Karnataka Raitha Suraksha Pradhana Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana

What is Karnataka Raitha Suraksha Pradhana Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana?

Karnataka Raitha Suraksha Pradhana Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana is the crop insurance programme of the Karnataka Department of Agriculture (KSDA). The state runs the national Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana under this local name, and delivers it through a dedicated software platform called Samrakshane, hosted at samrakshane.karnataka.gov.in and built by the National Informatics Centre in Bengaluru.

The Department of Agriculture lists the scheme on raitamitra.karnataka.gov.in under "Services and Schemes", and the departmental introduction notes that Samrakshane covers both PMFBY and the Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme, that it enables direct compensation payouts to farmers, and that it had completed twelve insurance seasons. The portal's season selector currently carries insurance years from 2016-17 through 2026-27, and in August 2026 its notice board showed "Enrolment for Khariff 2026 is OPEN".

An important clarification first, because the name causes confusion. Karnataka Raitha Suraksha Pradhana Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana insures crops, not people. It is not a personal accident cover, and it does not pay a lump sum on the death or disability of a farmer. Karnataka handles farmer accident relief through separate departmental provisions; do not apply here for that.

What the scheme is designed to do

• Pay compensation when a notified crop in a notified insurance unit yields less than the threshold yield fixed for that unit.
• Cover prevented sowing, mid-season adversity, localised calamities such as hailstorm, landslide, inundation and cloudburst, and post-harvest losses for crops left to dry in the field.
• Keep the farmer's own premium low by capping it and letting the state and central governments share the rest.
• Stabilise farm income so that a failed season does not push a household to a private moneylender.

Who is eligible for Raitha Suraksha crop insurance?

You can enrol if:

• You cultivate a notified crop in a notified insurance unit of Karnataka. Each season the state notifies crops village-by-village or hobli-by-hobli, and the Samrakshane portal will not accept a crop that is not notified for your area.
• You are the owner-cultivator with the survey number in your RTC, or a tenant farmer or sharecropper who can produce a valid tenancy or sharecropping document.
• You complete Aadhaar authentication on the portal and give a bank account for the claim payout.
• You enrol before the cut-off date notified for that crop and season.

You cannot apply or are not eligible if:

• The crop you grow is not notified for your village or hobli in that season.
• You try to enrol after the notified cut-off date. Samrakshane closes enrolment automatically and there is no late window.
• You want cover for a loss already visible on the ground; insurance must be bought before the risk period begins, not after damage.
• You are seeking personal accident, life or livestock cover. Those are different schemes.
• The land record does not support the area declared, or the same survey number and crop has already been insured by another person for the same season.

Since kharif 2020 the scheme has been voluntary for every farmer, including those who have taken a crop loan. A loanee farmer who does not want cover must give the financing bank a written opt-out at least seven days before the cut-off date; otherwise the bank is entitled to debit the premium and enrol the account.

How much premium does a farmer pay, and what is covered?

Under the guidelines Karnataka follows, the farmer's share of the premium is capped:

The insurance company quotes an actuarial premium through competitive bidding for each cluster of districts. Whatever that rate is, the farmer pays only the capped percentage above and the balance is shared by the Government of Karnataka and the Government of India.

The sum insured is fixed per hectare for each notified crop and insurance unit, and it is normally equal to the scale of finance for that crop. Your payout can never exceed the sum insured for the area you actually insured, which is why declaring the correct extent matters.

Risks covered

• Prevented or failed sowing, where a deficit monsoon stops sowing altogether in the notified unit.
• Standing crop loss from drought, dry spells, flood, inundation, pests and disease, landslide, natural fire and lightning, storm, hailstorm, cyclone and tornado.
• Post-harvest losses for up to two weeks for crops kept in cut-and-spread condition in the field.
• Localised calamities such as hailstorm, landslide, inundation, cloudburst and natural fire hitting isolated farms.

Risks excluded

War and nuclear risk, malicious damage, theft, damage by domestic or wild animals, and losses arising from the farmer's own negligence are not payable.

What documents are required for Raitha Suraksha enrolment?

How to apply for Raitha Suraksha crop insurance

1. Check the notification for your season on samrakshane.karnataka.gov.in or at your Raitha Samparka Kendra, and confirm that your crop is notified for your village or hobli and what the cut-off date is.
2. Open samrakshane.karnataka.gov.in, select the insurance year and the season, Kharif, Rabi or Summer — from the home screen.
3. Choose the farmer enrolment option and complete Aadhaar authentication.
4. Enter your district, taluk, hobli, village, survey number and the extent you want to insure, then select the notified crop.
5. Attach the land record, sowing declaration and bank details, and where you are a tenant, the tenancy document.
6. Pay the farmer's share of the premium online, or at the bank or service centre if you are enrolling through them.
7. Save or print the acknowledgement with the proposal number. This number is what you will use to check status and to follow a claim.

How to enrol offline

1. Visit your financing bank branch, a Raitha Samparka Kendra, a Common Service Centre or a Grama One centre with your Aadhaar card, RTC and bank passbook.
2. Give the operator your survey number, crop and area, and let them complete the Samrakshane entry and Aadhaar authentication.
3. Pay the capped farmer premium and collect the printed acknowledgement before you leave. Check that the crop name, survey number and area on it are correct.

How to check enrolment and claim status

1. Open samrakshane.karnataka.gov.in and select the same insurance year and season you enrolled in.
2. Use the farmer status option and search with your proposal or application number, Aadhaar number or mobile number.
3. The linked Samrakshane reports site publishes village-level enrolment and claim statistics if you want to see whether payouts have been released for your unit at all.

If a payout has been announced for your insurance unit but your account has not been credited, the usual causes are a wrong IFSC, a closed or dormant account, or an Aadhaar-name mismatch at the bank.

Why crop insurance claims get rejected in Karnataka

• Enrolled after the cut-off date, or the crop was never notified for that village.
• Crop declared does not match the crop actually sown, which surfaces during crop-cutting experiments or the crop survey.
• Localised or post-harvest loss reported after 72 hours, so no individual assessment could be made.
• Area insured is larger than the RTC extent, so the excess is disallowed.
• Bank details wrong, which delays rather than defeats the claim; correct them at the bank and at the Raitha Samparka Kendra.
• Duplicate insurance on the same survey number and crop by two people.

Key dates to watch

Karnataka notifies crop-wise cut-off dates separately for each season. Kharif cut-offs typically fall in the monsoon sowing window, rabi cut-offs in the post-monsoon window, and summer crops have their own notification. Because the dates differ by crop and district, treat the notification on samrakshane.karnataka.gov.in as the only authority; a date circulating on social media for a neighbouring district may not apply to you.

Help and grievance redressal

• Raitha Call Centre: 1800 425 3553 or 8277003553, published by the Department of Agriculture on raitamitra.karnataka.gov.in.
• Raitha Samparka Kendra at your hobli, which is the department's front-line extension office.
• Joint Director of Agriculture at the district office for disputes over notification, sum insured or claim assessment.
• The empanelled insurance company for that district cluster, whose name and contact are printed on the season's notification.

Enrolment on Samrakshane is done at the notified premium only. No agent can charge you an extra fee to "get your crop insured", and no official will ask for your Aadhaar OTP over the phone.