PM Fasal Bima Yojana loses steam in Telangana

Hyderabad: When the State government's innovative schemes like Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Bima are giving a renewed thrust to agricultural activities, the Central government's flagship crop insurance scheme - Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMBFY) - appears to be turning into a major discouragement for farmers. More than three years after launch of PMFBY in June 2016, farmers are suffering due to inordinate delay in payouts amounting to Rs 410 crore for the financial year 2018-19.

PMFBY was launched to replace complicated, multiple insurance schemes running simultaneously with one simple plan for the whole country. Farmers can get enrolled by paying between 1.5% and 5% of sum insured towards premium, while the rest of premium will be equally shared by the Centre and State governments as subsidy. As per PMFBY's operational guidelines, an insurance company must make payments within 30 days of receiving all claims-related data.

Huge pendency

However, the outstanding amounts owed by insurance companies to farmers across the country have now peaked to nearly Rs 3,000 crore, including Rs 410 crore in Telangana State until December 15 this year. The claims have been pending since kharif 2018. "The average delay in payment of claims is reportedly more than a year from the date of harvest. Due to delay in settlement of claims, farmers are unable to find investment for their next sowing cycle and some of them were not even able to clear their agricultural loans," said an official in the agriculture department.

The number of farmers opting for Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana is also shriking due to delay in payouts in the State. As against 10.52 lakh farmers who were covered under the scheme in 2017-18, only 8.09 lakh farmers got enrolled in 2018-19. While enrolment of kharif 2019 has been completed and enrolment for rabi 2019 is under way, the officials suspect that the numbers could reduce further as farmers were averse to enrol themselves under the scheme as benefits were not reaching them in time despite prompt payment of premiums.

Benefits lacking

At a recent district level meeting at Karimnagar, Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar found fault with the officials for neglecting implementation of PMFBY introduced by the Centre. However, District Agriculture Officer V Sridhar told the MP that farmers were strongly opposing the scheme since they were not getting benefit. There was no facility to get insurance benefit for inundated crops, he pointed out and added that insurance bills were pending since 2017 rabi season.

Admitting delays in settlement of claims, a senior agriculture officer in Hyderabad explained that the State government issued budget release order in November this year for Rs 205.14 crore under crop insurance and bills for State share subsidy of kharif and rabi 2018-19. "The Central government share is yet to be released," the officer informed.

Source: Telangana Today