Andhra Pradesh: Govt. issues order to implement free insurance for Kharif crops

The Andhra Pradesh government headed by chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday issued orders implementing free crop insurance for kharif crops, which are currently under cultivation. However, the government has decided to limit free insurance to crops that are registered in this e-crop.

The state government has already issued orders for setting up of Andhra Pradesh General Insurance Corporation Limited (APGICL) with a share capital of Rs. 101 crore in view of the agricultural insurance requirements.

The company has implemented insurance for agricultural and horticultural crops identified last year even though it is pending as certain regulations have to be fulfilled. It has released a list of crops that are to be provided insurance based in the yield and weather conditions.

The Yield-based crop insurance claims are settled on the basis of specific crop trials conducted under the auspices of the General Crop Estimation Survey (GCES) while the Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme are claimed on the basis of information provided by either the APSDPS, the IMD identified meteorological stations and the state government zonal level rain gauge stations.

Earlier, the chief minister in June has announced that the government will pay the farmers' share of crop insurance premium under the PMFBY and collect a nominal amount of Re 1 from them. An amount of Rs 596.36 crore has been released to 5.94 lakh farmers after the current government paid the pending state's share of crop insurance premium of Rs 122.61 crore for the 2018-19 rabi season.