Crores of farmers benefited from insurance scheme: PM

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 13

On the completion of five years of Centre’s flagship insurance scheme for farmers — the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) — Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the scheme had benefited crores of farmers by mitigating farming risks against the vagaries of nature.

The Agriculture Ministry urged the farmers to avail benefits of the scheme. Former Agriculture Secretary Siraj Hussain said: “It is a good scheme. In several states, including Haryana, claims have exceeded the gross premium. Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar called for a need to raise awareness, citing examples where the scheme was able to safeguard the interests of farmers.

“A sum of Rs 90,000 crore has been paid as claims to the farmers till now. The scheme was fully operational during the lockdown, distributing claims of over 8741.3 crore to 69.70 lakh farmers across India, which is highly commendable,” Tomar said.