Tamil Nadu government to expand new crop insurance Scheme.

TNPSC Current Affairs May 2017,25

Tamil Nadu Government has planned to expand the new Crop Insurance Scheme called Pradhan Mantri Fasal Yojana coverage for both farmers and the land. As per the latest report, Government has planned to rope nearly 23.9 lakh farmers and around 30 Lakh hectares of land under this scheme.

About the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Yojana:

• It is a new insurance scheme introduced in February 2016 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.
• As per the new scheme, farmers will be paying uniform premium of only 2% for all Kharif crops and 1.5% for all Rabi Crops. For annual commercial and horticultural crops, premium will be 5%.
• The balance premium will be paid by Government to provide full insured amount to the farmers against any loss due to natural calamities.
• There will be no upper limit on Government subsidy. Even if balance premium is 90%, it will be borne by the Government.   

Coverage in Tamil Nadu:

Samba Crop is the main crop for Tamil Nadu, will be considered as Rabi crops. Around 15.1 Lakh farmers are expected to be covered under Rabi crops (1.5% premium borne by farmers)

Remaining 8.8 lakh farmers are covered under Kuruvai(which means Kharif crops), so the premium will be 2 % which is borne by farmers.