Insurance flaws

PMFBY fails to live up to the hype

The government’s much-hyped crop insurance scheme, the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), has remained an underperformer since its inception in 2016. Some critical structural flaws and inept implementation have proved its nemesis, though the scheme is better than all the risk-mitigation systems tried out since the early 1970s. Complaints have been mounting about the delayed clearance of claims and, more importantly, meagre reimbursements of losses. Farmers’ organisations and even some political parties, notably the Shiv Sena, have threatened to launch agitations against the insurance companies to press for adequate compensation to the farmers for the crop damage because of