Page 25 - Insurance Times July 2022

Decline in coverage of farmer applicants in 2017-18 was due to deduplication by making Aadhar mandatory and
announcement of Debt Waiver Scheme by some States.
Provisional data. All admissible claims for the year are not reponted/settled.

Coverage under the scheme has increased from 533 lakh in implementation of the scheme during the first eight
farmer applicants in 2017-18 to 577 lakh applicants during seasons. Thereafter, after making detailed discussions, the
2018-19 and 610lakh farmer applicants during 2019-20, PMFBY/RWBCIS has been revamped with the following
which is despite the withdrawal of Bihar State from the changes to make the scheme more beneficial to farmers
scheme from Kharif 2018 season and West Bengal State with effect from Kharif 2020:
Government from Kharif 2019 season. The State To address the demand of farmers, the scheme has been
Governments of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Telangana and made voluntary for all farmers. However, there is no
Jharkhand have also not implemented the scheme in 2020. change in farmers' share of premium.
The premium subsidy sharing pattern between Centre
Under PMFBY, benefits to the farmers are also being
and North Eastern States has been changed from 50 :
provided through early payment of claims directly into the
50 to 90:10. This has been done to allow more States
bank accounts of the farmers. There is more transparency
to notify the scheme and existing States to notify more
in assessment of crop losses and assessment of claims
crops and areas to facilitate greater coverage of
through use of technology etc. Text SMS is being sent to all
farmers under the scheme. For the remaining States,
loanee farmers whose mobile numbers have been entered
the subsidy sharing pattern will continue as 50: 50.
on the portal. Acknowledgement receipt is being generated
To address the issue of high premium rate for few
on the portal and made available to banks. The number of
crops/areas due to adverse selection, the requisite
farmers opting for the scheme has been falling gradually
central share of premium subsidy (90 : 10 for North
every year in Uttar Pradesh - from 2.8 million in 2018 to
Eastern States and 50 : 50 for remaining States) will be
1.79 million in 2021.
provided for areas/crops having gross premium rate up
Review of Operational Guidelines of the to 25% for irrigated and up to 30% for un-irrigated
areas/crops.
Scheme and issue of Revised Guidelines
States have to decide on these high-risk crops/areas.
The schemes' implementation is reviewed/ monitored
They can remove these crops from notification or notify
constantly through weekly video conferences, one to one
these crops/areas and bear the entire subsidy over and
meeting with the stakeholders on a regular basis and the
above 25% for irrigated and 30% un-irrigated crops/
National Level Monitoring Committee (NLMC). Though
areas. Central Govt. will share only up to 25% or 30%
scheme and revised Operational Guidelines were made after
of applicable premium as the case may be.
detailed discussion with various stakeholders viz. farmers,
States, insurance companies, financial institutions etc, some Besides, alternate risk mitigation measures will be
points/ issues like voluntary coverage of non-loanee farmers, explored for these high risk areas/crops. Insurance
addressing challenges of delay in release of state premium companies will now be selected by the States for 3 years
subsidy and Crop Cutting data and leveraging technology for in a go instead of one year thereby increasing their
smooth implementation etc. were identified as critical issues commitment and accountability to the farmers.
The Insurance Times, July 2022 25