Perturbed by deficient rainfall and in order to protect the interest of paddy farmers, the Haryana government has extended the number of districts to be covered under the Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBICS) and Modified National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (MNAIS). In this kharif season, the insurance scheme propounded by the Centre and being implemented by different general insurance companies, would cover one block each of 12 districts under WBICS, and four districts under MNAIS. Under the scheme, the farmers will have to pay a nominal fee as the premiums have been subsidised by both central and state governments.
In the last kharif season, one block each of four districts was covered under WBICS and two districts were covered under MNAIS by different insurance companies. Haryana is experiencing over a rainfall deficit of 70 per cent, according to Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (Hyderabad), so the scheme is really beneficial for the farming community.
Taking a step forward, the state government has mandated five general insurance companies namely Agriculture Insurance Company, ICICI Lombard, IFFCO Tokio, HDFC Ergo and Cholamandalam MS to implement WBICS. The blocks which would be covered are Ambala II (Ambala), Gohana (Sonepat), Bilaspur (Yamunanagar), Beri (Kurukshetra), etc. The risks covered include deficit rainfall, consecutive dry days, etc.
Besides that, it has also mandated two general insurance companies namely Agriculture Insurance Company and IFFCO Tokio to implement MNAIS. The districts which would be covered are Karnal, Kaithal, Jind and Rohtak. Speaking to Business Standard, a senior official of Agriculture Insurance Company of India Ltd mentioned that with the introduction of the modified scheme and inclusion of more districts, it is expected that a substantial number of farmers would be able to manage risks in agriculture production in a better way and succeed in stabilising farm income, particularly at the times of crop failure on account of natural calamities.
Under the scheme, the notified area for the insurance scheme had been reduced to the village panchayat-level for paddy. Also, the yield of insured crop at village level would be furnished by the state government by conducting the required number of crop cutting experiment at village level. According to the scheme, all non-preventable natural hazards and pests and disease outbreaks, resulting in the yield loss of paddy grown in the notified villages, would be covered under the scheme.
Both the schemes are propounded by the Centre and are applicable to both the loanee and non-loanee farmers in the state. In last kharif season, Agriculture Insurance Company alone, covered around 20,000 farmers under these two schemes and disbursed claims of about Rs 15.5 crore.