As many as 3,49,633 farmers benefited to the tune of ₹563 crore for the financial year 2022-23 under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), and the number of farmers who had enrolled themselves under the scheme from Andhra Pradesh stood at 1.23 crore and 1.31 crore respectively for the financial years 2022-23 and 2023-24, said Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ramnath Thakur.
The Minister was replying to a question asked by Vijayawada MP Kesineni Sivanath (Chinni) in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
Mr. Thakur said PMFBY is voluntary for the States and farmers. The Andhra Pradesh government had decided not to implement the scheme from Kharif 2020. Due to the concerted efforts and new initiatives taken by the Government of India, Andhra Pradesh re-joined the scheme with effect from Kharif 2022 season.
As per the provisions of the PMFBY, insured farmers do not need to file claims in respect of widespread calamities such as drought, floods, etc. as the scheme is mainly implemented on ‘Area Approach’ basis.
Admissible claims are worked out and paid directly to the insured farmer’s account by the insurance companies through Digiclaim module on National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP) based on the yield data, per unit area, furnished to the insurance company by the concerned State government and claim calculation formula envisaged in the Operational Guidelines of the scheme.
However, losses due to localised risks of hailstorm, landslide, inundation, cloud burst, natural fire and post-harvest losses due to cyclone, cyclonic / unseasonal rains & hailstorms are calculated on individual insured farm basis. Here, farmers are required to intimate the event of loss to the insurance company / State Government / concerned financial institution / portal / app within 72 hours of the loss. These claims are assessed by a joint committee comprising representatives of the State Government and concerned insurance company.
Insurance companies can reject these intimations on various counts like late intimation by farmers, intimation of non-insured farmers, intimation of non-insured crop, wrong details of land parcel, etc.
