Govt has asked states to increase the crop insurance coverage to 40% in 2017-18 (Jul-Jun) kharif season from 30% a year ago. Earlier, coverage of crop insurance scheme was 20% and under the new prime minister’s crop insurance scheme it increased to 30% in last kharif season. Earlier, non-loanee farmers would not opt for crop insurance due to higher premiums and lower risks, as banks would cut premiums only for those farmers who would take credit from them. When the new Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana was introduced, around 7.5 mln non-loanee farmers had insured their crops, while earlier just 1.5 mln farmers had shown interest in crop insurance. The new scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Feb 18, 2016, and envisages a uniform premium of only 2% to be paid by farmers for kharif crops, and 1.5% for rabi crops.