crop insurance Archives

Centre asks insurance companies to reduce piling up of consumer cases

February 21, 2023

The Consumer Affairs Ministry, at a meeting with stakeholders in the insurance sector including the IRDAI, flagged key concerns to reduce the number of pending cases at various consumer commissions. Some of the issues that were flagged by the Centre included ambiguity in terms of insurance policies, repudiation of health insurance claims due to pre-existing diseases, lack of information regarding eligibility conditions for insurance policies besides issues regarding crop insurance.

Speaking to mediapersons, Rohit Singh, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs said, “We analysed the cases that are pending in various consumer commissions. Out of the 5.78 lakh pending cases, nearly 1.61 lakh pertain to the insurance sector. This indicates that there is a systemic issue and the deliberations were held to discuss measures to address key consumer concerns.”

He said simplification of the insurance documents is required so that consumers can better understand the terms and conditions especially regarding exclusions and inclusions.

Pointing to health insurance policies, Singh said that pre-existing disease disclosure conditions are often not properly understood by consumers leading to rejection of claims. The Ministry officials also raised concerns about lack of awareness among consumers regarding crop insurance rules which are linked with government schemes.

Authorised personnel

“One of the key concerns discussed was also the fact that often the representatives of insurance companies delegated for mediation and out-of-court-settlement proceedings, are not empowered to make decisions. We have asked insurance companies to ensure their representatives are authorised to make such decisions so that such cases can be resolved in a timely manner,” Singh explained.

The Ministry also raised concerns regarding quality of engagement of intermediaries or agents with consumers. “Often the agents and intermediaries, do not give consumers complete information when selling the insurance policies,” he added.

“During the deliberations it was suggested that technology tools

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UP govt launches special drive to provide crop insurance to farmers

July 5, 2022

The Uttar Pradesh government will be launching a special drive to provide insurance coverage to farmers against potential crop damage.

The drive, slated to begin from the first week of July by the agriculture department, will be flagged off by Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi.

It will cover those development blocks which have lower farm insurance coverage under the Centre’s ambitious PM Crop Insurance Scheme (PMCIS).

According to UP government sources, till date, compensation of Rs 3,074.6 crore has been deposited in the accounts of 27.5 lakh farmers in UP under PMCIS.

This includes payment of crop compensation of Rs 654.8 crore to over 7 lakh farmers in Kharif season 2021. In Rabi 2021-22, an area of 14.2 lakh hectares has been insured by 19.9 lakh farmers.

According to a directive issued by additional chief secretary, agriculture, Devesh Chaturvedi, the drive would cover selected development blocks in the eight aspirational districts – Bahraich (Risia block), Shravasti (Sirsia), Balrampur (Utraula), Siddharth Nagar (Latan), Fatehpur (Bijaipur), Chitrakoot (Ramnagar) and Chandauli (Niyamtabad).

The value of damage incurred to crops in UP is more than doubled between 2018-19 and 2019-20, as per Union agriculture ministry data.

Prepared on the basis of state-wise business statistics as on August 31 last year, the data shows that the reported crop loss claims shot up from around Rs 470 crore in 2018-19 to over Rs 1,116 crore in 2019-20.

As against the claimed loss, the paid claims amounted to Rs 1,092 crore in 2019-20 as against around Rs 40 crore in 2018-19. The number of farmers who benefitted from the PMCIS rose from 6 lakhs in 2018-19 to over 9 lakhs in 2019-20, the data shows.

Sources said farmers‘ participation in the crop insurance scheme

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Montana Ag Network: Importance of crop insurance

July 5, 2022

SUNBURST – After extreme weather conditions have troubled Montanans over the past few years, farmers and insurance agencies across the state stress how critical it is for farmers to acquire crop insurance.

According to the MSU Extension Office, nearly 62% of Montana is farmland. As parts of the state continue to experience drought-like conditions, the need for crop insurance has increased as low crop yields and fire danger become more probable.

Gary Hielig Jr., Senior VP at Rain and Hail Insurance, oversees the crop insurance claims of 7 different states. He noted that last year “Montana was ranked with the highest loss ratio of all states. There was $566 million of claims paid out in the state of Montana last year through different approved insurance providers.”

Hielig stated that around 90% of eligible US farmland is insured.

“They paid their premiums in the years where they did have losses and the program worked really well for them in the year they did have claims so it’s doing what it intended to do,” he said.

Crop insurance helps protect farmers if they have a low crop yield or when the price of their crop is low. Farmers pay a premium and protection will be provided on a corresponding level, much like other insurance. This helps ensure survival of the farm business as their profit is protected.

Nate Aschim, a fourth-generation farmer, commented on the value of crop insurance in his own agricultural community of Sunburst, “with the way the weather’s been the last few years I think a lot of guys would’ve been up against it or have had to fold the tents probably without insurance.”

Korey Fauque of KW Insurance backs this claim up. He noted that out of 300 different farmers, all but a handful paid out

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Special drive in UP to provide crop insurance to farmers

July 5, 2022

Published: Published Date – 09:57 AM, Wed – 29 June 22

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government will be launching a special drive to provide insurance coverage to farmers against potential crop damage.