Pradhan Mantri Fassal Bhima Yojna non-starter in JK

According to sources, out of 20 districts of J&K UT, the scheme has only been implemented in four districts which included three in Jammu region and one in Kashmir valley so far while no headway has been made in implementing the scheme in other 16 districts of the UT.

Key Points:

• Sources said that out of four districts where the scheme has been launched by the Government no insurance cover for Kharif crops has been paid to farmers which were destroyed in hailstorm on October 30 last year especially in Jammu and Samba districts where almost 80 percent Kharif crop of Basmati got perished by the hailstorm as per farmers’ claims.
• Total number of 51,484 farmers were to be covered in four districts of Jammu, Samba, Udhampur and Anantnag in the UT under the scheme and total amount of premium paid by farmers, UT and Central Governments was Rs 1932.73 lakh. Out of this premium, eight percent was to be paid by both UT and Central Governments while two percent was to be paid by the farmers.?

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY):

• It provides a comprehensive insurance cover against failure of the crop thus helping in stabilising the income of the farmers.
• Scope: All food & oilseed crops and annual commercial/horticultural crops for which past yield data is available.
• Premium: The prescribed premium is 2% to be paid by farmers for all Kharif crops and 1.5% for all rabi crops. In the case of annual commercial and horticultural crops, the premium is 5%.
• Premium cost over and above the farmer share was equally subsidized by States and GoI.
• However, GoI shared 90% of the premium subsidy for North Eastern States to promote the uptake in the region.
• The scheme was compulsory for loanee farmers availing Crop Loan/Kisan Credit Card (KCC) account for notified crops and voluntary for others.