In response to criticism that many farmers did not benefit from the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, the Centre revealed on Thursday that farmers had been paid claims worth Rs 1,25,662 crore since the scheme’s inception in 2016.
“In the past six years, Rs 25,186 crore have been paid by farmers as the premium, wherein Rs 1,25,662 crore have been paid to the farmers against their claims as on October 31, 2022, with Central and state governments bearing most of the premium under the scheme,” an official statement of Union Ministry of Agriculture said.
Following reports that a pittance of insurance claims was being paid to farmers in certain regions of Maharashtra, the ministry released a statement.
“The acceptability of the scheme has increased amongst the farmers in the last six years, with the share of non-loanee farmers, marginalised farmers and small farmers increasing by 282% since the initiation of the scheme,” the ministry said.