New Crop Insurance Policy needs improvements: CSE

New Delhi: The new crop insurance policy, announced by the Centre, takes the right direction, but needs further improvements, says the Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi.

It recommends reforms to make it universal, inclusive and more effective. Insurance unit, it notes, is still not at individual farmer level but at the administrative level such as tehsil, village, etc. which is a major problem in compensating losses of the individual farmers

There is still no direct interface between insurance companies and farmers. This is a big lacuna in making the existing schemes less effective

It says that use of technology is a good step but it is important to formalise a model which is viable. Tenant farmers have not been covered under the new scheme which leaves out a large segment of farmers without insurance cover.

Frequency of extreme weather events and slow onset events such as droughts are likely to increase in the future due to climate change. India needs an effective, inclusive and universal insurance scheme to act as a safety net for farmers.

The Union cabinet approved the new crop insurance scheme -- Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna a few days ago. The new scheme will replace two schemes – National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) and the modified NAIS (MNAIS). The PMFBY will be effective from the April 1, 2016.