Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana is the insurance scheme for the farmers who are suffering from loss or damage of crops during farming. Under this scheme farmers will get a financial support from pre-sowing till the post-harvesting time. The scheme is said to be replaced the two other crop insurance schemes available namely National Agricultural Insurance Scheme and Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme. The PMFBY is mandatory for the farmers who have taken crop-loans and optional for the farmers who have not taken any crop-loans. The scheme will be providing financial help (insurance coverage) to the farmers who have taken loan during the harvesting and post harvesting time if there is a loss or damage of the crops.

Scheme	Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana
Implementation	All the states and UTs across India
Budget	Rs. 5501.15 Cr
Time of implementation	Kharif 2016

“Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana is the largest insurance scheme, its premium rate is 1 Rs per month.”

What to Expect from PMFBY

PMFBY will provide insurance coverage to the farmers who will be suffering from loss or damage of crops. The farmers will have to pay 1.5%, 2% and 5% as premiums for the Rabi crop, Kharif Crop and commercial crops respectively.
For the farmers who have taken crop-loans, the difference between the rate of interest for the loan and premium will be provided by the state and central government as subsidy to the farmers. To prevent sowing up to 25% of the Sum Insurance can be claimed.
Technical devices like smartphones, drones and remote sensing technology will be used in inspection of the loss and damage of the crops. Using these high tech devices will help the authority to accelerate the process of financing and such.
The authority has removed the capping on the premium and also removed the provision of reduction of sum insurance. This means now the farmers will get the sum insurance for their damaged crops without any reduction.

“Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana is another insurance scheme, which is eligible for 18 to 50 years age group. Its premium rate is 330 Rs yearly.”

PMFBY Implementation

In 2016, at the time of Kharif the scheme will be implemented in all the states and the union territories. The scheme will cover the losses of the crops due to natural calamities like floods, draughts, hailstorms and such hazardous reasons.
There will be an ‘on payment account’ under which if a damage is reported more than 50% then 25% of the sum insurance will be paid for the mid-season adversity under this scheme.
To implement and supervise the scheme in grass root level, there will be 3 districts allotted as a single group under an insurance company for long 3 years. The process of allotting variable risk profile districts will be held through bidding.
There will be an online portal namely crop insurance portal. It will be launched so that the administration, implementation, transparency and co-ordination between the agents and the farmers will be easier.
Publicity and awareness programs will be held in all the districts and villages under the supervision of the village panchayet and other officials to let the farmers know about the scheme and its importance. With this publicity and awareness people will get to know the process and facilities of the scheme.
There will be online banking system through which the farmers will receive the insurance amount. There will not be any transaction offline or in cash deal. Farmers who don’t have any commercial bank account can link their jan dhan yojana accounts under the scheme.

“Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana is a skills development scheme. Brand ambassador of this scheme is famous cricket player Sachin Tendulkar.”

Budget Allocation and Other Schemes

The PMFBY scheme has started with initial budget Rs. 5501.15 Cr. The budget and the funding will be borne by both the central and state government. Though the scheme was launched by central, but states will equally contribute to the scheme on area basis.
Along with PMFBY, other insurance schemes such as Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme have also reduced the premium rates. Under this scheme the capping on actuarial premium is been removed as well to match up with this new scheme.
Also the central government has launched a new scheme namely Unified Package Insurance Scheme along with PMFBY. It is approved for implementation in 45 districts on pilot basis. This scheme covers issues like accidents, machinery damages, student safety, life and house damage and such.