Union Cabinet approves Revamping of PM Fasal Bima Yojana and RWBCIS schemes to address challenges

the Union Cabinet approved revamping of challenges in insurance schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS).These changes are proposed to be implemented from Kharif’ 2020 Season throughout the Country.

It is proposed to modify certain parameters/provisions of ongoing schemes of PMFBY and RWBCIS as under:

• Allocation of business to Insurance Companies to be done for three years (Both PMFBY/RWBCIS).
• The option shall be given to States/UTs to choose Scale of Finance or district level Value of National Average Yield (NAY) i.e. NAY* Minimum Support Price (MSP) as Sum Insured for any district crop combination (Both PMFBY/RWBCIS).
• Central Subsidy under PMFBY/RWBCIS to be limited for premium rates upto 30% for unirrigated areas/crops and 25% for irrigated areas/crops.
• Districts having 50% or the more irrigated area will be considered as irrigated area/district (Both PMFBY/RWBCIS).
• Enrolment under the Scheme to be made voluntary for all farmers (Both PMFBY/RWBCIS).
• Central Share in Premium Subsidy to be increased to 90% for the North Eastern States from the existing sharing pattern of 50:50 (Both PMFBY/RWBCIS).

Benefits

• With these changes, it is expected that farmers would be able to manage risk in agriculture production in a better way and will succeed in stabilizing the farm income.
• Further, it will increase coverage in the northeastern region enabling farmers of NER to manage their agricultural risk in a better way.
• These changes will also enable quick and accurate yield estimation leading to faster claims settlement.

PAPER-III