PMFBY Crop Insurance - A Quick Overview on Eligibility, Documents, Registration and Claims

Agriculture is a prime source of livelihood for many in India and food is one of the most important necessities of life. When we talk about the agriculture sector it is highly volatile. It is due to factors such as weather condition, crop diseases, pests, etc. that likewise affects production. To safeguard the farmers against any uncertainty and loss of crops, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, launched an initiative on February 18, 2016, called the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).

What is Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)?

The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana is an Indian government initiative. Within the PMFBY scheme, the farmer may get his crop insured, and resolve any queries and concerns with the assistance of the web portal. The portal permits different departments of the Indian government to disseminate information about the scheme that can benefit the framer in the long run. The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana scheme provides coverage to the Indian farmers against any financial loss that may incur under an unfortunate event. The PM Fasal Bima Yojana offers insurance coverage cover in case of loss due to a natural calamity, crop diseases, pests, unseasonal rains, and so forth. This will help the farmers to stabilize their income and ensure their continuance in farming and adopting innovative and modern agricultural practices. Moreover, it also ensures credit flow to the agriculture sector. You can easily access the PMFBY portal by visiting the portal link: https://pmfby.gov.in/

Highlights of the PMFBY Scheme

The prime motto of the PMFBY scheme is One Nation, One Crop, One Premium. The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana aims to provide crop insurance at a cost-effective premium to all Indian framers. Let us have a look at the key highlights of the PMFBY scheme:

1. The PMFBY scheme is mandatory for a loanee farmer to obtain the crop loan/KCC account for the crops notified.
2. The maximum premium payable by the farmer will be 2% for the Kharif food and oilseed crops. For rabi food and oilseeds crop, it is 1.5% and for yearly commercial or horticultural crops it will be 5%.
3. The difference between the premium and insurance rate charges payable by framers is shared equally by both center and state.
4. The scheme is implemented on an Area Approach basis. Within it, the insurance unit will be village/village panchayat level for major crops. For other crops, it may be a unit of size above the village or village panchayat.
5. The assessment of loss for crop losses due to any non-preventable natural perils will be on the premise of the Area Approach .
6. The use of technology is encouraged to a large extent. The smartphone will be used to capture/upload the date of crop cutting. It will enable to reduce the delays in the payment of a claim to farmers. Remote sensing is used to reduce the experiments of crop cutting.
7. The PMFBY is a replacement scheme for NAIS / MNAIS. So, it is exempted from the service tax liability of all the services involved in the scheme implementation.

Note: For detailed information, please visit the PMFBY web portal.

Important Documents Required for PMFBY

Here is a rundown of all the documents required for the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana:

1. Passport size photograph of the farmer
2. Identity proof of the farmer (Aadhar card, PAN card, Voter ID, Driving license, or Passport)
3. Address proof of the farmer (Aadhar card, Voter ID, Driving license, or Passport)
4. If the field is owned by the farmer, the Khasra paper and account number need to be kept together
5. In case the crop is only sown in the field, evidence for the same need to be presented
6. As evidence, the farmers should get a letter written from people such as Pradhan, Sarpanch, Goan Pradhan, Patwari, etc.

Steps to Complete Self-registration on the PMFBY Portal

The Indian government has provided the facility to all Indian framers to register for the PM Fasal Bima Yojana schemes themselves. This is how the farmers can successfully go forward with PMFBY online registration:

1. Visit the PMFBY portal https://pmfby.gov.in/
2. The user next needs to click on the Register tab to register themselves.
3. Enter the personal and official information as required.
4. The user then needs to verify the Aadhar number (automatically verified) and the mobile number (OTP verification).
5. Once, the registration is approved, the user is notified via an SMS or an email upon approval/rejection.

Also Read: Know about Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme

Claim Process of PMFBY Crop Insurance

The claim process for Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana is easy and hassle-free. Here is a quick rundown of the general steps involved in the claim process of the PMFBY scheme:

1. First things first, the insured farmer should intimate the loss details immediately within 72 hours of the calamity either to the insurance company/concerned bank/local agriculture department, or district officials.
2. The intimation should have all the details insured farmer such as the name, affected survey number-wise crop insured and acreage affected. Other details required are the farmer's application number as on NCIP, mobile number, KCC account number (in case of loanee farmer), or saving bank account (in case of the non-loanee farmer as declared at the time of applying for crop insurance) for identification and verification purpose.
3. The premium payment verification is done from the portal. If required it may be verified by the bank. The bank mostly provides payment verification within the next 48 hours of receipt of any such request.
4. The mobile application-based Crop Insurance App is used for reporting an incidence of post-harvest providing details of longitude/latitude and pictures.
5. Once the verification is duly completed, the claim benefits are provided electronically in the bank accounts of the insured farmer.

The Bottom Line

The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana scheme is the flagship scheme for the Indian government to boost the agriculture sector. Crop insurance is an important tool that safeguards against the smallest portability of a large unexpected loss. Remember, the PMFBY scheme will enable you against any uncertainty that may otherwise cause financial distress.

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