The State/UT Govt. intending to participate in the Yojana has to intimate their consent thereto. The State/UT Govt. has to accept and abide by the provisions of the Yojana in to-to as spelt out in the Yojana text and Operational Modalities.

A ‘State Level coordination committee on crop insurance’ (SLCCCI) shall be formed in all the implementing States/UTs for the purpose of overseeing implementation of the Scheme. The committee will be headed by the Agricultural Production Commissioner (APC) or by an Official of equal rank of the State and will include senior Officers of the state, viz., Secretary (Agriculture), Secretary (Co-operation), Secretary (Finance), Director, Bureau of Statistics & Economics, Registrar of Co-operative Societies, representative of Ministry of Agriculture, Financial Institutions including NABARD, RBI, State Apex Coop. Bank, Convenor, State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) and Implementing Agency (IA).

1. Notification:

At the beginning of each crop season, the State Government/UT administration shall notify the Crops and Defined Areas, which will be covered during the season in accordance with the decision taken at the SLCCCI meeting. The SLCCCI shall, for the purpose of notification, consider factors such as availability of past Yield Data, Cropped Area and ability to conduct requisite number of Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) etc.

In case it is proposed to notify irrigated & un-irrigated areas separately under a crop, the State Govt./UT shall ensure that minimum CCEs are planned & conducted for irrigated & un-irrigated crops, separately in such areas. In addition, past data for productivity at Unit Area level for immediate 10 years would have to be separately furnished to enable IA to work out premium rates.

The State govt./UT should notify the smallest possible units as defined areas (i.e., insurance units), which is preferably, the Village or the Gram Panchayat. In any case the State/UTs shall reach the level of Gram Panchayat within three years.

2. Collection of proposals and insurance charges:

The present Nodal Banks system under CCIS, will continue for RKBY as well, where in IA is not required to deal with all loan disbursing points and instead, deals only with designated Nodal points, mostly at district level.

Loanee farmers (Compulsory coverage):

For loanee farmers, the modalities will be the same as in the existing CCIS. Whenever a bank disburses loan for an insurable crop, additional loan towards insurance charges shall also be granted. The disbursing branch shall prepare a Statement of monthly crop-wise and defined area-wise details of crop insurance with insurance charges, and remit the same to it’s Nodal Branch within 15^th day of the next month.

The Nodal Branch, in turn, shall consolidate these Statements from the Branches under it, and forward the same to the IA along with a Draft for the insurance charges in accordance with monthly cut-off dates fixed.

For the loans disbursed through Kisan Credit Card (KCC) which are also eligible for coverage, Banks will have to maintain all back up records, registers relating to compliance with RKBY and its seasonality discipline, cut-off date for submitting the Declarations and end use etc. as in the case of normal crop loans. The crop loans disbursed through KCC, but outside the purview of the provisions of the RKBY, shall not be eligible for coverage.

A farmer opting for Sum Insured higher than the amount of loan availed by him shall be treated at par with Non-loanee farmer and relevant cut-off dates for submitting Declarations will apply. For coverage of higher SI/higher Indemnity Limit (IL), the farmer has to bear the difference of premium.

Declarations formats to be submitted by Nodal banks will be different for Loanee farmers availing sum insured upto the limit of amount of loan availed and those Loanee farmers availing higher limit of sum insured. The sum insured may extend to the value of the threshold yield of the insured crop at the option of the insured farmers. Further, a farmer may also insure his crop beyond value of threshold yield upto 150% of average yield of notified area on payment of premium for balance sum insured at commercial rates.

For the purposes of sum insured, average yield is reckoned as average of past three years yield for Rice & Wheat and five years for ‘Other crops’ in the notified area.

In respect of Loanee farmers availing sum insured beyond amount of loan availed, the details of those farmers availing sum insured beyond value of threshold yield shall be furished separately in a schedule in the Declaration.

a) Non-loanee farmers (Optional coverage):

Those farmers desireous of joining the Scheme will fill up Proposal Form of the Scheme and submit the same to the village branch of a Commercial Bank (CB) or Regional Rural Bank (RRB), or PACS (DCCB) with the requisite insurance chare/premium amount after opening an Account in their name or in an existing Account in their name. The functionaries in Branch/PACS shall assist farmers in completing the Proposal form and provide necessary guidance. While accepting the Proposal and the insurance charges it shall be the responsibility of such Branch/PACS to verify the particulars of sum insured and its limit, the applicable insurance charges etc. The Branch/PACS shall thereafter consolidate those particulars and send them to the respective Nodal points.

The Nodal Bank will in turn submit to the IA the Crop-wise and Notified Area-wise crop insurance declarations in the prescribed format (Separately for Non-loanee farmers), alongwith the Insurance Charges/Premium, within the stipulated time.

In respect of optional coverage (non-loanee farmers) the entire amount of insurance charges/premium on the basis of the proposal of the farmer shall be deposited with the Branch/PACS within the stipulated dates and in turn, Banks would consolidate, prepare a Declaration and forward the same to IA with premium.

Receipt of proposals directly from Non-Loanee farmers:

On an experimental basis (subject to infrastructure of IA), the non-loanee farmers may submit the proposals personally to IA with requisite insurance charges/premium. The IA shall then consolidate these proposals and convert them into Declarations. However, it’s mandatory that the non-loanee farmers personally submitting proposals to IA should hold a Bank account in the Service Area branch/designated bank branch to receive compensation, if any.

Initially, personal submission of proposals to IA shall be limited to districts designated for experimentation of individual loss assessment on occurrence of localised perils. The IA shall open an office in these designated district HQs.

Option for higher sum insured:

a) Food crops & oilseeds: sum insured is worked out by multiplying the threshold yield of the crop with Minimum Support Price (MSP) or the market price (where MSP is not available) in respect of previous year. A farmer is eligible to cover upto the value of threshold yield of the crop at a given premium rate. Additionally, a farmer may extend the sum insured upto 150% of the value of the average yield of the crop on payment of premium at commercial (actuarial) rate for the past of the sum insured exceeding value of threshold yield.

b) Annual commercial/horticultural crops: sum insured may extend upto 150% of the value of average yield of the crop at commercial (actuarial) rate for the entire sum insured.

a) Loanee farmers:

Banks will send to IA every month consolidated crop Insurance Declarations in respect of loan disbursed to the loanee farmers for each crop and each Defined Area. The details of SAO loans disbursed for insurable crops during a month will be declared to IA in the form of consolidated Declarations before the end of succeeding month. The detailed monthly cut0off dates for in respect of such declarations will be:

Those loanee farmers who would like to avail a sum insured of more than the amount of loan availed shall indicate their choice to the Financial Institutions at the beginning of the season and for these farmers, the cut-off dates shall be those applicable for non-loanee farmers.

b) Non-loanee farmers:

The broad Cut-Off dates for receipt of Proposals by the Banks/IA, in respect of these farmers will be as under.

i) Kharif season:31^st July

ii) Rabi season: 31^st December

In respect of these farmers, the last date of receipt of the consolidated proposals at IA, shall be one month after the last date for receipt of Proposals at the Nodal Branch.

However, within these broad parameters suggested above for all categories of farmers the seasonality discipline may be modified in consultation with State/UT Govt. and Govt. of India, depending on local conditions and crop seasons.

4. Important conditions applicable for coverage risk:

1. Loans given for unsown areas will not be covered by the Scheme, because, indemnity claims will arise under the Scheme, only after the crop has been sown and in the event of crop failure. Mere disbursement of loans by the financial institutions/submission of Proposal by a Non-loanee farmer will not entitle him for compensation under the Scheme.

2. In the areas where crop is sown but, withered away/demaged on account of adverse seasonal conditions/pest and/or diseases and also where there is no possibility of reviving the crop, no further loaning should be made by the financing institutions. Any further loaning in such cases shall not be covered by the Scheme.

3. The Scheme covers notified crops until harvesting stage only. Losses caused to crops which are spread in the field for drying after cutting/harvesting are excluded from the scope of the Scheme.

5. Estimation of crop yield:

The Claim assessment procedure and parameters involved in estimation of claims shall be the same for Loanee and Non-loanee farmers as also for food crops/oil seeds and annual commercial/annual horticultural crops.

The State Department will plan and conduct requisite number of CCEs for all notified crops in the notified insurance units in order to assess the crop yield. The State Government will notify the crops where requisite minimum number of CCEs will be conducted in accordance with the sliding scale given below.

The State Government/UT administration will maintain a single series of CCEs for both Crop Production and Crop Insurance.

The yield data will be furnished to IA by the State Govt./UT in accordance with the cut-off dates fixed for all crops and areas notified, based on the Total no. of CCEs (being not less than the minimum prescribed) conducted.

The standard procedures for assessing the yield in respect of multiple picking crops will be prepared by IA in consultation with the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) and circulated among implementing states/UTs.

A committee comprising representatives of State/UT Govt. National Sample survey Organisation (NSSO) and IA will be set up at the state level to monitor/supervise and advise in matters relating to adequacy and quality of CCEs.

A Technical Advisory committee (TAC) comprising representatives from NSSO, MOA and IA shall be constituted at National level to decide the sample size of CCEs and also technical matters pertaining to Threshold Yield/Actual Yieldetc.

Loss assessment in case of localised calamities:

Loss assessment of localised risks, viz. Hailstorm, landslide, cyclone and floods on individual basis shall be experimented in two districts and shall be extended to other areas in the light of operational experience gained. The insured farmers who experience crop losses due to occurrence of these localised perils shall give immediate notice to the financial institution/ notified office of IA and in any case with in 48 hours along with particulars of crop insured and extent and cause of damage. On receipt of loss intimation, IA shall depute Loss assessors to the area for assessment of crop loss. The district Revenue administration will assist IA in assessing the extent of crop loss.

IA shall also develop Loss adjusters cadre and for this purpose few Officers will be trained in Loss assessment procedures. The services of unemployed Agri. Graduates and retired Agrl. Department Officials may also be utilised for loss assessment after initial training.

6. Management of the scheme and monitoring:

Financial Institutions (FI) shall be required to play the same role as in CCIS in respect of Loanee farmers. In respect of non-loanee farmers, FI shall collect the premium and transmit it to IA along with the Declarations within prescribed time limits. Selection of Fls would be on the basis of Service Area approach of RBI or at the option of the Fls (where Co-operative Banks have good network). To facilitate smooth implementation, all non-loanee farmers shall be serviced through individual Bank Account.

The Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Statistics, Bureau of Economics and Statistics. Department of co-operation of the State govt. Would be actively involved in smooth implementation of the scheme.

During the crop season, agricultural situation will be closely monitored in the implementing State/UT. The State/UT department of agriculture/statistics would set up a district level monitoring committee, who will provide fortnightly reports of agricultural situation with details of area sown, weather situation, pest incidence, stage of crop failure [if any] etc. to IA.

7. Procedure of settlement of claims:

Once the yield data is received from the State Govt. as per the cut-off-dates decided, the claims will be worked out as per Declarations received from FLs for each notified area and approval is obtained. The funds needed for payment of claims beyond the risk sharing limits of IA shall be provided by the Govt. to effect payment. The claim cheques along with claim particulars will be released to individual Nodal points. The FI at the grass root level in turn shall credit the accounts of the individual farmers and display the particulars of beneficiaries in the notice board.

Loss assessment and modified indemnity procedures in case of occurrence of localised perils, such as hailstorm, landslide, cyclone and Flood where settlement of claims will be on individual basis, shall be formulated by IA in consultation with State/UT. Govt.

Claims approval:

Claims shall be approved by IA. However, the Govt. may at their option, scruitinize/examine a claim falling within their risk liability.

Disputed claims/sub standard claims, if any will be referred to a Committee consisting of representatives of Ministry of Agriculture (GOI), concerned State Govt. and IA.

Settlement/release of claims in the States/UTs which exceed set risk sharing limits of IA shall be subject to receipt of funds from the govt.

8. Publicity/awareness and review:

This Scheme requires adequate publicity in all the villages of the notified district. Besides audio-visual media, the services of Agricultural Extension Officers of the State /UT should be utilised. It is equally important to train people going to be involved in collection of premium, processing of Declarations, Proposal forms etc.in banks to avoid any confusion and misunderstanding. Training programmes and workshops, visit of IA Officers to the banks will help in clarifying the doubts, redressal of grievances and clearing bottlenecks in smooth implementation of the Scheme. Pamphlets shall be distributed to all villages in participating States/UTs. A short film covering the salient features of the Scheme will be made by the IA for this purpose.

A separate action plan shall be prepared to bring in awareness and educate farmers. S

9. Role play of various agencies:

A). Role & responsibilities of financial institutions (Fls):

For the purpose of the Scheme, the Scheduled Institutions engaged in disbursing SAO loans as per the relevant guidelines of NABARD/RBI will be reckoned as Financial Institutions.

Each scheduled Commercial bank shall, with concurrence of IA fix Nodal points which would deal with IA on behalf of branches in the division/district/state. The Nodal points for Commercial banks will be minimum one level above the Branch office. The Nodal points for Co-operative banks will be DCC banks and those for RRBs, their Head Office.

Nodal Points would be designated for implementation and these banks would attend to the following functions:

1. On receipt of the communication on notification of crops and areas from the State govt./UT, the Nodal banks will communicate the same to the branch offices under their control.

2. The Fls would advance additional loan to Loanee farmers to meet requirement of Insurance charges/premium as applicable up to the extent of crop loan.

3. Each such Nodal point would submit crop-wise, defined area-wise, monthly Crop insurance declarations to the Office of IA, in the prescribed format, along with Insurance charges payable on all crop loans coming under the purview of the scheme in case of loanee farmers and based on Proposals received in case of other farmers.

4. The Apex Fls shall issue appropriate instructions to Nodal banks as well as crop loan disbursing branches to ensure smooth functioning of the Scheme.

5. For insurable crop loans disbursed under Kissan Credit Card (KCC), the Fls shall maintain all controls and records as required under the Scheme.

Other Responsibilities of Fls will be:

- To educate the farmers on the Scheme features.

- To guide the farmers in filing the proposal forms and collecting the required documents

- Following the guidelines while disbursing crop loans and ensuring proper end-use of loan disbursed.

- To prepare the consolidated statements for loanee and non-loanee members forwarding the same to the branch along with the premium amount.

- Maintaining the records of proposal forms, other relevant documents, statements for the purpose of verification by the district committee or representative of the insurer.

Special conditions for Fls/Nodal banks/Loan disbursing points:

1. Fls will submit Crop Insurance Declarations to IA on monthly basis, where sum insured is on the basis of amount of loan disbursed and within one-month time from cut-off date for receipt of proposals, where sum insured is on any other basis.

2. Claims received by the Nodal points, will be remitted to individual branches PACS with all particulars within seven days and these branches/PACS will in turn credit the accounts of beneficiary farmers within seven days. The list of beneficiary farmers with claim amount will be displayed by the branch/PACS.

3. The IA will have access to all relevant records/ledgers at the Nodal point/Branch PACS at all times.

4. The IA will be provided with all the norms/guidelines relating to SAO crop loan disbursements as formulated by RBI/NABARD. Any amendments/simplification of procedures/norms from time to time will be duly made available to IA by the concerned institutions. In the absence of such communication, IA shall be free to not take cognisace of such modifications.

5. In case a farmer is deprived of any benefit under the Scheme due to errors/omissions/commissions of the Nodal Bank/Branch/PACS, the concerned institutions only shall make good all such losses.

6. If the farmer is adopting mixed cropping, the sum insured of a crop should be on the basis of its proportionate area in the mixed cropping.

B). Role & responsibilities of state govt./union territory administration:

1. The State Govt./UT will notify crop wise notified areas and premium rates as applicable (in case of commercial/horticultural crops) well in advance of each crop season.

2. The State Govt./UT administration would, in advance proovide to the IA, unit Area-wise yield data of immediate past 10 years for all crops notified under the Scheme.

3. To the extent possible, the State Govt./UT administration would notify smaller defined areas for various crops, keeping in mind that smaller areas will be more homogeneous and would be more reflective of all crop losses, including localised perils like hailstorm, landslide etc.

4. The state govt. shall issue the requisite Notification and communicate to all participating Fls during every crop season. The Notification of the State Govt. may essentially contain the following information.

a. Crops and Defined areas notified in various districts.

b. Premium rates and subsidy, if and as applicable for various groups of farmers and crops.

c. The cut-off dates for collection of proposals and remittance of premium with Crop Insurance Declarations to IA.

5. The State/UT administration will release its contribution to Corpus Fund as per the scale and dates fixed by MOA, the Government of India.

6. The State/UT administration would ensure that Crop Estimation Surveys (CES) in general, and estimation procedures in case of multiple picking crops in particular be strengthened in order to furnish accurate estimates of yield. Further, the State/UT administration will assist IA assessing the extent of crop loss of individual insured farmers due to operation of localised perils.

7. To set up various monitoring Committees as required

8. The final Yield data in the standard format for all Unit Areas for notified crops for the crop season will be furnished to IA within the stipulated date.

9. In case, the State/UT administration fail to furnish yield data based on requisite number of CCEs or fail to furnish yield data within the stipulated date, responsibility of such claims, if any arising out of such data will totally rest with State/UT administration.

10. The IA will be allowed unrestricted access to records of CCEs at grass root/District/State level.

11. State Government/UT admn. Shall set up District Level Monitoring Committee (DLMC), headed by the District Magistrate. The members will be District Agriculture Officer, DCCB, Lead Bank representative and IA. The committee will monitor implementation of Scheme by providing fortnightly crop condition reports and periodical reports on seasonal weather conditions, loans disbursed, extent of area cultivated, etc. the DLMC shall also monitor conduct of CCEs in the district.

12. As the Scheme is optional to Non-loanee farmers, adequate publicity will be provided to ensure maximum coverage of farmers through all means available at the disposal of State/UT admn.

C. Role and responsibilities of the implementing agency:

1. Implementing Agency of the Scheme.

2. The IA shall open separate Accounts to deal with Corpus Fund and also premiums received under the Scheme.

3. Building up crop yield database and preparation of Actuarial premium rates through a professional agency.

4. Underwriting and Claims finalisation.

5. Responsibility for claims to the extent mentioned in the Scheme.

6. Negotiating Re-insurance arrangement in the international market.

7. Co-ordination in organizing training, awareness, publicity programmes.

8. Providing returns/statistics to the Govt. on India.

D). Duties of farmers

1. As the Scheme is compulsory for all Loanee farmers availing SAO loans for notified crops, it is mandatory for all loanee farmers to insist on coverage of all eligible loans (as per the Scheme provisions) under the scheme.

2. If the farmer is adopting mixed cropping, the proportion of different crops in a mixed cropping will have to be compulsorily declared.

3. In respect of non-loanee farmers, the Proposals will be accepted only upto stipulated cut-off date, which will be decided in consultation with State Govt./UT admn. The important duties in case of non-loanee farmers are as follows:

a. The farmer desiring coverage should have an Account in the branch of the designated bank.

b. The farmer must approach the designated branch/PACS and submit the proposal form in the prescribed format.

c. The farmer must provide documentary evidence in regard to the possession of cultivable land (copy of the passbook, 7/12/land extract or land revenue receipt should be enclosed).

d. The farmer must furnish area sown confirmation certificate, if required.

Service
(Insurance)