Bihar Crop Insurance Scheme

The Bihar government launched its own crop insurance scheme after it rejected the Centre’s on the ground that it was helping insurance companies more than the farmers. The Bihar Rajya Fasal Sahayata Yojna would provide financial help to farmers, shield them against nature’s vagaries, provide continuity of income in adverse situations and make agriculture a profitable livelihood. The scheme, approved at a cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Nitish Kumar, will be for all types of farmers – those who have their own farms, as well as those who work on others’ fields. In this scheme, farmers will be registered online without any charge, no fee will be taken from them and benefits will be directly transferred to their bank accounts. It will be implemented from the upcoming kharif season. Atul Prasad, principal secretary of cooperative department said the government will fork out Rs 300 crore in the first year. “The latest data related to PMFBY is of the 2016 kharif season in which the state’s share of crop insurance premium was Rs 495 crore, but our farmers got a relief of only Rs 221 crore,” Prasad said.