The Central government has appointed 2 sub-committees with separate groups of experts comprising officials from Centre, key crop-producing states and top executives of public sector insurance companies to lower crop insurance premium under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).
- Objective: The committee was formed to suggest suitable working models with cost-benefit analysis to lower crop insurance premium and technology in crop yield estimation under the flagship PMFBY.
- The sub-committees will submit their report by January 10, 2022, to the working group which was constituted in September, 2021, headed by PMFBY CEO (Chief Executive Officer)(currently Ritesh Chauhan) to examine alternate risk management mechanisms for rationalising the premiums.
Background:
i.The expert group was formed on the backdrop of the exit of several States including Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar and West Bengal from the scheme (due to high premium).
ii.The two sub-committees were formed on November 29 and December 2, 2021.
About the two sub-committee:
1st Committee:
i.It is a ten-member committee under scientist KR Manjunath of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
ii.The committee will explore the feasibility of adoption of various technology-based approaches developed through pilot projects by ISRO and its arm National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) as well as Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC) of the Union Agriculture Ministry.
iii.As per NRSC, satellite data at regular temporal interval enables monitoring of the natural resources for their effective management.
- The government has also been considering to use drones to capture yield data (as satellite images are also considered not effective in case of fog or cloud).
2nd Committee:
i.This committee is headed by Saurabh Mishra, joint secretary in Ministry of Finance. Other members of this panel include Apoorva Tatia of Reliance General, Alok Shukla of Munich Re, Azad Mishra of HDFC Ergo, Siddhesh Ramasubramanian of AIC.
ii.It will conduct cost benefit analysis of all ‘accepted models – agriculture insurance pool, cup and cap 80-110 percent and co-insurance 20-80 percent’ as well as any profit-loss sharing model.
iii.The committee will also provide financial projections for next 5 years with corresponding assumptions in each model.
Note – Under PMFBY, the balance premium is split equally between the Centre and States after farmers pay a fixed premium of 1.5 percent (of sum insured) in rabi season, 2 percent in kharif and 5 percent for cash crops.
Recent Related News:
The Haryana government decided to cover farmers growing horticultural crops against abiotic factors under a specially-designed scheme- Mukhyamantri Bagwani Bima Yojana (MBBY).
About Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY):
PMFBY scheme was launched in India by Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers welfare, New Delhi from Kharif 2016 season onwards.
