Though Tamil Nadu was late in joining the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY – Prime Minister’s Crop Insurance Scheme), the State has emerged as one of the major beneficiaries of the programme, with its farmers having been sanctioned around ₹7,000 crore cumulatively in the last two-and-a-half years.
As on November 14, claims totalling ₹7,070.22 crore had been sanctioned, benefitting 31.8 lakh farmers. In view of certain procedures, there is a time gap between the sanctioning of claims and the crediting of amounts to farmers’ bank accounts. Up until now, ₹6,296.79 crore has been credited to their bank accounts.
When the scheme was launched in early 2016, the State government took several months to join it, and by the time it decided to take part in the scheme in September, not many farmers could be enrolled for the kharif season (equivalent to kuruvai), as it was late. But the 2016 northeast monsoon was a virtual washout for the State, causing a severe drought. The insurance scheme came in handy for those farmers during the rabi season (or samba). The payouts began in July 2017. Till now, nearly ₹3,500 crore has been credited to the farmers’ bank accounts. Not just that. Tamil Nadu came first in terms of compensation received for the season that year, followed by Maharashtra (₹2,315 crore) and Madhya Pradesh (₹2,020 crore).
Officials of the State Agriculture Department say that for the first time since the launch of the scheme, the payment of compensation has been made within a few months of the submission of claims, as they had kept the documents required by the insurance companies ready. The claims were made as farmers couldn’t raise the crops due to lack of rain. For example, 260 vegetable growers of the Udhagamandalam district were paid ₹27 lakh. Likewise, in Dharmapuri and Tiruneveli, paddy-growing farmers have been given over ₹1 crore.
Besides, the department, which pursued with ICICI Lombard the case for obtaining compensation of around ₹116 crore, which was originally not cleared on account of “procedural lapses”, recently got the amount released too, the officials add.
