Webinar on Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana held on 16th of September 2021.

Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) in collaboration with its J&K Regional Branch organized a webinar on PradhanMantriFasalBimaYojana (PMFBY) a flagship scheme under Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India. Mr Sanjay Agarwal, IAS, Secretary (Agriculture) Government of India was the lead discussant while Sh. B R Sharma, IAS (Retd), Chairman, IIPA J&K Regional Branch was the co-discussant. Sh. Agarwal in his detailed presentation informed that PMFBY is the world’s biggest crop insurance scheme which was initiated after intense deliberations to meet the challenges of the sector and also to scale up the Indian agriculture for the 21st century. While narrating the contours of the scheme, he emphasized that all farmers engaged in Food & Oilseeds crops and Annual Commercial/Horticultural Crops can avail the benefits as PMFBY provides comprehensive rich coverage to farmers against all non- preventable natural risks from pre-sowing to post harvest stage. He said that it is imperative to create awareness about PMFBY amongst farmers and bridge knowledge gaps among various implementing stakeholders through various Information, Education and Communication (IEC) and Capacity Building activities ShriB.R.Sharma in his remarks said that this scheme is a big step towards the welfare of farmers in the long run. He further said that in the context of Jammu & Kashmir, there is a greater need to create awareness at the grass root level and also design region specific capacity building programme so that the coverage of the scheme can be enhanced. He assured that IIPA, J&K Regional Branch can provide requisite training and capacity building support. Sh. S.N. Tripathi, IAS (Retd) Director General IIPA New Delhi in his opening remarks, while welcoming all the participants and spoke about the need to make Indian agriculture a self-reliant agriculture and how the various schemes especially PMFBY can help the farmers. Joint Secretary (Credit) from Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare in her remarks said that scheme now lays emphasis on leveraging technological solutions. She said that National Crop Insurance Portal and various apps like CCE Agri App, Crop Insurance App, Loss reporting/Assessment App etc are available which can be used by various states and UT by providing geo-coded village maps. Prof Ashok Vishandass, Professor (Applied Economics), IIPA New Delhi conducted the proceedings while Professor Alka Sharma, Hony Secretary IIPA J&K Regional Branch presented a formal vote of thanks. The webinar was attended by Director Agriculture (Jammu), various officers of the Department of Agriculture and members of IIPA, J&K Regional Branch In this policy horticultural crops are also covered.29 crore farmers application have been insured with sum insured of over Rs 10 lakh crore there are 19 empanalled general insurance companies, it is a voluntary scheme. Central subsidy admissable for premium rate upto 25% to 30% depending upon irrigated to unirrigated areas. There is focus on IEC activitiesand capacity building In this scheme. Dr Sanjay Aggarwal has asked for involving the panchayat bodies through J&K Authority.