Overview:
- Launched: 2016; the scheme conducts through the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
- Replaced: National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS), Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS).
- Eligibility: Farmers, sharecroppers, and tenant farmers, who grow notified crops in notified areas.
Objectives:
- Insurance Coverage: Financial assistance to farmers due to crop loss caused by natural calamities, pests or diseases.
- Stabilize Farmer’s Income: Keeping them in farm
- Modernism Promotion: To induce modern techniques and new patterns of farming.
- Flow Continuity in Credit: This should be continued by the finance sector to agriculture.
Premium Structure : Kharif Crop : Premium paid by all is uniform at 2%
Rabi Crop: Uniform premium paid by farmers at 1.5%.
Commercial and Horticulture crop: 5% premium charges
- Government of India: It pays the residual premium. There is no ceiling on government subsidy, so all farmers are fully insured against loss of crops.
- Removed capping: Earlier, was cap of premium subsidy capping claim. That was removed and now farmer gets full sum insured.
Use of Technology:
- Crop Insurance App: Enroll for crop insurance easily and report losses in less than 72 hours.
- Technology Tools: These include satellite imagery, remote sensing, drones, AI, and ML for estimating crop losses
- PMFBY Portal: Also allows linking with land records for easy processing.
Recent Changes
-from mandatory to optional: Earlier compulsory for all the loanee farmers, but now
