On October 12, 2021 As part of a bureaucratic reshuffle, Meera Mohanty appointed as the Joint Secretary (JS) in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and Ritesh Chauhan has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), replacing Ashish Kumar Bhutani.
About Meera Mohanty:
i.Meera Mohanty is the IAS (Indian Administrative Services) officer of 2005-batch, Himachal Pradesh cadre.
ii.She is currently serving as the director in the PMO.
iii.She has been appointed as the JS under PMO for a combined tenure up to May 1, 2022 by temporarily upgrading the post of director held by the officer.
About Ritesh Chauhan:
i.Ritesh Chauhan will be the CEO of PMFBY and JS of Agriculture under the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare for a combined tenure of seven years up to September 22, 2023.
ii.He is also the IAS (Indian Administrative Services) officer of 2005-batch.
Other Appointments:
i.Uma Nanduri will be the JS in the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav secretariat under the Ministry of Culture. She is the Indian Forest Service (IFoS) officer of the Odisha cadre,1993-batch.
- She was appointed for a tenure of five years from the date of assumption of the charge of the post or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
ii.Vipul Bansal will be the JS in the Department of Commerce and Ashish Kumar has been appointed as JS in the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Click here to know all the Appointments.
About Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)
i.In 2021, the flagship crop insurance scheme of the Government of India – the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) – has completed five years of its launch.
- PMFBY was launched on 2016.
- The scheme was conceived as a milestone initiative to provide a comprehensive risk solution at the lowest uniform premium across the country for farmers.
ii.Scope: All food & oilseed crops and annual commercial/horticultural crops for which past yield data is available.
iii.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.
iv.The scheme was compulsory for loanee farmers availing Crop Loan/Kisan Credit Card (KCC) account for notified crops and voluntary for others.
