Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) is an insurance service for farmers for their yields, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 18 February 2016. PMFBY which is government sponsored crop insurance scheme that integrates multiple stakeholders on a single platform. It has been formulated in the line with One Nation-One scheme by replacing earlier two schemes National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) and Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS) by incorporating their best features and removing their inherent drawbacks. PMFBY aims to provide a comprehensive insurance cover against failure of the crop thus helping in stabilizing the income of farmers. As the Scheme covers all food and oilseeds crops and Annual Commercial/ Horticultural Crops for which past yield data is available and for which requisite number of Crop cutting Experiments (CCEs) are conducted being under General Crop Estimation Survey (GCES), it is definitely going to prove as a safeguard for farmers.
The Scheme covers the crop risks leading to crop loss with regard to Prevented sowing / Planting / Germination risks, Standing crops from sowing to harvesting, Post-Harvest losses, Localized Calamities and Add-on coverage for crop loss due to attack by wild animals with certain General exclusions as losses arising out of war and nuclear risks, malicious damage and other preventable risks, thus providing maximum coverage covering almost all aspects.
The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana Scheme provided up to 2 lakhs in damage to the crop. Farmers can claim compensation only if registered under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana Scheme 2023.
Registration for this scheme will be done two times per year, I.e. July and December for Kharif and Rabi crops, respectively. The government has released the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana Scheme Beneficiary List 2023. Farmers registered under this Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana Scheme 2023 can check their name in the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana Scheme 2023 Beneficiary List. All the beneficiaries will get a rebate for their crop in their Bank Account.
Though as per the essence and aim of the scheme the farmers are bound to get enormous relief and many stand benefited, but on ground it should be ensured that the enrolment should touch the desired targets and should not witness a decline for the reasons that there is delay on part of insurance companies in estimating the losses and according the approval of payments. This aspect should be looked into by government and ensured that it is made mandatory for insurance companies to assess losses and make payments in time bound manner.
For PMFBY scheme in 2023-24, Rs 13,625 crore is allocated to the scheme, 0.5% greater than the actual expenditure incurred in 2021-22. In 2022-23, Rs 15,500 crore was budgeted for the scheme, however estimated expenditure declined (by 20%) in the revised estimates to Rs 12,376 crore.
The allocation is quite encouraging but the allocation should not remain only in the kitty of insurance companies, rather be utilized for true cause of compensating the losses of Farmers in time so as to provide relief enabling them to invest in next crops.
