Compensation under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana
(a) the number of farmers in the country as on date and the total number of farmers covered under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana as on date, State-wise;
(b) the number of insurance claims of insured farmers settled as on date after their crops were destroyed/damaged on account of flood this year;
(c) whether the insurance scheme has failed to prevent the farmers from committing suicides;
(d) if so, whether there has been an unabated increase in suicides of the farmers;
(e) if so, the reasons therefor; and
(f) the likely steps to be taken by the Government to check suicides of the farmers?
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 4077 ANSWERED ON: 20.03.2018
Compensation under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana
BHAVANA GAWALI (PATIL)
Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE be pleased to state:-
(a) the number of farmers in the country as on date and the total number of farmers covered under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana as on date, State-wise;
(b) the number of insurance claims of insured farmers settled as on date after their crops were destroyed/damaged on account of flood this year;
(c) whether the insurance scheme has failed to prevent the farmers from committing suicides;
(d) if so, whether there has been an unabated increase in suicides of the farmers;
(e) if so, the reasons therefor; and
(f) the likely steps to be taken by the Government to check suicides of the farmers?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
( SHRI PARSHOTTAM RUPALA)
(a) & (b): State-wise details of number of farm holdings in the country, total number of farmer applicants insured, amount of insurance claims approved and settled for crops destroyed due to various natural calamities including flood under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) are given in Annexure.
(c) to (f): As per the ‘Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India’ (ADSI) Reports of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) under the Ministry of Home Affairs for the year 2015 and provisional data for the year 2016, the total number of suicides by farmers and agricultural labourers in the country during 2016 has come down from 12602 to 11370 i.e. approximately by 9.77%.
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As per Report of 2015, ‘Bankruptcy or Indebtedness’ and ‘Farming Related Issues’ are reported as major causes of suicides among farmers/ cultivators. Other prominent causes of farmers/ cultivators suicides are family problems, illness, etc.
Agrarian distress as manifest from a large number of farmers living below the poverty (BPL) line and unfortunate incidents of suicides can be addressed by enabling the farmers to increase their income. Agriculture is a State subject and the State Governments are primarily responsible for the growth and development of the agriculture sector in their respective States. Government of India supplements the efforts of States through appropriate policy measures and budgetary support. The Government is targeting to double the income of the farmers by the year 2022. To achieve this, the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare has constituted an Inter-Ministerial Committee to examine various dimensions of farmers’ income and to recommend an appropriate strategy. In the meanwhile, the Government is aiming to reorient the agriculture sector by focusing on an income-centeredness in addition to pure production centeredness approach. The Department has, therefore, been implementing various schemes to meet this objective viz. Soil Health Card (SHC) scheme, Neem Coated Urea, Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY), Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY), National Agriculture Market Scheme (e-NAM), Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), Interest Subvention Scheme etc.
The crop insurance schemes are one such measure to strengthen the farming community. The PMFBY was launched from April, 2016 to insure farmers’ crops against damage due to non-preventable natural calamities. Though the scheme is pan-India however, it is optional for States which also decide on areas and crops to be notified. With the launch of PMFBY the farmers are able to onboard the crops insurance, since they have to pay a uniform and low rate of premium. The successful adoption of the scheme by farmers is evident from the coverage of farmer applications which increased substantially from 485 lakh in 2015-16 under erstwhile schemes to 574 lakh in 2016-17.
Source: Loksabha
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