Revitalization of Rivers in India Draft Policy - Isha Guru Jaggi Vasudev

Revitalization of Rivers In India
Draft Policy Recommendation
b) average usage of crop insurance was merely 6.7%. Awareness and usage varied
widely across states. The low awareness, despite four decades of dissemination,
indicates inadequate efforts by government to promote crop insurance. The low
usage indicates that farmers either do not find crop insurance useful or are denied
access to the insurance (ibid.).
In January 2016, the government announced a revamped crop insurance scheme,
the Prime Minister’s Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), with the objective of removing
the defects of extant insurance schemes. According to the government, farmers
will get a higher claim for the full sum insured unlike the existing schemes. The
new scheme will cover yield loss of standing crops, prevent sowing/ planting risk,
post harvest losses and localised risks, including inundation. The new scheme is
open to all farmers irrespective of whether they are borrowers or not. There will
be one insurance company for the entire state, farm-level assessment of loss for
localised risks and post-harvest loss. And private insurance companies, along
with the Agriculture Insurance Company of India Ltd, will implement the scheme.
In earlier schemes, the premium for commercial and horticulture crops was
calculated on actuarial basis, meaning premiums could be as high as 25 percent
depending on the risk factor involved. Under PMBFY, the premium to be paid
by farmers will be 5 per cent. The premium rates to be paid by farmers are very
low and balance premium will be paid by the government to provide full insured
amount to the farmers against crop loss on account of natural calamities (LSS,
2016).
The Working Group on Horticulture for the 12 th Plan had said that orchards of
perennial crops like mangoes, dates, apples etc need to be covered by insurance
schemes in line with Coconut Palm Insurance Scheme CPIS), or Weather
Insurance Schemes for Tea and Coffee. For introduction of weather‐based crop
insurance scheme for crops like mangoes, dates, apples etc, it is necessary that
ICAR scientists develop scientific protocols for loss assessment on the basis of
weather data like temperature, humidity, wind speed, rain fall etc. Hi‐tech, capital
intensive infrastructure like poly‐houses, net houses etc need to be covered by
a suitable insurance scheme for which cost of premium may be shared between
beneficiary, State and Central Govt on the ratio of MAIS or WBCIS. It needs to be
examined whether PMBFY covers these aspects.
Annexures
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