Cabinet nod for making Pradhan Mantri crop insurance scheme voluntary

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved to make the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) voluntary for farmers, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said.

Addressing the media here, Tomar said that the decision was taken in the Cabinet meeting following complaints regarding the scheme launched in April 2016. PMFBY is compulsory for farmers availing of crop loans and Kisan Credit Cards (KCCs) accounts for notified crops, while it is voluntary for others.

The scheme provides comprehensive crop insurance from pre-sowing to the post-harvest period against non-preventable natural risks at an extremely low premium of 2 percent for Kharif crops, 1.5 percent for rabi crops, and 5 percent for horticulture and commercial crops.

The decision at the Cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will lead to the revamp of PMFBY and Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) to address the existing challenges in the implementation of crop insurance schemes.

It is proposed to modify certain parameters and provisions of the ongoing schemes of PMFBY and RWBCIS under which allocation of business to insurance companies will be done for three years.

“Options will be given to the states and Union Territories to choose the scale of finance or district-level Value of Notional Average Yield (NAY), that is NAY Minimum Support Price (MSP), as the sum insured for any district crop combination (both PMFBY and RWBCIS). The farmgate price will be considered for the other crops for which MSP is not declared,” a Cabinet statement said. (IANS)

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