Flood-hit farmers await insurance money in Gujarat, West Bengal

Farmers in Gujarat and West Bengal are now battling on two fronts. Floods have inundated thousands of acres, even as the agrarians are awaiting insurance money for the 2016 kharif season.

The last date for submitting claims for kharif 2017 ended on July 31, though some states such as Maharashtra have asked for an extension of the deadline.

According to provisional data till July 19 furnished in the Rajya Sabha by the Centre, West Bengal, Gujarat, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana had the worst record in settling insurance claims under the scheme arising from kharif 2016.

The primary reason given for delay in settlement of claims was that state governments didn’t clear their share of pending premium dues or didn’t submit crop-cutting data. Insurance firms could not proceed without this data.

“According to the rules notified under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), insurance companies have to settle their claims within three weeks from receipt of yield data from the state government and receipt of premium subsidy,” Minister of State for Agriculture Parshottam Rupala said in a reply in the Upper House of Parliament last month.

But a senior government official said: “Kharif 2016 was the first season of PMFBY and the performance of any insurance product should be judged over a period of 3-5 years.”

According to the reply tabled in Parliament, the last date of filing of claims for kharif 2017 was July. Some claims for rabi 2016-17 have been reported until July 19. This could also be because the rabi season was a normal monsoon year.

Even there, the performance of some states has been rather poor.

In rabi 2016-17, Chhattisgarh reported insurance claims of around Rs 143 crore, of which nothing has been settled, according to provisional data received till July 19. Uttar Pradesh reported claims of around Rs 1.30 crore in rabi 2016-17 but less than 55 per cent were paid until July 19. In Gujarat, data till July 19 showed claims amounted to about Rs 324.59 crore from kharif 2016, but less than 1 per cent had been settled. In West Bengal, against claims worth Rs 101 crore, only Rs 93,000 has been paid. Bihar had claims of Rs 286 crore from kharif 2016 but nothing had been paid till July 19. In Telangana, too, not a single paisa has been settled despite claims wort hRs 65 crore.

More than 95 per cent of the claims have been settled in Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Rajasthan.

STATES’ CLAIMS

• In rabi 2016-17, Chhattisgarh reported insurance claims of around Rs 143 crore, of which nothing has been settled, according to provisional data received till July 19
• Uttar Pradesh reported claims of around Rs 1.30 crore in rabi 2016-17 but less than 55 per cent were paid until July 19
• In West Bengal, against claims worth Rs 101 crore, only Rs 93,000 has been paid
• Bihar had claims of Rs 286 crore from kharif 2016 but nothing had been paid till July 19
• In Telangana, too, not a single paisa has been settled despite claims worth Rs 65 crore 
• More than 95% of the claims have been settled in Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Rajasthan