Govt urges farmers to take advantage of PMFBY as scheme completes 5 years

New Delhi, Jan 12 : With the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), the flagship crop insurance scheme of the Narendra Modi-led government, completing five years of operation, the Central government has urged the farmers of the country to take advantage of the scheme by associating themselves with it to become self-sufficient in times of crisis and support the creation of an ‘Aatmanirbhar Kisan’.
The Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare said on Tuesday that the scheme covers over 5.5 crore farmer applications year on year and till date, claims worth Rs 90,000 crore have been paid out under the scheme.
Aadhaar seeding has helped in speedy claim settlement directly into the farmers’ accounts. Even during the Covid lockdown period, nearly 70 lakh farmers benefited and claims worth Rs 8,741.30 crore were transferred to the beneficiaries, the ministry said in a statement.
On January 13, 2016, the government of India took a historic step towards strengthening risk coverage of crops for the farmers of India and approved this flagship crop insurance scheme.
The scheme was conceived as a milestone initiative to provide a comprehensive risk solution at the lowest uniform premium to farmers across the country, said the statement.
Premium cost over and above the farmers’ share is equally subsidised by states and the government of India. However, the Centre shares 90 per cent of the premium subsidy for northeastern states to promote the uptake in the region.