To protect farmers from vagaries of weather, the Haryana Government has awarded contracts to three general insurance companies, namely Reliance General Insurance, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance and ICICI Lombard to provide crop insurance coverage to the farming community in the current kharif season under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY). The state government has initiated the process and soon a notification will be issued for the implementation of the scheme. For the current kharif season, the state government has notified four crops, namely cotton, paddy, bajra and maize. As per the scheme, the sum assured for paddy crop has been fixed at Rs 62,500 per hectare, cotton (Rs 60,000), bajra (Rs 27,500) and maize (Rs 25,000 per hectare). For the effective implementation of the scheme, the state has been divided into three clusters and each insurance company has been assigned a particular cluster. According to the state government, Cluster-1 comprises Panchkula, Kurukshetra, Faridabad, Kaithal, Sirsa, Bhiwani and Rewari. Under Cluster-2, Ambala, Karnal, Sonepat, Hisar, Jind, Mohindergarh, Gurgaon has been designated. Further, Yamunanagar, Panipat, Palwal, Rohtak, Fatehabad, Jhajjar, Mewat will come under Cluster-3. The scheme is open both for loanee and non-loanee farmers with July 31 as the last date for the deposit of the premium. In case of loanee farmers, it is mandatory for the banks to bring them under the ambit of PMFBY. If the banks fail to do so, then in case there is crop loss to a loanee farmer who is not insured, the bank will have to make good the losses. The premium paid by farmers would be reduced to 2% of the insured value for the more rain-dependent kharif crop and 1.5% for the rabi season, compared with 3.5-8% under the previous schemes. Source - http://www.tribuneindia.com