Guwahati: As the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) enters the seventh year of implementation with the upcoming Kharif season, the government on Friday said it will launch a doorstep distribution drive to deliver crop insurance policies to farmers.
The doorstep campaign ‘Meri Policy Mere Hath’ aims to ensure all farmers are well aware and equipped with all information on their policies, land records, the process of claim, and grievance redressal under the PMFBY, the Agriculture Ministry said.
The doorstep campaign will be launched in all implementing states in the upcoming Kharif season beginning June, the ministry said in a statement.
PMFBY, launched in February 2016, aims to provide financial support to farmers suffering crop loss/damage arising out of natural calamities.
According to the ministry, over 36 crore farmer applications have been insured under the PMFBY, with over Rs 1,07,059 crores of claims have already being paid under the scheme as of February 4, this year.
The crop insurance scheme has been able to provide financial assistance to the most vulnerable farmers as around 85 percent of the farmers enrolled with the scheme are small and marginal farmers.
PMFBY, however, was revamped in 2020 enabling voluntary participation of farmers.
It has also been made convenient for the farmer to report crop loss within 72 hours of the occurrence of any event – through Crop Insurance App, CSC Centre, or the nearest agriculture officer, with claim benefit transferred electronically into the bank accounts of the eligible farmer.
Integration of land records with the PMFBY’s National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP), Crop Insurance mobile app for easy enrollment of farmers, remittance of farmer premium through NCIP, a subsidy release module, and a claim release module through NCIP are some of the key features of the scheme.
The recent announcement by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during her 2022-23 budget speech on the use of drones for crop insurance will further strengthen the integration of technology for smooth implementation of the scheme on the ground, it added.