About 46% population directly or indirectly depends on the agriculture sector. Crop insurance is a crucial and key issue for the survival of agriculture. The unpredictability of agricultural yields and products often results in windfall losses making the lives of farmers debt-ridden and pathetic. The economic decisions involved in agriculture are massive and need to be recognized as such. Crop insurance is directly linked with the security of farmers in India. For instance, students of economics are familiar with the COBWEB theorem. A farmer has to take the decision to produce a particular crop minimum of six months before marketing so assurance of minimum support price is a must in agriculture. Every industry can increase or decrease its production according to the demand in the market but a farmer can not as he has sown the crop six months before, it reaches to market and the standard law of demand and supply of Dr Marshall does not work in food production. A farmer never knows what will be market and weather conditions in the coming next 5 to six months. The Cobweb theorem describes this dilemma of a farmer. How the market forces and nature play a major role in deciding the price of agricultural products as two third of total land has no irrigation facilities in our country. A farmer can be ruined because of a lack of demand and low prices. Even plenty of production can also ruin him when the price falls because of more production when supply surpasses demand and the equilibrium price falls. This is called poverty in prosperity in economics. Even the developed capitalist economies, where free markets supposedly rule, highly subsidize their farming communities. As agriculture depends on nature and undoubtedly is a risky occupation and this discourage farmer to invest and he rarely thinks of making agriculture a profession.  has done a cost-benefit analysis of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana(newly launched crop insurance scheme by the Central Government) implemented in every state of India, in collaboration of with the respective state. The agricultural sector performs a vital role in developing the Indian economy and it can be considered the backbone of the industry and service sector. The agricultural sector still depends upon the weather and climate conditions, which is always uncertain and unpredictable. Crop insurance is one of the ways through which farmers may be protected from the financial loss of their crops against natural disasters.

In Haryana, the first crop insurance scheme was introduced in 2004 during the Kharif season [4] through the Agriculture Insurance Company (AIC). The government of Haryana adopted this National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) with the collaboration of Govt. of India. A new scheme was introduced in 2009 in Haryana on a pilot basis known as the Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS). In 2011, a new scheme named Modified National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (MNAIS) was started. Finally, the Government of Haryana implemented the central-sponsored scheme Pradhan Minister Fasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY) in 2016. It replaces all the previous schemes. we conclude that only a few schemes are implemented in Haryana state from India’s various schemes from time to time. Here, the need arises to assess the performance of various crop insurance schemes in Haryana.

 The studies should be done to evaluate the performance of the crop insurance schemes implemented in Haryana. only a few schemes are implemented in Haryana in comparison to other states of India. The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana performs better continuously and proves beneficial for the farmers of Haryana. As a policy implication, policymakers should frame a provision of no claim bonus for the farmers.

In 2016 Prime Minister launched a new crop insurance scheme that replaces all of India’s prevailing yield crop insurance schemes by giving the slogan of ‘One Nation One Scheme’. In Haryana, PMFBY was implemented in Kharif 2016 for cotton, paddy, bajra, and maize and in Rabi 2016-17 for wheat, barley, mustard, and gram. This scheme was based on the area approach. This scheme was compulsory for loanee farmers and voluntary for non-loanee farmers. Under this scheme, premium rates are 1.5 per cent for Kharif, 2 per cent for rabi, and 5 per cent for horticultural crops. The major difference between the PMFBY and the previous crop insurance scheme is that the premium rate under the PMFBY scheme is reduced and expands coverage of crops. This scheme was a more farmers-friendly provision that used advanced technology to estimate the losses accurately and make the payment on time to the farmers.

Dr.Harvinder Kaur, Associate Professor in Economics, Ambala, views are personal