The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare has provided an update on the implementation of technology-driven initiatives for agricultural and crop insurance purposes. The Weather Information Network and Data System (WINDS) initiative aims to develop a national network of Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) and Automatic Rain Gauges (ARGs) to generate long-term hyperlocal weather data for crop insurance, agriculture advisories, and disaster risk resilience. As of the report, WINDS has been adopted by 7 States/UTs (Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Odisha, Puducherry, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand) with 16,843 sites approved for installation, civil work completed at 1,188 sites, and 892 AWS/ARGs already installed.
The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) incorporates the Yield Estimation System based on Technology (YES-TECH) for objective crop damage and loss assessment, implemented from Kharif 2023. YES-TECH mandates a 30% weightage to remote sensing-based yield estimation for paddy and wheat from Kharif 2023 and for soybean from Kharif 2024. In 2025-26, YES-TECH was implemented in 12 states across 344 districts, with varying adoption levels: Madhya Pradesh assigned 100% weightage, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh 50%, and Odisha and Karnataka 40%.
For timely claim settlement under PMFBY, the government has implemented several measures: development of the National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP) as a single data source; operationalization of the 'Digiclaim Module' from Kharif 2022 for payment processing; automatic levy of a 12% penalty on insurance companies for delayed payments from Kharif 2024; delinking of Central and State government premium subsidies; a 12% penalty on State governments for delayed subsidy release from Kharif 2025; mandatory ESCROW accounts for State governments from Kharif 2025; and mandatory use of the Crop Loss Assessment App (CLAP) for all states/UTs to assess localized calamities and post-harvest losses. Additional technological steps include capturing yield data via the CCE-Agri App, allowing insurance companies to witness Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs), and integrating state land records with NCIP.