Access to Crop Insurance as a Vital Risk Management Tool in Indian Agriculture: Addressing Challenges and Ensuring Future Promise for Better Solution

Abstract

With the ushering of globalization era promoting investments in agricultural trade, the study of agricultural risk management has its immense value at present. Its usefulness lies in strengthening national food security and stabilizing farmer’s income under uncertain events ranging from production risks as well as market risks of agricultural commodities. The crop insurance, under although covers production risks but has been linked with as farm income insurance and weather insurance in different countries adopting varied insurance models.The Government’s contribution implementing the programme in response to farmers needs admist socio-economic and geographic relevance plays a significant part. Thus, variation in implementation of crop insurance draws the distinctive line in between developed countries arising from heavily mechanized farming, lesser size of farming community, systematic and planned resource management tracing localized calamities against crop insurance schemes in developing nations where poverty, population explosion, inadequate financial resources acting as hindrance. However, all the countries attempts to satiate their crop insurance domestic support within the green box criteria under the World Trade Organization mandate but apparently it seems that the WTO Rules favor the developed nations.India, post-independence had adopted various National Crop Insurance Schemes. Such Schemes are administered by government and private insurers. Further, crop insurance is linked to credit insurance seeking mandatory participation from the loanee farmers at time of loan grant and voluntary for others. In Indian social milieu, Government under constitutional obligations cherishes the goal of lending social benefits like insurance support to agrarian community but there are inadequacies in administrative and legal aspects making the insurance framework ineffective and non accessible to the beneficiaries. However, the judicial bodies like Courts and Consumer Forums have attempted to solve the disputes as to crop insurance claims. Still, there is much room left for progress in this arena and better solutions for farmer friendly crop insurance can be possible by incorporating innovative cross border insurance techniques.The present research paper based on doctrinal method of policy orientation attempts to discuss the aforesaid issues and tries to find justifiable solution while engaging a comparative study with help of website based research articles.This paper focuses on Hypothesis - For successful implementation of crop insurance programme in India along with Public-Private Participation, decentralized risk bearing mechanism and farmer friendly regulating environment must be ensured.It attempts to bring out following Research Objectives- (1) To analyze the relevance of crop insurance within the World Trade Organization Framework.(2) To bring out a picture of comparative crop insurance in countries like US, Spain and Netherlands.(3) To critically analyze the crop insurance scenario and weather insurance in India with reference too few cases.(4) To discuss the future panacea for a farmer friendly crop insurance programme.Realizing the relevance of the crop insurance in agricultural law, the present research paper has been classified under various chapters for a systematic analysis of the issues.