Karnataka rolls out software for crop insurance scheme

The Karnataka government on Thursday rolled out a unique software to enable farmers register online for the crop insurance scheme.

"The software (Samrakshane) application is a combination of the Karnataka Raita Suraksha Pradhana Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana and the Restructured Weather-based Crop Insurance Scheme," said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

The central government had launched the twin schemes to provide financial aid to farmers suffering crop loss or damage from unforeseen events or natural disasters.

"We have earmarked Rs 675.38 crore in the budget for this fiscal (2016-17) to implement the schemes so that farmers do not suffer financial loss due to floods, drought, unseasonal rains and other calamities," the chief minister said.

As the central government has removed the cap on premium to reduce its burden, the farmer's share will be 1.5-2 per cent on foodgrains and oil seed crops and 5 per cent on commercial and horticultural crops.

"Though we hope to cover 50 per cent of farmers this fiscal, we hope more will enroll for the schemes, as the premium is minimal. The software will collect data on needs of each farmer at different stages of crop growth till payment is made," Siddaramaiah said.

The Samrakshane (protection) software for end-to-end automation of crop insurance process will provide an efficient, transparent and accountable system for speedy delivery of benefits and risk cover to the farming community across the state. It will generate a unique number for each farmer to keep track of their farming activity to insure the crop against loss or damage.

"The system is linked to the Aadhaar database of farmers for direct payment into their bank accounts and they will be informed about the status through SMS and uploaded on the dedicated portal for their information," said Siddaramaiah.

"A mobile application is being developed to enable farmers report on crop loss from unforeseen events to the authority concerned," he added.

The software also provides reports on farmers insuring their crop in a particular area and ensures that the area reduction of factor is not applied.

The software is also linked to the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre data and collects weather data real-time.

--IANS

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