Govt plans ₹30,000 cr push to expand crop cover portal

livemint.com:

NEW DELHI : The government plans to earmark ₹30,000 crore to expand the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) portal into a comprehensive platform that will extend insurance coverage beyond crops to include assets such as ponds, tractors, livestock, and palm trees, two officials said. This initiative will be driven by the AIDE app, launched in July, to ensure door-to-door enrolment, making crop insurance more accessible and convenient for farmers. Through this app, insurance intermediaries will not only enrol farmers for crop insurance, but also extend coverage to 40 million farmers for non-subsidized schemes.

“We are planning to build a platform. It’s a transition from being a portal to a platform. AIDE app is already there for farmers, through which insurance intermediaries enrol farmers for crop insurance.

While they enrol the farmers for a subsidized scheme, which is PMFBY, farmers may also want some of their other rural products that are not subsidized to be covered by insurance. If the portal is converted into a platform, farmers will be able to get insurance coverage for their non-subsidized agricultural assets," one of the two officials said on condition of anonymity. “Based on the subsidized platform, we will try to get schemes enroled onto our platform where farmers of certain regions will be given choices to opt for other schemes," the official added.