India, Aug. 20 -- For farmer Makhan Singh Mewada, the 2025 kharif season ended long before harvest time. A combination of unseasonal rains and animal attacks destroyed more than a third of the soya bean he had sown on his 2-hectare field in Khamaliya village, located in Madhya Pradesh's Sehore district.

Mewada, who also grows wheat, garlic and onion on the field, hoped to recover at least a part of what he had lost from the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)-the Union government's flagship crop insurance scheme. But the compensation he was counting on remains out of reach. Even a year after submitting his claim, Mewada has no update from the insurer and no payment in hand. As a new kharif season begins, the farmer questions whether...