Question : Development of Infrastructure for Crop Assessment

(a) whether the Government has devised a mechanism for synchronisation of the bank account number, Aadhaar number and mobile number of farmers so that compensation can be paid directly to the farmers'' accounts under the aegis of Crop Insurance Scheme and if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether the Government has sufficient funds to develop infrastructure in order to undertake crop assessment in a transparent manner and within a specified period of time using high technology such as automatic weather stations, drones, low earth orbits and satellites and if so, the details thereof; and

(c) whether the Government has any proposal to co-ordinate with the National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) and Space Applications Centre (SAC) in order to identify insured fields, calculate planted acreage, identifying boundaries of the field and finally assess the loss; and

(d) if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

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(a) & (b): Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) provides for use of Smartphones, Remote Sensing Technology & Drones for taking images of Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) for early transmission of yield data for quick estimation of crop losses to ensure early settlement of claims in a phased manner. Claims are already being credited to the bank accounts of farmers and no cash or cheque is being given to the farmers. However, it is proposed that the claim amount will be credited electronically to the individual Aadhar seeded Insured’s Bank Account after creating suitable necessary data base of individual insured farmers on the crop insurance portal created for better administration, coordination, transparency and dissemination of information. Government of India has sufficient funds for transparent crop assessment using advanced technologies.

(c) & (d): National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) and Space Applications Center (SAC) are already providing their expert assistance under KISAN [C(K)rop Insurance using Space Technology And geoiNformatics] Project being coordinated by Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC) which is under the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare.

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