Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana Details In English         

              India is a country of diversities. Here only the diversity of culture, caste, religion, and language is seen, but there is also diversity in the weather here. This variety found in the season is a boon for some people and a curse for some people. Conditions like unseasonal rain, snowfall, or no rain are no less than a tragedy for farmers. Because crops of farmers are ruined in these conditions. Due to which their livelihood is snatched away, and the farmer is forced to take a loan. To overcome this problem of the debt trap, he surrenders himself to death.

        But to get rid of all this, the Central Government has introduced a crop insurance scheme. On 19 February, the Union Cabinet met under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in this meeting a decision related to farmers was taken. This decision was to leave the Prime Minister Crop Insurance Scheme at the will of the farmer. Till now the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana was made mandatory. Due to this, farmers also had to take crop insurance when taking loans. This arrangement has been changed in the cabinet meeting.

        Looking at the figures, 58% of the total farmers take loans. In fact, many complaints were received about the ongoing crop insurance scheme, due to which these changes have been carried out.

Changes made in crop insurance scheme

       The most important of the changes made in the Prime Minister's Crop Insurance Scheme and the restructured weather-based crop insurance scheme is its voluntary making.

         Apart from this, the insurance companies offering crop insurance will be selected through tender. These insurance companies will be given 3 years of responsibility. Till now this range was from 1 to 3 years.

            In the change, the central government's share in the premium subsidy has been increased for the northeastern states, raising it from 50p to 90%. The state government will have to pay the remaining 10% in subsidy Like the central subsidy in other states except North East, regional crops will be limited to 30% in water scarcity areas.

            This share was 50% before the change. While this subsidy is limited to 25% for irrigated regional crops.

         Apart from this, the Central Government will conduct an awareness campaign about the needs of crop insurance policy. All these changes will be applicable from the upcoming Kharif season

History of Crop Insurance Scheme

          The first crop insurance scheme in India was started in 1972. After this, the crop insurance scheme was launched in 1985 during Rajiv Gandhi's government. National Agricultural Insurance Scheme of 1999 and then revised National Agricultural Insurance Scheme were introduced in 2010. But due to lack of transparency, delay in insurance payments, and expensive premiums, more and more farmers could not join these schemes.

          In 2016, the scheme was re-launched by the NDA government of the Center. This scheme replaced the earlier running National Agricultural Insurance Scheme and the revised Agricultural Insurance Scheme.

What is special in this Prime Crop Insurance Scheme?

        The scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 13 January 2016. Under the Pradhan Mantri Crop Insurance Scheme, farmers have to be insured within 10 days of the crop being harvested. If there is any damage to the crop due to flood, rain, hail, or any natural disaster, then the farmer is given the benefit of insurance. The scheme covers all those farmers who do farming whether they have a farm or not.

        It is necessary for the farmers to get insurance within 10 days of sowing the crop. If after 14 days of harvesting, the crop gets damaged due to rain or any other reason, then farmers are given insurance money.

       Apart from this, different premiums have to be paid for different types of crops. For Kharif crops, farmers have to pay a premium of 2% of the full insurance amount. While this premium for Ravi's crop has been fixed at 1.5% of the full sum assured. For cash crop horticultural crops, the farmer has to pay a premium of 5% of the total sum insured.

      The dues are paid by the central and state governments to the insurance company. In the case of crop failure, the farmer informs the insurance company. If the crop is damaged, the insurance companies conduct a survey through their representatives. Money is sent to farmers' accounts within 30 days of the survey. If for some reason the farmer is unable to contact the insurance company, then the farmer has banked near him and can then inform the officer. The premium amount varies from state to state. Apart from this, the insurance amount for each crop is different. Apart from this, the insurance amount of each crop also varies.

      The premium amount is decided on the basis of the report of the District Technical Committee. This committee consists of the District Collector, District Agricultural Officer, Meteorological Department Officer, Farmer's Representative, and Insurance Companies. This report is sent before each season, after which the insurance companies decide the premium based on the report.

Why were these changes approved?

          There were frequent complaints from farmers and farmer organizations about when they were paid against the premium. This sequence was going on for the last 4 years. Farmers' organizations alleged that due to government negligence, private insurance companies were not paying the entire claim to the farmers. In the earlier information, 1 village or panchayat was considered a unit instead of a farm. But if there was a loss in the farmer's farm due to some natural reason, then the insurance was not paid even if there was no loss in the surrounding fields.

          Apart from this, there were complaints about the farmers getting delayed payment of crops due to the loss of crops. Due to which the farmers had to face a lot of trouble. Even after 4 years of the scheme, many states have not accounted for the premium. In which Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and West Bengal did not deposit the premium for 2017-18 only. In Bihar and Punjab, this scheme did not apply.

           Companies used to deduct the premium amount without asking farmers. As soon as the farmer took a loan, the insurance companies used to deduct premium money from it. For this reason, the farmers could not know how much premium they were paid.

How to register for Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana?

          Whatever farmers want to do their crop under the Prime Minister's crop insurance scheme. He can do this himself by visiting the official website of the Prime Minister's crop insurance scheme.

 

         You can also register for the Prime Minister crop insurance by going to his nearest common service center.

          They do not require many documents to register. All you need is your general information such as name, address, Aadhaar number, and Gut number of your field.

Courtesy:-Gadgets Today