251
areas/ crops to all farmers/ small & marginal farmers. State Government of
West Bengal decided to bear 100% premium apart from usual premium subsidy
in Rabi 2011-12, while Andaman & Nicobar Islands administration decided to
follow the same in Kharif 2011 and Rabi 2011-12 seasons.
The NAIS is operational for states/UTs, but considering the importance
of the scheme for farmers, 25 states out of 29 and 2 UTs have joined the
scheme. The four states not joining the scheme are Punjab, Arunachal Prades,
Manipur and Nagaland, giving varied reasons
28
.
There are two novel aspects of the scheme which have contributed to
its success. First, the scheme has been made mandatory for bank borrowers
as a result of which the selection process does not give any chance for
discrimination; at the same time, the insurance business gets automatically
pooled and ensures “the uninterrupted participation of farmers both in
good and bad years” (Nair, Reshmy, February 2010, p.19). Second, given the
practically impossible situation of implementing the scheme on an individual
basis, the NAIS has chosen to operate the scheme with the second best method
of an “Area Approach”, that is, defined homogenous area for each notified crop
considered as an insurance unit. Twelve state governments and two UTs have
reduced the insurance unit to
Gram Panchayat
as in the case of the modified
NAIS from the initially adopted level of Mandal/Block/Tehsil/Taluka/District.
An Assessment of the NAIS
During the past 25 seasons, beginning from Rabi 1999-2000 till Rabi
2011-12, 192.94 million farmers have been covered for a sum insured of
`
25,531 crore and cultivating area of 291.50 million hectares; the total amount
of claims of
`
24,528 crore at a claim-premium ratio of 359% benefitting of
50.56 million farmers. Over 26% of the insured farmers have received claims.
The share of the non-loanee farmers is said to be around 25%. The claims-
premium ratio has varied from a low of 142% in 1999-2000 to a maximum of
7.66% in 2003-04.
Nair, Reshmy (February 2010) has reported that more than 60% of the
farmers, who have benefitted under food crops and oilseeds, belong to the
small and marginal category (operating less than 2 hectares). Given their lower
28
Though Mizoram has been notified during kharif 2009, statistics reveal that there has been
no business from the state so far. These four states have not joined NAIS and have extended
different reasons for the same. While north-eastern states were interested in covering perennial
horticultural crops under NAIS, Punjab was not interested in the multi-peril crop insurance
based on area approach.
