Question : Benefit of PMFBY

(a) whether ordinary farmers in the country are not getting the actual benefit of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana due to which farmers now want to avoid the unnecessary instalment of the insurance;

(b) if so, the steps taken by the Government to provide benefit of the said scheme to maximum farmers;

(c) the total premium deposited by the Union Government and the State Governments to insurance companies during 2017-18, the details thereof crop and company-wise and State-wise including Jharkhand; and

(d) the total number of farmers to whom compensation has been provided during 2017-18 along with the total amount of the compensation, the details thereof, State, crop and company-wise?

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

???? ??? ????? ?????? ?????? (SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

(a) & (b): Based on the experience of past crop insurance schemes and with a view to include more risks under crop insurance, making it more affordable to the farmers etc., Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana has been introduced for implementation from Kharif 2016 season. Due to the improved features of the scheme coverage under the scheme has been increased to 30% of Gross Cropped Area in the country from 23% in erstwhile crop insurance schemes. Coverage of non-loanee farmers, for whom the coverage is voluntary, has increased from 5% under erstwhile schemes in 2015-16 to 42% during Kharif 2019, which shows the acceptability of the scheme on voluntary basis.

The major reason for farmers not availing the benefits of the scheme is lack of awareness about insurance/insurance products in India in general and among farmers in particular. Further, all crops and areas in a State are not notified by the concerned State Governments, which also affects the coverage under the scheme.

Government has taken several initiatives including active involvement of all stakeholders especially States and implementing insurance companies for conduct of publicity campaign/awareness programmes including organization of camps in the rural areas to build farmer awareness about crop insurance schemes. Insurance companies have been asked to
Contd…2/-


-2-

mandatorily utilize 0.5% of gross premium collected by them for publicity and awareness generation. Other activities for awareness generation involve the publicity of features and benefits of the scheme through advertisements in leading National/local News Papers, telecast through audio-visual media, distribution of pamphlets in local languages, participation in agriculture fairs / mela / goshti, dissemination of SMS through Kisan Portal/national crop insurance portal and conduct of workshops/ trainings State officials, financial institutions and farmers. For non-loanee farmers since crop insurance is optional, the Common Service Centres (CSCs) and online enrolment have been activated to provide the services besides traditional modes like banks/PACS and insurance intermediaries.

(c) & (d): Details are given in Annexure.