The Indian Cabinet has approved a new crop insurance scheme, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, in a bid to boost the farming sector in the country.
Under the new scheme, the farmers require to pay only 2% premium for all Kharif crops and 1.5% for all Rabi crops.
The new scheme enables farmers to pay 5% premium for annual commercial and horticultural crops.
Government will pay the balance premium to offer full insured amount to the farmers against crop loss on account of natural calamities.
There is no upper limit on government subsidy, and even if balance premium is 90%, it will be paid by the government.
Modern technologies, including drones, will be used to evaluate crop damage, under the new scheme.
Smart phones will also be employed to capture and upload data of crop cutting to reduce the delays in claim payment to farmers.
In addition, remote sensing will be used to reduce the number of crop cutting experiments
The new crop insurance policy, which is in line with One Nation – One Scheme theme, integrates the better features of all previous schemes.
Image: The Indian Cabinet has approved a new crop insurance scheme. Photo: courtesy of japanachai / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.