Punjab floods: Centre renews push for crop insurance, asks state to join PMFBY

By Vishu Adhana

New Delhi (India) September 16 (ANI): With Punjab grappling with its worst floods in decades, the Union Agriculture Ministry has once again urged the state government to adopt the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), saying farmers are bearing the brunt of not having a formal crop insurance cover.

Sources in the ministry told ANI that Punjab’s non-participation in the scheme has left farmers dependent only on state-funded relief, which is limited in scope and unable to cover widespread losses caused by natural calamities.

“During his visits to assess the flood-hit areas, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan urged the state to reconsider its decision and join PMFBY. The government remains willing and committed to extend full financial and technical support to Punjab should the state decide to come on board from the 2026-29 tender cycle,” an official said.

Union Agriculture Minister Chauhan visited flood-hit areas in Punjab on September 4.

Floods have ravaged the state of Punjab, with 1,902 villages inundated, more than 3.8 lakh people affected, and more than 11.7 lakh hectares of farmland destroyed. At least 43 people have been killed.

Punjab has stayed out of PMFBY since its launch in 2016. Although the state government announced in November 2022 its intent to implement the scheme, the decision was rolled back in March 2023. “This has denied farmers the benefits of technology-enabled claim assessment and the national risk-pooling mechanisms that are integral to PMFBY,” the official added.

PMFBY offers farmers insurance cover at a uniform premium of 2 per cent for kharif crops and 1.5 per cent for rabi crops, with the balance shared equally by the Centre and states.

Officials pointed out that Punjab’s crop profile makes it particularly vulnerable to climate shocks.

Paddy, which dominates the kharif season, suffers from waterlogging, while cotton in the Malwa belt is sensitive to excess moisture. In the rabi season, wheat and mustard remain exposed to frost and cold waves.

“In the absence of crop insurance, small and marginal farmers face acute financial stress. We saw this earlier too — in Rabi 2023, pink bollworm infestation wiped out cotton across large swathes of the state, but compensation was minimal under state relief norms,” sources said.

According to the ministry, farmers who suffer total crop loss due to floods or pest attacks are entitled to only Rs 17,000 per hectare for up to 2 hectares under SDRF/NDRF guidelines. “This leaves larger cultivators, or even small farmers, with complete crop damage, at a huge disadvantage. Under PMFBY, however, claims are settled within 15-30 days of a calamity based on joint surveys,” the source explained.

The Centre has sent at least three communications–on April 3, April 10, and May 17, 2023–to the Punjab government, pressing for implementation of the scheme. “We have been engaging regularly, but the state has not moved forward. This is despite the fact that with PMFBY, Punjab would have saved thousands of crores in relief expenditure, while also tapping into the Centre’s equal contribution to premium costs,” a ministry official said.

Apart from Punjab, four other states — Bihar, West Bengal, Telangana and Gujarat — have opted out of PMFBY since 2018-20. But Punjab remains the only major agrarian state to have never notified the scheme since its inception. (ANI)

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