Relief for farmers—wild animal attack, paddy inundation included under ‘Localised Risk’ cover

In a major relief benefit to farmers, the Centre has recognised the modalities for covering crop loss due to wild animal attacks and paddy inundation under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). Under the revised framework, crop loss due to wild animal attack will now be recognised as the fifth add-on cover under the ‘Localised Risk’ category, officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare said.

States will notify the list of wild animals responsible for crop damage and identify vulnerable districts or insurance units based on historical data, and farmers will be required to report losses within 72 hours using the Crop Insurance App by uploading geotagged photographs, they added.

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The decisions are in response to long-standing requests from several states and are aimed at strengthening protection for farmers against sudden, localised, and severe crop damage. The modalities have been prepared in accordance with the PMFBY Operational Guidelines, ensuring a scientific, transparent, and operationally feasible framework for implementation nationwide, and will be rolled out from Kharif 2026.

Paddy inundation was removed from the localised calamity category in 2018 due to concerns about moral hazard and the difficulty of assessing submerged crops. However, its exclusion led to a significant protection gap for farmers in districts prone to seasonal flooding. Reintroducing it as ‘Localised Calamity Cover’ under PMFBY will especially benefit farmers in coastal and flood-prone states, including Odisha, Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Uttarakhand, where paddy submergence is a recurring challenge.

The coverage is also expected to significantly benefit farmers in states with high human–wildlife conflict, including Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, as well as the Himalayan and North-Eastern States such as Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Sikkim, and Himachal Pradesh, where incidents of wild animal depredation are frequent and widespread.

“For years, farmers across India have suffered increasing crop losses due to attacks by wild animals such as elephants, wild boars, nilgai, deer, and monkeys. These incidents are particularly common in regions situated near forests, wildlife corridors, and hilly terrains. Until now, such losses often went uncompensated, as they were not covered under crop insurance. At the same time, paddy farmers in flood-prone and coastal States have been repeatedly affected by inundation during heavy rains and overflowing waterways,” according to officials