Deputy Chief Minister and then Finance Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced in his budget speech for 2023-24, the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Scheme for the farmers in the state against just Rs.1 and went on to execute the same accordingly. The Rs.1 crop insurance scheme saw a huge response from the farmers. Nearly two and a half lakh applications were received for the insurance of Kharif crops in 2023, of which 52 lakh 26 thousand 111 farmers were selected, and disbursements of Rs. 5,292 crore were made to the beneficiary accounts.
Rs. 1 Crop Insurance Scheme of Maharashtra, a security umbrella for farmers with more claim disbursals ever
Maharashtra’s Rs. 1 crop insurance program is part of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). The scheme provides insurance coverage and financial support to farmers in the event of crop failure caused by natural calamities, pests, and diseases. Additionally, PMFBY aims to stabilize farmers’ income to ensure they continue farming.
The central government’s Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Kharif Season Scheme was launched in 2016 during Devendra Fadnavis’ first term as the CM of Maharashtra. The scheme benefitted a record number of farmers in the state. Statistics reveal that during the 15-year rule of the Congress-NCP government in the state from 1999 to 2014, 1.8 crore farmers received a total of Rs. 7680 crore as claim disbursals from the crop insurance schemes of the corresponding central governments. Whereas, in the four years from 2014 to 2018, with Narendra Modi as the PM and Devendra Fadnavis as the CM of Maharashtra, 2.14 crore farmers in the state received an aggregate claim amount of Rs. 11,952 crore through the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Kharif Season Scheme. That is, before 2014, farmers received an average of Rs 512 crore per year and after 2014, after the formation of the Narendra Modi government, farmers received an average of Rs 2,988 crore per year.
If farmers are ready to pay Rs.1, the government will pay the premiums for them
The central government launched the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana in 2016 with implementation guidelines. According to clause 13.1.10 of those guidelines, the state government would pay the insurance premiums for the farmers, accepting only Rs 1 as a token from farmers towards electronic tracking and registration. So, in his budget speech for 2023-24, then Finance Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that farmers in the state would benefit from the Crop Insurance Scheme by paying just Rs 1. The proposal was approved in a cabinet meeting chaired by the CM and subsequently passed in the cabinet on 30 May 2023. It was decided to implement this scheme through a tender process for a period of three years from Kharif and procedures Rabi seasons 2023-24 to 2025-26.
The Rs.1 crop insurance coverage, other conditions, and registration process
Shortly after the cabinet’s approval on 30 May 2023, the state government’s announcement came on 23 June 2023 regarding the launch of a Comprehensive Crop Insurance Scheme to protect all farmers in the state from financial losses due to crop loss or damage caused by calamities, pests, or any other natural events for just Rs.1, as per the guidelines of the central government’s PM Fasal Bima Yojana. The Comprehensive Crop Insurance Scheme in Maharashtra for 2023-24 was implemented for the Kharif and Rabi seasons and allowed farmers to claim compensation for:
- Crop damage, from the period of sowing to harvesting, due to natural fire, lightning, hailstorm, storm, cyclone, flood, waterlogging, landslide, drought, lack of rain, pests, and diseases on the crops.
- Losses due to non-sowing or non-planting of crops due to adverse weather conditions or deficit of rainfall.
- Less than 50% of the normal yield due to adverse seasonal conditions like floods, droughts, or prolonged dry spells
The Comprehensive Crop Insurance coverage for the Kharif season in 2024 included 14 crops namely rice, jowar, soybean, cotton, tur, moong, urad, maize, bajra, gram, groundnut, sesame, bitter gourd, and onion. Along with this, the Agriculture Department also announced the compensation rates for each crop for each district or taluka. All farmers, including those farming on leased lands, whether taken loans for crops or not, were made eligible to take advantage of the scheme. Also, share farmers and tenant farmers were stipulated to upload their lease documents and crop-share agreement documents on the PMFBY portal.
The applicants also needed to mention their Aadhar number during registration for the scheme and make sure that the typed name matched the name on the Aadhar card. The claim amounts would be deposited directly to the insured farmers’ bank accounts (Aadhar linked), registered on the PMFBY portal.
Budget speech for 2023-24 made by Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on 9 March 2023
Benefit of crop insurance scheme for just one rupee; Relief to lakhs of farmers – Cabinet Decision No. 2, 30 May 2023
Crop Insurance Scheme at Rs. 1 – Government Decision 23 June 2023