Context:

• Agriculture minister of Rajasthan at the launch of the state-level programme of ‘Meri Policy, Mere Haath’ campaign distributed the policies of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana to farmers at Pant Krishi Bhawan.
• Speaking at the launch of the campaign the minister said that farmers sometimes have to suffer crop losses due to natural calamities like unseasonal rains, hailstorms and locusts. To provide relief in such critical times, crop insurance scheme is a better option.

Key Points:

• According to the agriculture minister the central government, while adopting the innovations of the state, has decided to distribute Fasal Bima insurance policy certifcates to farmers throughout the country. This would facilitate farmers to claim benefits of the policy.
• Due to continuous publicity by the state government and timely payment of insurance claims to farmers, the popularity of this scheme has been increasing in the state.
• In the last three years, insurance claims worth about Rs 14,500 crore have been distributed to more than a crore farmers in the state.
• In order to solve the problem of farmers not getting insurance claims on time, the state government innovated in Kharif season last year and distributed insurance policies to 36 lakh farmers by organising camps in villages.
• Seeing its good results, even the central government has started distributing insurance policies to the farmers by implementing it all over the country.
• Many new steps have been taken in the Fasal Bima Yojana with adequate budgetary provision to compensate the insured farmers from loss due to crop failure.
• The state government has taken several innovative steps for effective implementation of the Fasal Bima Yojana.
• For speedy disposal of complaints, the presence of the employees of insurance companies has been ensured in the district and block level agriculture offices.
• Besides, leaflet distribution in the form of FAQs has been started to solve the doubts of the farmers.
• In order to prevent duplication and crop insurance on non-agricultural land, the National Crop Insurance Portal has been integrated with the land records.