Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has asked the government to find out the reasons for the failure of Agricultural Insurance Company of India Ltd (AIC) to comply with the guidelines under National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS), which was scrapped in 2015-16.
It also recommended action against erring officials as ₹21,989.24 crore liabilities of Centre and States could have been saved through reinsurance.
The Centre had introduced the Comprehensive Crop Insurance Scheme (CCIS) in 1985, which was replaced by NAIS from Rabi season 1999 -2000. Again from 2010-11, Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS) was introduced in 50 districts as pilot.
In 2013-14, MNAIS was merged with Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS) and a new National Crop Insurance Programme (NCIP) started. However, NAIS was allowed to be continued in some States, as per their option, until 2015-16.
From Kharif season 201516, the Centre introduced the flagship Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), the PAC report said.
The Comprehensive Crop Insurance Scheme (CCIS) launched in 1985 was the first nation-wide Scheme.
Previous Schemes were either experimental or Pilot Projects, on a small scale and in a scattered manner.
This scheme was linked to short-term credit and was based on the ‘homogenous area approach.
The National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS), with the aim to increase coverage of farmers, crops and risk commitment, was introduced in the country from Rabi 1999-2000 replacing the erstwhile Comprehensive Crop Insurance Scheme (CCIS).
To make the Crop Insurance Schemes more farmer friendly, a restructured Central Sector Scheme in the name of ‘National Crop Insurance Programme’ (NCIP) was introduced from Rabi 2013-14.
The existing MNAIS, WBCIS and CPIS were merged under this programme with various improvements and changes for implementation throughout the country.
However, on the basis of requests received, some States have been allowed to implement NAIS during Rabi 2013-14
