Lok Sabha Question No. 489 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-02-03
Subject: Comprehensive Crop Insurance
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Smt. Mahima Kumari Mewar

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 489

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 03 RD  FEBRUARY, 2026

## COMPREHENSIVE CROP INSURANCE

## 489. SMT. MAHIMA KUMARI MEWAR:

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

- (a) whether the Government has made the provisions of crop insurance more comprehensive by making it flexible;
- (b)  whether  the  Government  has  also  included  the  losses  caused  by  wild  animals  and waterlogging in crop insurance;
- (c) if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) whether the Government proposes to take any initiative for early payment of crop insurance to farmers and settlement of pending cases ?

## ANSWER

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

(a) to (c) : The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), introduced in the country from 2016-17is providing  comprehensive risk insurance against crop damage due to non-preventable natural risks from pre-sowing to post-harvest for the crops/areas notified by the concerned State Government.   The losses to crops due to wild animals, being preventable in nature, were therefore not covered earlier.  However, at the request of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and State Governments, States have been allowed to notify the losses by wild animals on individual assessment as add on cover at the cost of State Government.  Detailed protocol for such coverage has been given in the Operational Guidelines of the scheme.

Inundation  as  a  risk  cover  is  available  to  all  notified  crops  under  PMFBY.    However,  for hydrophilic  crops  like  paddy,  jute,  mesta,  sugarcane,  such  cover  is  available  except  in  case  of localized claims.

Considering requests from various stakeholders for inclusion of these perils under localized calamities in PMFBY, a Committee was constituted for 'Defining Modalities of Crop Loss by Wild Animal Attack and Inundation for Paddy Crop Under Localised Risk'.  The Committee has submitted its report alongwith recommendations and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for coverage of these risks.

Further, the review/revisions / improvements in the crop insurance schemes is a continuous process and decision on suggestion/ representations/ recommendations of the stakeholders/studies are taken from time to time.  Based on the experience gained, views of various stakeholders, 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 in 2018, 2020 and 2023.

(d)  :  Majority  of  the  claims  are  settled    within  the  stipulated  timelines  under  the  Operational Guidelines of the scheme by the insurance companies.    However, during the implementation of PMFBY, some complaints were received in the past about payment of claims which are primarily on account of (a) delay in providing State Government share of subsidy  (b) non-payment/delayed payment  or  under  payment  of  claims  on  account  of  incorrect/delayed  submission  of insurance proposals by banks (c) discrepancy in yield data & consequent disputes between State Government and insurance companies etc. The pending claims on account of these issue are settled after their resolution as per provisions of the scheme.

Government has taken various steps to strengthen implementation of this scheme, bring transparency and ensure timely settlement of claims :

-  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 w.e.f. Kharif 2024.
-  Delinking  of  Central  Government  share  of  premium  subsidy  from  that  of  State Governments has been implemented so that farmers can get proportionate claims relating to the Central Government share.
-  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.
-  Provision of 12% penalty on delay in payment of claims by insurance company is auto calculated on National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP).
-  Opening of ESCROW Account by the State Government concerned for deposit of their premium share in advance as per provisions of the scheme has been made mandatory w.e.f. Kharif 2025 season.

Following technologies for Objective Crop Damage & Loss Assessment and transparency have also been implemented recently w.e.f. 2023-24 under the scheme:

- i. 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.
- ii. 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 database with interoperability & sharing of data in coordination with India Meteorological Department (IMD).  WINDS provides data not only for YES-TECH but also for effective drought & disaster management, accurate weather prediction and offering better parametric insurance products.

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