Dr Narinder Paul
Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) which has been implemented in the country from Kharif 2016 indeed is a landmark scheme for the farming community formulated by the Government of India and has been said to be the biggest ever Government contribution to the crop insurance. Farmers in our country are often confronted with risks resulting from natural calamities and disasters leading them to the difficult times due to crop losses and even complete failures. Many times instability of market prices also add to their miseries. Farmer suicides across the country reported due to indebtness because of crop failure resulting from natural calamities further raised the alarm to re-examine, re-think and re-formulate the ways and means of providing a viable and farmer friendly insurance cover to them.
Agriculture insurance is not new to India as previously too efforts have been made by the respective Governments to provide support to the farmers by means of crop insurance to meet up losses incurred due to crop failures from natural calamities. There had been insurance schemes for the farmers as well. National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (NAIS) and Modified National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (MNAIS) no doubt attempted to provide shield to the farmers during crop failure but both had certain inherent limitations turning it into an insipid tale which the PMFBY has been destined to overcome. A vast majority of the farmers remained, unaware, untouched and were unable to avail the benefits of the previous crop insurance schemes. High premium rates up to 25% and low resultant benefits in terms of claim values also contributed towards their less popularity and meager adoption. Certain other reasons also contributed which included lack of proper awareness among farmers and other stakeholders including extension agencies. More detailed consultations with the states, farmers and insurance companies yielded a revamped farmer friendly Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. Now there is a single crop insurance scheme available predestined to support the farmers.
PMFBY was approved by the Union Cabinet and launched on January 13, 2016 by the Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh in the presence of Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Mr. Radha Mohan Singh. Union Home minister called this scheme “Safety Shield” whereas Union Agriculture Minister called it “Amrita Yojana”. Guidelines for operationalization of the scheme were unveiled by PM Narendra Modi on 18 February 2016 at a farmers’ convention held at Sherpur village of Madhya Pradesh. Broadly, the scheme aims at boosting India’s agriculture sector. To an estimate, the centre’s financial liability is expected to touch Rs 880 Crores once the target of bringing 50 percent crop under insurance is achieved in three years. Likewise, the bill of states implementing the scheme will also rise correspondingly. Jammu and Kashmir State Administrative Council under the chairmanship of Governor N.N. Vohra had given nod for the implementation of PMFBY in the state during March, 2016. It was decided to implement the scheme in the state in phased manner and to begin with 10% area was proposed to be covered in 2016-17. The Agriculture Production Department was asked to work out necessary details for its implementation. The scheme shall operate on the principle of area approach and the selected defined areas will be called Insurance units.
To enable more farmers to avail insurance cover against crop losses on account of natural calamities, rates of the premium to be paid by the farmers have been cut down substantially. Now they will have to pay the lowest ever premium rates. There has been a long standing discussion on the need to bring down these rates. The centre’s move to bring down the premium rates is being viewed as a major Governmental policy outreach towards the farmers. Besides, uniformity of premium is an important and significant component as there will be only one premium rate for all food grains, oilseeds and pulses for each crop season. Removing all variations in rates across crops states and districts, the farmers will have to pay the uniform premium rates of 2 percent per crop season for all Kharif crops, 1.5 percent per crop season for all rabi crops and 5 percent per annum for annual commercial and horticulture crop. The remaining share of the premium as in previous scheme will continuously be borne by the state and Central Governments equally.
In PMFBY, there will be no capping of the sum assured, the farmers will get full insurance cover and consequently claim amounts will not be cut or condensed. Earlier there was provision of capping mechanism which did not allow the farmers to drive legitimate benefits and resulted in low claims being received. It has now been removed and the farmers will get claims against full sum insured without any reduction. Long standing demand of the farmers to provide farm level assessment for localized calamities including hailstorms, unseasonal rains, landslides and inundation will also be addressed. Risk insurance will be provided if the insured crop is prevented from sowing due to deficit rain or adverse climatic conditions. For the first time post harvest losses arising out of cyclones and unseasonal rains up to two week of harvesting for those crops which are cut and dried in the field have also been covered nationally. Use of technology and smart phones will be encouraged to a greater possible extent to capture and upload data of crop cutting so that the delays in claim payment to the farmers are minimized. Besides, application of remote sensing technology will also be encouraged .
Notification issued by the Mission Director PMFBY, J&K reveals that 25 percent area under seven crops has been selected for inclusion in the scheme during the first phase (2016-17 to 2017-18) in the state. These crops include wheat, paddy, maize, oilseeds, saffron and apple. Further, Division wise coverage of the crops has also been targeted. From Jammu Division wheat, paddy, maize and mango will be insured whereas from Kashmir Division maize, paddy, oilseeds, saffron and apple will be covered. Further it has been revealed that, 72334, 54017 and 32758 hectares area under wheat, maize and paddy crop respectively from Jammu Division would be tentatively covered under PMFBY during this phase. Besides, 50 hectares area under mango crop from Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts would also get insurance cover in this phase. Similarly, 35335, 20185, 20278 and 35625 hectares area under paddy, maize, oilseeds and apple crops respectively from Kashmir Division would be tentatively covered under the scheme during this phase. Besides, 916 hectares area under saffron crop from Srinagar, Pulwama and Budgam Districts will get insurance cover. Saffron of Kishtwar and huge area under oilseeds in Jammu Division will not get insurance cover in this phase. Likewise, apple growers of Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban and some areas of Udhampur and Poonch Districts will also not get the benefits of the scheme in this phase. They would probably have to wait for next phase i.e. from 2018-19 to get insurance cover for their orchards while their counterparts in Kashmir will be getting the benefits of the scheme from this phase. Sum assured for paddy has been calculated at Rs 35000 and 110000 per hectares from Jammu and Kashmir Divisions respectively. Likewise sum assured for maize would be Rs 30000 and 64000 per hectares for Jammu and Kashmir Divisions respectively.
The question is not how well the scheme is formulated but the question is how well it is implemented? How well the farmers and officers of the agriculture and allied departments are made aware about the scheme and its guidelines? A proper implementation mechanism is needed which must have the principles of promptness and adequacy. A collateral relationship will work among farmers, implementing agency and extension agencies. How well the farmers and all other stakeholders are made aware of this scheme is another challenge that may determine the significant implementation of the scheme. Besides, the major challenges include; how well the farmers’ faith is built up in the agriculture insurance? Secondly, how to reorient their mindset positively towards crop insurance is the real challenge?
PMFBY will follow a fixed seasonality discipline for various activities or calendar of activities from notification to final settlements of claims and payments of indemnity if any which will call for following it strictly by all the stakeholders. It is a challenging task to sensitize and mobilize the farmers with respect to the complete seasonality discipline for proper implementation of the scheme otherwise it would rather be a exigent task to adhere to it. It calls for proper mobilization of all the stakeholders including farmers and extension agencies to have a clear definition of their roles to be performed in the PMFBY implementation because once the time for each activity will be over, the ultimate sufferer would be farmers.
Differential awareness approaches will be needed for different category of farmers. Many of the farmers who take Seasonal Agricultural Loans come under the “compulsory component” would have no knowledge that they are being insured by default and the premium is being deducted from the loan account. The farmers under this category need to be made aware of their rights and duties. However, the farmers who will come under the voluntary category would pose a real challenge before the extension as well as implementing agencies. It calls for immense need for strengthening the existing institutional mechanism in the direction deemed necessary for proper implementation of the scheme to be demulcent for the farming community.
(The Author is from KVK Doda, SKUAST Jammu)
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