The Narendra Modi headed Union Cabinet in its first meeting for the calendar year of 2025 okayed the extension of the PM Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and the Restructured Weather-Based Crop Insurance Scheme. An amount of ₹69,515 crore has been proposed for PMFBY under which crop risk of farmers have been provided for natural calamities till 2025-26.
Besides, the Cabinet cleared the creation of the Fund for Innovation and Technology (FIAT) which will have a corpus of ₹824.77 crore. Table 1 shows that under the insurance scheme, FIAT intends to finance technological development proposals and related research including; Yield Estimation System using Technology (YES-TECH) and Weather Information and Network Data systems (WINDS).
YES-TECH: Technology-based Yield Estimation
Remote sensing technology is used in YES-TECH to make approximations of yields with at least 30 percent technical sources. This programme is currently implemented in nine states which are Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Haryana, UP, MP and the later fully embracing technology based yield estimation. Crop Cutting Experiments are assumed to be easing out while claims and settlement will be faster.
WINDS: Hyperlocal Weather Data
The technology applied by WINDS is AWS at block level and ARGs at the panchayat level. This undertaking seeks to increase the current network density five-fold, providing saturated, precise weather information. While some of them such as Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh are actively using WINDS, there are others that are in the process of adoption.
These are developments that represent a major stake towards application of technology in agricultural improvement, as well as reducing farmers’ risks. Government priority on innovative and modernization approach is furthering the development of better experiences for the agricultural insurance for farmers across the country.
