‘Mukhya Mantri Kisan Sahay Yojana’ launched in Gujarat, replacing PMFBY

The Gujarat government has launched the ‘Mukhya Mantri Kisan Sahay Yojana’ as a temporary replacement of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana for a year. The main reason has been cited as the high premiums quoted by insurance firms in the state.

Reason for this Decision

Though the farmers are being benefitted due to the PMFBY, this year, the insurance companies have quoted very high premiums, which will entail a burden of Rs 5700 crores on both the state government and the central government. The government has also scrapped the tenders for PMFBY for this year. The state government has clarified that the MMKSY will be valid for this year only.

About the Scheme

The salient features of the scheme are:

• The scheme is different from the PMFBY in the sense that it will cover all the 56 lakh farmers in the state, unlike the PMFBY in which, on an average, 15-17 lakh farmers who applied for crop insurance, used to be covered.
• The new scheme will be restricted to crop losses taking place during the ongoing Kharif season. It will cover only drought, flooding and unseasonal rainfall and the insurance coverage will be up to a maximum of four hectares.
• Farmers who suffer crop loss of less than 33% will not get any compensation whereas the farmers suffering damage of 33-60% will get an assistance of Rs 20000 per hectare. For crop loss above 60 per cent, the compensation amount will be Rs 25000 per hectare.
• A portal will be created in order to link the land records and manage the scheme properly.
• The farmers will have to visit the village level e-gram centre in order to apply online on the designated portal. This centre will be paid Rs 8 per successful application.

What is PMFBY?

Launched in 2016, it is being administered by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare. This scheme provides comprehensive insurance coverage against crop failure and all kinds of oilseed and annual commercial/horticulture crops are covered under this scheme. It is compulsory for the farmers having any kind of institutional credit and the farmers will have to pay 2% premium for Kharif crops and 1.5% for the rabi crops.

Month: Current Affairs - August, 2020