Arun Jaitley launches Crop Insurance Scheme in Mumbai

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today has launched the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana and Unified Package Insurance Scheme in Mumbai.

• This new scheme would help farmers insure their crops in case of natural calamities and the insurance companies would pay more sum and lower premium. Uttarakhand became the first state in the country to adopt the scheme and the state’s insurance companies bid for a 2% premium.
• Both schemes are providing insurance for crops as well as accidental insurance for farmers, for tractors and farm equipment as well. With back to back drought seasons and the increasing rate of farmers’ suicide has triggered extreme importance to the scheme and its success will help government address the agrarian crisis.
• Jaitley said that 50% farmers have been targeted to be provided with benefits under this scheme. Here the farmers have to pay less and when crop damages take place, this scheme will help him to get paid more.
• This new scheme will be more farmer friendly as the government plans to use technologies like drones and satellites to identify the damages happen to crops. The usual delay in clearing pay for the crop losses materializes in farmer destruction. This new scheme intends to ensure that compensation for the crop losses is paid on time.
• Crop insurance in India before the launch of this scheme was so high that only about a 10^thof an estimated 263 million farmers could opt for this. The main aim of this scheme is to lower the premium rates that the farmers have to pay for crop insurance up to 40%. At the same time it plans to extend scope and coverage of crops.

(Source: ET)