Crop Insurance Scam: Rs 122 Cr Fraud in Rajasthan

Jaipur, Oct 17 (PTI) Rajasthan Agriculture Minister Kirodi Lal Meena on Friday claimed that a massive crop insurance scam worth around Rs 122 crore has been uncovered under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) after it was found that claims of over 1.7 lakh farmers were shown as "zero" despite crop damage.

Talking to reporters in Sriganganagar, Meena said that during 2023 and 2024 crop seasons, around 1.7 lakh farmers had submitted individual crop loss claims online under the central insurance scheme.

"Despite the reported crop loss, the insurance company marked all these claims as zero," he said.

"Upon verification, signatures of farmers and agriculture department officials were found to be forged. It is now evident that no actual field survey was conducted, and the insurance company manipulated records to misappropriate funds," the minister alleged.

He said the total value of these individual claims stood at around Rs 100 crore, which was fraudulently shown as settled through fake documentation.

In addition, claims worth Rs 22 crore from 1,800 farmers who had submitted offline applications for the Kharif 2023 season were also found to have similar irregularities.

Meena said that the department has so far examined 32,000 claim forms, of which more than 30,000 have been found to be forged. "This is a serious case of cheating farmers and manipulating official records," he said.

The verification committee for individual crop insurance claims included a farmer representative and an agriculture department official, both of whose signatures were found to be falsified.

"This clearly shows that no genuine survey was carried out," Meena said.

The minister added that all affected farmers will be compensated as per the department's standard operating procedure (SOP), and an FIR will be registered against the insurance company to ensure strict legal action.