle - pre-sowing to post-harvest losses.
3. iii) Area approach for settlement of claims for widespread damage. Notified Insurance unit has been reduced to Village/Village Panchayat  for major crops.
4. iv) Actuarial/bidded premium but uniform maximum premium of only 2%, 1.5% and 5% to be paid by farmers for all Kharif crops, Rabi Crops and Commercial/ horticultural crops respectively. Premium over and above these limits is shared by the Central and State Governments on 50 : 50 basis except in North Eastern Region and Himalayan States where it is 90 : 10.
- v) The difference  between  premium and the  rate  of Insurance  charges  payable  by  farmers  is provided as subsidy and shared by the Centre and State, as the ratio mentioned above.
6. vi) Uniform seasonality discipline & Sum Insured  for both loanee & non-loanee farmers
7. vii) Removal of the  provision  of  capping  on  premium  which  led  to  reduction  in  sum  insured  to facilitate farmers to get claim against full sum insured without any reduction.
8. viii) Individual farm level assessment and settlement of claims for localized calamities of hailstorm, landslide, Inundation, Cloud Burst and Natural Fire and post harvest losses due to cyclone, cyclonic/unseasonal rains and hailstorm for the crops kept in the field for drying upto a period of 14 days, throughout the country.
9. ix) Provision of claims upto 25% of sum insured for prevented sowing.
- x) 'On-Account payment' upto 25% of sum insured for mid season adversity, if the crop damage is  reported more than 50% in the insurance unit.  Remaining claims based on Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) data.
11. xi) Use of Remote Sensing Technology, Smartphones & Drones for quick estimation of crop losses to ensure early settlement of claims.
12. xii) Crop Insurance Portal has been developed for ensuring better administration, co-ordination, transparency, dissemination of information and delivery of services including  crediting the claim amount electronically to the individual farmer's Bank Account.
13. xiii) Focused attention on increasing awareness about the schemes among all stakeholders and appropriate provisioning of resources for the same.
14. xiv) Making the scheme voluntary for all farmers instead of compulsory for loanee farmers.

NI : Not Implemented

## Annexure-II

State-wise details of No. of Farmer Applications enrolled during 2021-22 under PMFBY

| State/UT Name    | 2021-2022 Total farmer applications (In Lakhs)   |
|------------------|--------------------------------------------------|
| A & N Islands    | 0.0054                                           |
| Assam            | 10.42                                            |
| Chhattisgarh     | 58.39                                            |
| Goa              | 0.0006                                           |
| Haryana          | 14.52                                            |
| Himachal Pradesh | 2.34                                             |
| Jammu & Kashmir  | 0.91                                             |
| Karnataka        | 19.34                                            |
| Kerala           | 0.99                                             |
| Madhya Pradesh   | 92.67                                            |
| Maharashtra      | 99.01                                            |
| Manipur          | 0.03                                             |
| Meghalaya        | NI                                               |
| Odisha           | 81.72                                            |
| Puducherry       | 0.36                                             |
| Rajasthan        | 345.11                                           |
| Sikkim           | 0.02                                             |
| Tamil Nadu       | 59.29                                            |
| Tripura          | 3.36                                             |
| Uttar Pradesh    | 40.67                                            |
| Uttarakhand      | 1.83                                             |
| GRAND TOTAL      | 830.97                                           |

Annexure-III District-wise details of farmer applications Enrolled  during 2021-22 under PMFBY in Uttar Pradesh

| District            |   2021-2022 |
|---------------------|-------------|
| Agra                |       23375 |
| Aligarh             |       29349 |
| Allahabad           |      103739 |
| Ambedkar Nagar      |       35687 |
| Amethi              |       65873 |
| Amroha              |        6649 |
| Auraiya             |       34496 |
| Azamgarh            |       26718 |
| Baghpat             |         485 |
| Bahraich            |      147442 |
| Ballia              |       58291 |
| Balrampur           |       14762 |
| Banda               |       88128 |
| Bara Banki          |      166910 |
| Bareilly            |       23129 |
| Basti               |      105730 |
| Bhadohi             |        9961 |
| Bijnor              |        7794 |
| Budaun              |       35539 |
| Bulandshahr         |       32235 |
| Chandauli           |       11565 |
| Chitrakoot          |       40512 |
| Deoria              |       73281 |
| Etah                |        7216 |
| Etawah              |       30228 |
| Faizabad            |       44922 |
| Farrukhabad         |       22520 |
| Fatehpur            |       98765 |
| Firozabad           |       17510 |
| Gautam Buddha Nagar |        4456 |
| Ghaziabad           |        3858 |
| Ghazipur            |       38083 |
| Gonda               |       26433 |
| Gorakhpur           |      104378 |
| Hamirpur            |       88271 |
| Hapur               |        2609 |
| Hardoi              |       73006 |
| Hathras             |        7266 |
| Jalaun              |      111702 |
| Jaunpur             |       21208 |
| Jhansi              |      401724 |
| Kannauj             |       57397 |
| Kanpur Dehat        |       77958 |

| Kanpur Nagar     |   67739 |
|------------------|---------|
| Kasganj          |   10013 |
| Kaushambi        |   28596 |
| Kheri            |    7364 |
| Kushinagar       |  117285 |
| Lalitpur         |  320404 |
| Lucknow          |   28376 |
| Mahoba           |  139083 |
| Mahrajganj       |   99625 |
| Mainpuri         |   16176 |
| Mathura          |  183134 |
| Mau              |   12322 |
| Meerut           |    1324 |
| Mirzapur         |   64062 |
| Moradabad        |   14388 |
| Muzaffarnagar    |    1344 |
| Pilibhit         |   27801 |
| Pratapgarh       |   66738 |
| Rae Bareli       |   78499 |
| Rampur           |   14064 |
| Saharanpur       |    2238 |
| Sambhal          |   10482 |
| Sant Kabir Nagar |   55064 |
| Shahjahanpur     |   10761 |
| Shamli           |     608 |
| Shrawasti        |   41630 |
| Siddharthnagar   |   79985 |
| Sitapur          |   50559 |
| Sonbhadra        |   33712 |
| Sultanpur        |   37175 |
| Unnao            |   54254 |
| Varanasi         |   11035 |

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