-TheWire.in Despite increasing allocated funds, the Union government has been unable to significantly improve penetration of crop insurance in terms of enrolled farmers and insured areas. India’s agriculture sector, which provides employment to more than 50% of the labour force and contributes about 17% of the gross domestic product, currently faces multiple challenges. Smaller land holdings, unfavourable climate changes events, dismal public and private investment, low monthly incomes, a high proportion of...
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A cutback in PMFBY funding may further affect the timely release of compensation for crop failures
On February 18, 2016, India’s Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. After its launch, the PMFBY was implemented by 21 states during kharif 2016, whereas in rabi 2016-17, 23 states and 2 UTs implemented the same. The Central Government launched the PMFBY in the kharif season of 2016 with the intention to help farmers cope with crop losses because of unseasonal and extreme weather....
More »PMFBY 2.0: A revamped crop insurance scheme -Amit Mohan Prasad
-The Indian Express The recent tweaks to the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, including making it 100% voluntary and capping premiums at 30%, are going to be a game-changer. The Centre has recently revamped the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) that will have far-reaching impact on the implementation of this flagship crop insurance scheme. Launched in the 2016 kharif season, PMFBY makes the insurance companies liable for full risk coverage. Farmers...
More »Are farmer movements in India changing course? -Sayantan Bera
-Livemint.com Unlike the dhoti-clad, topi-wearing quintessential ‘kisan’, the new Indian farmer is vocal and tech-savvy New Delhi: In the winter of 1988 when the feisty farmer leader from Uttar Pradesh, Mahendra Singh Tikait, laid siege to Delhi with thousands of cultivators and their cattle literally creating a mess of the boat club lawns, agriculture’s share in India’s gross domestic product (GDP) was about 30%. About three decades later, the farm sector’s share in...
More »Crop Insurance: A flagship scheme that may flatter to deceive -Harish Damodaran
-The Indian Express For farmers, a uniform 2 per cent premium rate on sum insured (SI) for all kharif or monsoon season foodgrains and oilseeds, while 1.5 per cent for rabi winter crops and 5 per cent for annual commercial and horticultural crops, is the lowest they can hope for. The country couldn’t possibly have, at least on paper, a better agricultural crop insurance scheme than the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima...
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