Ashish Kumar Bhutani appointed as CEO of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana

Ashish Kumar Bhutani, a 1992 batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) till May 9, 2020. The PMFBY is the government sponsored crop insurance scheme that integrates multiple stakeholders on a single platform. It was launched by Prime Narendra Modi on 18th February 2016 in line with ‘One Nation – One Scheme’ theme. It envisages a uniform premium of only 2% to be paid by farmers for Kharif crops, and 1.5% for Rabi crops. The premium for annual commercial and horticultural crops will be 5%. The purpose of PMFBY is to provide insurance coverage and financial support to the farmers in the event of failure of any of the notified crop as a result of natural calamities, pests & diseases. It also aims to encourage farmers to adopt innovative and modern agricultural practices and to stabilize the income of farmers to ensure their continuance in farming.