Over 4.8 crore farmers have been covered under the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) during the last 3 years. Out of them 3.2 crore farmers were small and marginal farmers.National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) was implemented from Rabi 1999-2000 season and remained under implementation till Kharif 2013 season in the country. The scheme was voluntary for the States and was implemented by 25 States and 2 Union Territories in one or more seasons. The Punjab Government had not opted for the scheme in any season.

According to provision of the scheme, the admissible claims are worked out based on yield data arrived from requisite number of Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) as submitted by the State Governments. Normally, Agriculture Insurance Company of India Ltd. (AIC) which is the Implementing Agency of NAIS, processes the admissible claims within one month after the receipt of yield data from the concerned State Government. Claims if any, are paid immediately thereafter provided the share of funds of the Central and State Government have been received by the AIC. However, sometimes, due to discrepancies in yield data, legal cases etc. settlement of claims are delayed and requests from the States/farming community for early settlement of the claims are received. Under such circumstances the matters are promptly referred to the Implementing Agency (i.e. AIC) for taking urgent action and as far as possible, all the complaints are suitably addressed wherever feasible.At the beginning of each financial year, State Governments have been requested to make adequate budgetary provisions for the crop insurance. State Government has also been requested to release their share towards premium/claims to expedite the settlement of claims. Continued efforts are made to create awareness about crop insurance schemes by the implementing agencies in coordination with implementing states. The salient activities under awareness campaign, involve the publicity of features & benefits of the scheme through advertisements in leading National/local News Papers, telecast through audio-visual media, distribution of pamphlets, participation in agriculture fairs/mela/gosti and organization of workshops/trainings etc. For making National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) more farmers’ friendly, some provisions have further been modified and a Modified NAIS has been launched for implementation on full-fledged basis as one of the components of National Crop Insurance Programme (NCIP) and NAIS has been rolled back from Rabi 2013-14. Under MNAIS, on account payment 25% of likely claims is being paid in advance to eligible farmers. Private insurance companies have also been allowed in implementation of the scheme to facilitate better service delivery to farmers.

Source - http://pib.nic.in/