Question : CROP INSURANCE SCHEME

(a) whether the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) is being implemented in various States including Punjab to protect farmers against natural calamities, pests and diseases etc.;

(b) if so, the details of total number and percentage of small, marginal and large farmers covered under the scheme during each of the last three years and the current year, State-wise;

(c) whether the farmers covered under the scheme are not being paid against their claims on time and have to wait for more than one year for their claims in many cases;

(d) if so, the details of total number of claims received and disposed off during each of the last three years and the average time taken in disposing off claim requests and the reasons therefor, State-wise; and

(e) the steps taken by the Government to ensure timely payment of claims and to cover maximum percentage of agricultural families in various States under NAIs?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIES (SHRI TARIQ ANWAR)

(a): National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) was implemented from Rabi 1999-2000 season and remained under implementation till Kharif 2013 season in the country. The scheme was voluntary for the States and was implemented by 25 States and 2 Union Territories in one or more seasons. The Punjab Government had not opted for the scheme in any season.

(b): The State-wise details of coverage of farmers including percentage of small & marginal farmers and claims paid during last three years are given in the Annexure-I.

(c): According to provision of the scheme, the admissible claims are worked out based on yield data arrived from requisite number of Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) as submitted by the State Governments. Normally, Agriculture Insurance Company of India Ltd. (AIC) which is the Implementing Agency of NAIS, processes the admissible claims within one month after the receipt of yield data from the concerned State Government. Claims if any, are paid immediately thereafter provided the share of funds of the Central and State Government have been received by the AIC. However, sometimes, due to discrepancies in yield data, legal cases etc. settlement of claims are delayed and requests from the States/farming community for early settlement of the claims are received. Under such circumstances the matters are promptly referred to the Implementing Agency (i.e. AIC) for taking urgent action and as far as possible, all the complaints are suitably addressed wherever feasible.

(d): State-wise details of claims reported & settled are given in Annexure-II.

(e): At the beginning of each financial year, State Governments have been requested to make adequate budgetary provisions for the crop insurance. State Government has also been requested to release their share towards premium/claims to expedite the settlement of claims. Continued efforts are made to create awareness about crop insurance schemes by the implementing agencies in coordination with implementing states. The salient activities under awareness campaign, involve the publicity of features & benefits of the scheme through advertisements in leading National/local News Papers, telecast through audio-visual media, distribution of pamphlets, participation in agriculture fairs/mela/gosti and organization of workshops/trainings etc. For making National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) more farmers’ friendly, some provisions have further been modified and a Modified NAIS has been launched for implementation on full-fledged basis as one of the components of National Crop Insurance Programme (NCIP) and NAIS has been rolled back from Rabi 2013-14. Under MNAIS, on account payment @ 25% of likely claims is being paid in advance to eligible farmers. Private insurance companies have also been allowed in implementation of the scheme to facilitate better service delivery to farmers.