Govt paid Rs 46,57 cr crop insurance claims: Tomar
New Delhi: The government has paid Rs 46,571 crore claims to farmers covered under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna since its launch in 2016. According to Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, the Centre has paid Rs 16,257 crore as claims to farmers covered under the crop insurance scheme in the year 2016-17, while in the next financial year, the government paid claims to the tune of Rs 21,569 crore and Rs 9,045 crop insurance claims were paid to farmers in 2018 kharif season.
In a written reply to Lok Sabha, the minister said, "As per provisions of crop insurance scheme, admissible claims are generally paid by the insurance companies within two months of completion of crop cutting experiments/harvesting period subject to availability of yield data and total state share of premium subsidy from concerned states within time."
However, settlement of claims in some states get delayed due to reasons like delayed transmission of yield data; late release of their share in premium subsidy by some states, yield-related disputes between insurance companies and states, non-receipt of account details of some farmers for transfer of claims and NEFT related issues, etc, the minister said in his reply.
As per the data provided by the minister, Tamil Nadu, the state that witnessed several farmers' death, paid Rs 3,502 crore claims in the year 2016-17, while Rs 1,695 crore in 2017-18 and Rs 10.60 crore claim for kharif crop loss in 2018.
The crop insurance claims paid by Maharashtra in 2016-17 stands at Rs 3,217 crore followed by Madhya Pradesh as it paid Rs 2,2020 crore claims, Rajasthan paid Rs 1,914 crore, Karnataka has paid Rs 1,724 and Gujarat has paid Rs 1,267 crore.
In the year 2017-18, Madhya Pradesh has paid Rs 5,742 crore in the year followed by Maharashtra, which has paid Rs 3,656 crore. Rajasthan has paid the claims of farmers to the tune of Rs 1,800 crore, claims paid by Tamil stands at Rs 1,695 crore, Chhattisgarh has paid Rs 1,385 crore claims and Gujarat has paid the claims of Rs 1,056 crore.
