Role and Utility of Crop Insurance in the Agricultural Economic Development

Agricultural production and farm incomes in India are frequently affected by natural disasters such as droughts, floods, cyclones, storms, landslides and earthquakes. There are man-made disasters such as fire, sale of spurious seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, price crashes, etc. All these events severely affect farmers through loss in production and farm income and are beyond the control of farmers. Crop insurance is one of the most important alternatives to manage such type of risks by the farmers. Government of India has launched several schemes such as National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS), Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS) Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS), National Crop Insurance Programme (NCIP) and latest launched Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) for the benefits of farmers. The study concludes with the recommendations that there is a strong need of the hour to educate rural people with regards to Insurance as a concept and as a product. Although Insurance is the subject matter of solicitation, unprofessional practices are prevalent in India. The innocent people are cheated by unscrupulous advisors who do not explain the benefits of the policy to the buyers of the product. Claims are either delayed or denied by the companies leading to distrust amongst the common people. The complaints and grievances of customers must be redressed so that the trust of the people is not lost. The study in this article also suggests for designing policies especially for the rural people rather than selling the same Polices which are sold to the urban people.