The Tea Board of India has formed a working group to investigate the details of a weather-based crop insurance plan, proposed under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) by the department of agriculture and farmers’ welfare.

According to the Tea Board’s announcement, the first meeting of this working group will take place on 16 July at its office in Kolkata.

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The deputy chairman of the Board, Sourav Pahari has stated that representatives from major tea-producing states have been nominated by their respective state governments to be part of this group.

However, it should be noted that the West Bengal government has not yet chosen their representative, so only 10 out of 11 members may attend the first meeting on 16 July.

One exception is Bijoy Gopal Chakraborty from north Bengal, who has been nominated by the Tea Board due to his position as president of the Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers Association (CISTA), sources said.

The head of this working group is director S Soudararajan. Additionally, representatives from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Assam have been nominated by their state governments: J Venkataramanan as deputy director for agriculture crop insurance, Ms Meena T D as additional director for agriculture division, and Ms Rumi Goswami as director for agriculture.

The working group has been joined by high-ranking individuals from the fields of general insurance, agricultural insurance, and banking.

The purpose of this committee is to draft proposals based on input from growers and industry, assess previous efforts towards crop insurance coverage and any obstacles encountered, examine international experiences with crop insurance coverage, and prepare for implementing this scheme.