grown during the current kuruvai season, similar to last year, leaving the farmers in dismay. This implies that crops to be grown during the samba and thaladi seasons will be included in the coverage.
Of the INR 2,042 crores granted for the premium subsidy, agricultural crops represent INR 1,985 crores and horticultural crops represent 57 crores. Since the inception of the PMFBY, an average of INR 2,450 crore has been paid yearly in compensation or claims to nearly 13.8 lakh farmers. The year 2021-2022 has not been considered for the computation of the yearly average amount of compensation since claims settlement for the year is still ongoing.
The PMFBY selected five firms this year, as opposed to two firms in the previous year. The following insurance companies have been assigned 14 clusters over 37 districts: Agriculture Insurance Company of India Limited, IFFCO-Tokio General Insurance Company, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company, HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company, and Reliance General Insurance Company. According to a representative of the Agriculture Department, this became possible as a result of the government’s efforts to eliminate fraudulent enrollment of farmers and coverage of inflated regions, as well as the careful implementation of crop-cutting operations. In the past year alone, nearly 2.5 lakh acres were withdrawn from coverage, saving the government INR 100 crore.
According to a second official, in the case of crop loss, the government has planned to compensate farmers with the help of the State Disaster Response Fund. Reasons mentioned for excluding the kuruvai crop include the low likelihood of crop failure and the cost factor. In addition, the tender procedure took around 1.5 months, which also included a re-tender. Similar to the past years, the authorities anticipate an enrollment of nearly 25 lakh farmers and coverage of 40 million acres. They intend to provide greater attention to loanee farmers (those who have taken out crop loans) as they believe there is room to bring more of them within the insurance umbrella.
