CAG spots huge gaps in PM's Fasal Bima Yojana, other crop insurance schemes

Says over Rs 32,000-crore released to insurers from 2011-16 without verification of beneficiaries

The crop insurance continues to be a problematic area despite the Centre launching the much-touted Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) from Kharif 2016 replacing two old schemes with no or marginal increase in coverage of non-loanee farmers, lower sum insured as compared to scale of finance and delayed claim settlement which defeated the very purpose of insurance, two reports on the subject by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) and Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) showed.

The CSE report said that insurance companies raked in a huge profit of around Rs 10,000 crore as on April