Latest news with #PMFBY
Time of India
5 hours ago
- Time of India
8 named in two FIRs for claiming Rs 60L aid over damage to rabi crop in Nuh
Nuh: Police have filed several FIRs against suspected beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) in 2024 after the CM flying squad in the city discovered a fraud involving rabi crop insurance. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Sadar Nuh police have charged five individuals — Arshida, Jahida, Jafir, Ramjano and Mubir Khan, all Nuh residents — with fraud and document forgery. The investigation commenced after sub-inspector Madan Singh of the CM flying squad received confidential information about beneficiaries using forged documents to claim compensation in 2024. Sadar Nuh SHO inspector Kuldeep Singh said while investigations continue, "no arrest has been made". The accused face charges under IPC sections 420, 467, 468, 34 and 120-b. A comparable case was registered at Pinangwa police station against three others. The two cases involve at least Rs 60-lakh "fraud". The CM flying squad sought details from Bajaj Allianzy regarding insurance.
New Indian Express
3 days ago
- Business
- New Indian Express
Odisha government assures rabi crop loss compensation to farmers
BHUBANESWAR: As the low pressure-induced pre-monsoon rains have caused significant damage to rabi crops in several districts, the state government on Tuesday said compensation will be provided to the affected farmers as early as possible. The crop loss situation was reviewed at a high-level meeting attended by deputy chief minister-cum-Agriculture minister KV Singh Deo, Revenue and Disaster Management minister Suresh Pujari and Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare minister Krushna Chandra Patra at Lok Seva Bhawan here. After the meeting, Pujari told mediapersons that instructions have been issued to all district collectors to send reports on crop damage within the next three to four days. He said reports have already started arriving from some of the districts. After assessment of the extent of damage, the government will send the reports to the insurance companies to pay the compensation to farmers covered under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).
The Hindu
26-05-2025
- Science
- The Hindu
NRCB scientists to reach out to farmers to transfer latest technologies in banana cultivation
The National Research Centre for Banana (NRCB) in Tiruchi will participate in the Viksit Krishi Sankalp Abhiyan (VKSA), a national pre-Kharif season outreach initiative of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). The main objective of the campaign, to be conducted between May 29 and June 12, is to bridge the gap between agricultural research and farmer fraternities. It would seek to transfer latest agricultural technologies from research institutions to fields and raise awareness on government schemes, improved farm practices, and sustainable cultivation models. ICAR–NRCB will promote hi-tech banana farming methods such as high-density planting and tissue culture propagation, besides natural farming techniques, balanced fertilizer application, and use of soil health cards. Expert teams from NRCB will visit various parts of Tiruchi, Karur, Ariyalur, and Perambalur districts during the campaign, providing a platform for farmers to interact with scientists, receive technical advice, and get information on schemes such as PM-KISAN and PMFBY. NRCB will design and distribute extension handouts containing relevant banana farming technologies and best practices, according to a NRCB press release. The NRCB campaign will be guided by its director R. Selvarajan and C. Karpagam, Nodal Officer – VKSA, ICAR–NRCB, the release added.
Time of India
24-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
In 8 years, Maha crop insurance premiums 45% more than payout
Mumbai: In a state that has experienced droughts, unseasonal rains and floods wrecking farmland, premiums paid to insurance companies have still outstripped compensation paid to farmers. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Companies were paid Rs 52,969 crore in premiums between 2016-17 and 2023-24, but payout to farmers totalled Rs 36,350 crore under the PM Fasal Bima Yojana, as per data presented at a review meeting earlier this week. In this 8-year period, 12.8 crore farmers applied for the insurance scheme, of which 6.2 crore received compensation, reports Priyanka Kakodkar Half the farmers in the state who applied for Prime Minister's Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) between 2016-17 and 2023-24 were compensated. This includes for both kharif (monsoon) and rabi (winter) cropping season, as per data presented at a review meeting earlier this week. The premiums were higher than compensation payouts by Rs 16,619 crore in the eight years. Officials say though the state has seen several natural disasters, it has also had many good years with a plentiful monsoon and a high crop yield. And premiums are bound to be higher than insurance payouts in a good year. Officials admit the state's decision to let farmers pay Re 1 to enrol for the PMFBY in March 2023, led to a huge rise in applicants and made it difficult to monitor the scheme. Number of applicants shot up from 1 crore to 2.4 crore between 2022 and 2023. The Rs 1 crop insurance scheme was scrapped last month after a state probe found 5.9 lakh bogus applicants. "When the number of applicants rose, premiums from govt shot up. Then a large number of claims were rejected so number of farmers who received the payout reduced," said a senior official. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The state has now reverted to the Centre's model where the farmer is charged 1.5% of the sum insured for kharif crops, 2% for rabi crops and 5% for horticulture crops. The state follows a cup and cap model of 80-110 under the PMFBY. This means in a good year, a portion of premium paid will be returned to govt. However, it also caps the insurer's risk. In a bad year, when claims exceed the threshold, govt has to pay the additional liability. Farmer unions, however, allege that the PMFBY design is flawed and leads to profits for insurance companies but a high level of rejected claims from farmers. "The scheme is based on losses within an entire revenue circle. So, if a farmer suffers losses but the revenue circle does not, he does not get compensated," alleged Rajan Kshirsagar from the Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Sabha.
Indian Express
03-05-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
How fraud and bogus claims forced Maharashtra to abandon its Re 1 crop insurance scheme
The Maharashtra government has rolled back the Re 1 crop insurance scheme that it launched in 2023, and returned to the original Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), in which premiums are calculated as a percentage of the sum assured. Instead of the token Re 1, farmers will now pay premiums of 2% of the sum assured for kharif, and 1.5% and 5% for rabi and cash (commercial/ horticultural) crops respectively. Why has the Devendra Fadnavis government scrapped the scheme launched by the previous Mahayuti government of Eknath Shinde? What was Maharashtra's Re 1 crop insurance scheme? In March 2023, the Shinde government began a version of the PMFBY in Maharashtra that further liberalised the already heavily-subsidised structure of premiums in the central scheme that was launched in 2016. Crop insurance was made virtually free, with the government bearing the cost of the farmer's entire premium barring a symbolic Re 1. The special concession was intended to provide relief to farmers and increase insurance penetration in rural areas. So what went wrong? There was a massive surge in crop insurance applications across the state, and most claims turned out to be bogus. In 2022, before the Re 1 scheme was introduced, there were 1.04 crore applications under PMFBY, a small number of which (11,731) were found to be bogus or ineligible. Following the Re 1 scheme, applications in 2023 more than doubled to 2.42 crore, of which some 3.80 lakh were later found to be fraudulent. The trend continued in 2024, and the agriculture department had, until January 2025, rejected more than 4 lakh claim applications after finding them bogus or manipulated. What kind of bogus claims were made? The fraudulent applications were found to have falsified land records, and made claims without any actual sowing, or about land that wasn't even used for agriculture. According to agriculture department officials and reporting by The Indian Express, some claimants attempted to insure 'crops' on government-owned land, including on plots belonging to government departments such as the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC). Others made claims on farmland owned by religious trusts, shrines, temples, mosques, and other non-agricultural entities. In some cases, insurance claims were made without the knowledge of the owners of the land by others who used their land records. In Chandwad tehsil of Nashik district, an application for crop insurance was received for land on which a petrol pump was found. In the same district, 'crops' on more than 100 acres of non-agricultural land were insured fraudulently. And how were these fake claims submitted? A large number of bogus applications were filed through Common Service Centres (CSCs), which are digital access points that help people submit government-related applications. The CSC operators allegedly used fake names and land details, often without landowners knowing. The identification of the bogus claims raised serious questions over the security of data and the process of verification under the scheme. What did the government do once the fake claims came to light? The scale of the misuse of the scheme had become apparent by the time of the 2024 kharif crop, and the agriculture department began physical inspections and cross-verification of claims at the application stage. To formulate a policy response, a 25-member expert committee was set up under Agriculture Commissioner Raosaheb Bhagade with the task of evaluating the extent of fraud and recommending corrective actions. In its report submitted to the agriculture department in January 2024, the committee recommended several tough measures. It said that the Re 1 insurance scheme should be scrapped and that the government should return to the original premium structure under PMFBY. Those who had been found guilty of submitting bogus claims should not receive any government subsidy for five years. CSCs that had facilitated the submission of the fraudulent claims should be blacklisted, their operator IDs should be blocked, and criminal proceedings should be initiated against them. Subsequently, 140 CSC IDs were blocked. The government has said that it was necessary to scrap the scheme in order to preserve the integrity of the insurance system, protect public funds, and ensure that only genuine and deserving farmers benefit. According to officials, enhanced verification and accountability measures introduced in 2024 have already helped curb misuse and saved several crores of rupees.
