Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana: Cabinet Okays Rs 69,515 Crore - What Is It? How To Avail Benefits?

The Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) and the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) were extended until 2025–2026 by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday. Rs 69,515.71 crore was spent in total to make the decision.

“…This extension guarantees that farmers will continue to be compensated for agricultural losses brought on by unavoidable natural disasters”, release stated.

The Cabinet authorised the establishment of a Fund for Innovation and Technology (FIAT) with a capital of Rs 824.77 crore in addition to the continuance of the projects.

“...The fund will be utilised towards funding technological initiatives under the scheme namely, YES-TECH, WINDS, etc as well as Research and Development studies”, release noted. 

Yield Estimation System Using Technology (YES-TECH)

YES-TECH uses Remote Sensing Technology to estimate crop yields, providing at least 30% weightage to technology-based methods. Currently, nine major states—Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka—are implementing the system, with more states joining soon.

Considering that more and more workers will be adopting the use of YES-TECH, then the Crop Cutting Experiments in their traditional forms will become irrelevant and will eventually fade away. Madhya Pradesh has already shifted to 100% technology-based yield estimation. Claim calculation and settlement under YES-TECH was done successfully for the period from 2023-24.

Weather Information and Network Data Systems (WINDS)

WINDS aims at enriching hyper-local weather data by installing Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) at block levels and Automatic Rain Gauges (ARGs) at panchayat levels. This initiative looks to increase the density of the present network by five times. States will pay only data rental costs, split between the centre and the states.

Nine states are currently implementing WINDS, such as Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Puducherry, Assam, Odisha, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, and Rajasthan. Other states are also very keen to follow suit.

Nonetheless, since this scheme requires pre-preparatory requirements, implementation will start only in 2024-25 after Union Cabinet approval. A 90:10 cost-sharing model is undertaken by the center, which supplies 90% of the funds, supporting the states.

North Eastern States In Focus

Centre have been making efforts at covering all farmers in North Eastern States are under different schemes. 

“The centre shares 90% of premium subsidy with North Eastern States. However, due to scheme being voluntary and low gross cropped area in North Eastern States, flexibility has been given to avoid surrender of funds and for reallocation in other development projects and schemes with fund requirement”, as per release. 

This approach ensures technological improvement in agriculture as well as states' financial flexibility, particularly for more underserved regions.

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