Fund for Innovation and Technology (FIAT)

The Central Government has extended two flagship crop insurance schemes — Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) — until the financial year 2025-26. These extensions align the schemes with the 15th Finance Commission period.

• The government also created a separate Fund for Innovation and Technology (FIAT) with a corpus of ₹824.77 crore for technology infusion in the implementation of flagship schemes.

Key Highlights:

• PMFBY and RWBCIS:
  • PMFBY: Provides financial protection to farmers against crop losses due to yield risks.
  • RWBCIS: Addresses weather-related risks affecting crops.
  • Both schemes aim to ensure financial stability for farmers facing unforeseen agricultural losses.
• Fund for Innovation and Technology (FIAT):
  • A dedicated corpus of ₹824.77 crore has been established.
  • FIAT will drive technology adoption in the schemes, enabling faster crop damage assessment, claim settlement, and reduced disputes.
  • Focus areas include:
    • Yield Estimation System using Technology (YES-TECH):
    • Weather Information and Network Data Systems (WINDS): Plans for a fivefold increase in weather data collection density with Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) and Automatic Rain Gauges (ARGs).
• Technology Adoption:
  • YES-TECH:
    • Leverages remote sensing technology for yield estimation. Technology-based estimates carry a minimum weightage of 30%.
    • Nine major States are currently implementing, including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh fully adopting technology-based yield estimation.
    • With the wider implementation of YES-TECH, Crop Cutting Experiments and related issues will be gradually phased out. Under YES-TECH, claim calculation and settlement have been done for 2023-24.
    • Aims to phase out traditional Crop Cutting Experiments.
  • WINDS:
    • Focuses on hyper-local weather data collection.
    • Under WINDS, a five times increase in current network density is envisaged to develop hyper-local weather data.
    • Under the initiative, only data rental costs are payable by Central and State Governments.
    • Nine major States are in the process of implementing WINDS, including Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Puducherry, while other States have also expressed willingness to implement.
    • WINDS could not be implemented by States during 2023-24 (1st year as per EFC) due to various background preparatory and planning work required before tendering.
    • Accordingly, the Union Cabinet has approved 2024-25 as the first year of implementation of WINDS as compared to 2023-24 earlier to give benefit to State Governments with higher central fund sharing in 90:10 ratio.