Question : Insurance Claims under PMFBY

(a) whether any deviation in the onset or departure of monsoon largely affects agricultural productivity in the entire Indian subcontinent by leaving farmers in the lurch
and if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether there is a need to create a foolproof mechanism that will make it easier for the Government to assess crop loss and speed up the process of settling insurance claims of farmers;

(c) if so, the action taken by the Government in this regard;

(d) the total cropped area insure during each of the last three years, State-wise;

(e) whether lack of cooperation of the State Governments has been posing a huge challenge in the implementation of the ‘Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)’;

(f) if so, the details thereof and whether any directions have been issued to the State Governments in this regard; and

(g) the other steps taken or being considered by the Government to effectively implement the PMFBY in the entire country?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

‡ãðŠãäÓã ??? ????? ?????? ½ãâ¨ããÊã¾ã ½ãñâ À㕾㠽ãâ¨ããè ( SHRI PARSHOTTAM RUPALA)


Contd….2/-




-2-

(a) to (c): Though irrigation facilities have been developed in many parts of the country, monsoons remain a crucial factor for agricultural productivity in the Indian subcontinent.

Presently crop loss is assessed by the State Government on the basis of yield data arrived from Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs). For purposes of crop insurance the conduct of CCEs is required to be co-witnessed by concerned implementing insurance companies to ensure transparency. To make the system foolproof the field functionaries are required to capture and ensure real-time transfer of yield data to crop insurance portal through Smart phone/CCE Agri App. The portal further auto-calculates the claims. Further, to assist with accurate crop loss estimation under PMFBY provision has also been made for use of Remote Sensing Technology and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)/Drones.

(d): State-wise details of cropped area insured under various crop insurance schemes from 2014-15 to 2016-17 is annexed.

(e) to (g) : The States have been given the choice to opt for the scheme. As such successful Scheme implementation is largely their responsibility. That stated the scheme has been launched as recently as 2016-17 and there are huge implementation challenges such as slow adoption of new technologies, lack of infrastructure and manpower, lack of adherence to timelines for different activities including loss assessment through conduct of crop cutting experiments etc. The States therefore, need to play a pro-active role if they want to safeguard the interests of their farmers. The Government regularly issues advisories to States for timely compliance of Operational Guidelines. A national crop insurance portal has also been set up to integrate all the stakeholders including States on a common platform to facilitate end to end coordination for smooth implementation of the Scheme.