The PMFBY was launched on 13 January 2016 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Yojana will be administered by Ministry of Agricultural and Farmer’s welfare (MoA and FW). It is to be implemented in all the states with the active cooperation of respective state governments.

The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana is a departure from the earlier crop insurance schemes. The new Yojana will take place of NAIS and MNAIS. It offers several advantages over the previous schemes in that it is more comprehensive covering the crop cycle from pre sowing to post harvest losses and coverage on account of non preventable natural risks. An amount of Rs 5,501.15 crores has been kept for the year 2016-17 and will be operational from Kharif 2016. There is no upper limit on government subsidy for this scheme. For PMFBY, a portal has been launched to be used extensively for ensuring better coordination, dissemination and transparency in the Yojana. Major features of the PMFBY are:

o Insurance protection for all crops
o The scale of finance declared by the District level Technical Committee has been taken as sum insured of the crops under the scheme
o Uniform maximum premium for all farmers 2 per cent of sum assured in Kharif and 1.5per cent of sum assured in Rabi and for horticultural/commercial crops 5 per cent of sum assured. Since independence only about 20 per cent of the farmers are covered under insurance. The new Yojana targets to cover about 50 per cent of the farmers in next three years.
o Due to adverse conditions if sowing s not done, claims up to 85 per cent of the sum insured will be paid
o The PMFBY is compulsory for loanee farmers who avail crop loans and is voluntary for non loanee farmers
o The difference between the premium and rate of insurance charges payable by farmers shall be provided as subsidy and shared equally by the center and state
o Assessment at individual farm level on loss due to hail storm and landslides
o Use of better technologies like remote sensing and drones to supplement the efforts for faster claim settlement. It helps both farmers and government by reducing the burden on disaster payments to the farm sector.
o Inundation has been incorporated as a localized calamity in addition to hailstorm and landslide for individual farm level assessment.
o The notified insurance unit has been reduced to village/panchayat for major crops.
o Provision of claims up to 25 per cent of sum insured for preventive sowing.
o On-Account payment up to 25 per cent of sum insured for mid season adversity, if the crop damage is reported more than 50 per cent in the insurance unit. Remaining claims to be settled based on crop cutting experiments. The premium rate under Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS) has been brought at par with the PMFBY.
o In addition unified package insurance Scheme (UPIS) is also to be implemented on a pilot basis in 45 districts of the country from Kharif 2016. The UPIS will cover farm assets/machinery.
Agriculture has been on the top priority of the union government as is evident from launching of different farmer friendly programmes like the soil health card, the National Agricultural Market, the PM Krishi Sinchai Yojana and many others. The allocation of Rs 4500 crore for agriculture and farmer’s welfare in this year’s budget is almost double of the previous one. India does not stand alone in its failure to provide a well defined insurance product for its farming community. In fact the world over the insurance companies has suffered huge losses. Knowledge of agriculture insurance is essential for insurers. The need for information increases the cost of insurance. Now that the PMFBY has been launched from Kharif 2016, it is supposed that the scheme would not turn out to be another white elephant; but with the active collaboration of all the stakeholders will reach every farmer to provide much needed relief to them.