Review of Crop Insurance Scheme
(a) whether the Crop Insurance Scheme introduced by the Government is fulfilling the needs of farmers, if so, the details thereof;
(b) the details of the precautions being taken by the Government to make the scheme more advantageous to the farmers from getting out of the burden of premiums and crop losses;
(c) whether abnormal delays are taking place in settlement of claims of farmers, if so, the details thereof; and
(d) the remedial measures taken by the Government for early settlement of claims and avoiding losses to the farmers?
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-1792
ANSWERED ON-17.03.2017
Review of Crop Insurance Scheme
1792 . Dr. Pradeep Kumar Balmuchu
(a) whether the Crop Insurance Scheme introduced by the Government is fulfilling the needs of farmers, if so, the details thereof;
(b) the details of the precautions being taken by the Government to make the scheme more advantageous to the farmers from getting out of the burden of premiums and crop losses;
(c) whether abnormal delays are taking place in settlement of claims of farmers, if so, the details thereof; and
(d) the remedial measures taken by the Government for early settlement of claims and avoiding losses to the farmers?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
( SHRI PARSHOTTAM RUPALA)
(a) to (d): Yes, Sir. After review of erstwhile Crop Insurance Schemes, Government has launched Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurnace Scheme (RWBCIS) from Kharif 2016 season. To make the scheme more advantageous for farmers, many innovative solutions have been incorporated in the new schemes. The PMFBY provides comprehensive crop insurance from pre-sowing to post harvest losses against non-preventable natural risks at extremely low maximum premium rate of 2% for Kharif Crops, 1.5% for Rabi Crop and 5% payable by farmers for annual commercial/horticultural crops, which premium rates are also applicable under RWBCIS. The balance of actuarial/bidded premium is shared by the Central and State Government on 50:50 basis. Further, not only has cap on premium which had earlier led to reduction in sum insured been removed under both schemes, but sum insured has been made equal to the Scale of Finance thereby providing maximum risk coverage to the farmers. In an effort to provide more realistic assessment of losses, the unit area of insurance has been reduced from Tehsil/distict level to village/village Panchayat level for major crops and to individual farm level for localized risks of hailstorm, landslide and inundation. While settlement of claims is done on the basis of yield loss assessment at the end of season, some measure of immediate relief is also provided to insured farmers in case of adverse seasonal conditions during the crop season due to which expected yield during the season is likely to be less than 50% of the Threshold Yield in the concerned insurance unit.
Contd…2/-
There were some instances of delay in settlement of claims of farmers, which pertain to erstwhile schemes and which may inter-alia be attributed to reasons such as delay in submission of yield data or release of funds by States/Union Territories etc. To address such issues under the new schemes several measures have been incorporated namely, timelines have been stipulated for completion of every activity, be it submission of proposals by banks to insurance companies, assessment of yield by State Government agencies, processing and settlement of claims by insurance companies, the last to be done within three weeks of receipt of yield data from State. To expedite the yield data submission, the Department has deployed CCE Agri App and made it mandatory for States to transmit data through CCE Agri App/smartphones. Further, new remote sensing technology is also being experimented with to achieve more accurate yield loss assessment for purposes of accurate claim settlement. Most importantly, the National Crop Insurance Portal has been launched to facilitate online flow of information and service delivery among stakeholders. Accordingly, under the new scheme claims for Kharif 2016 are being settled as per the stipulated time frame upon receipt of yield data and share in premium subsidy from States.
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Source: Rajyasabha
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