Jaipur, July 24 -- The share of farmland in Rajasthan insured under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) - the Centre's flagship crop insurance scheme - has declined for the fifth consecutive year despite the state's cropped area remaining largely unchanged, official data tabled in the Lok Sabha shows. The figures shared by the Union agriculture ministry, in reply to a question from members of Parliament Rahul Kaswan and Brijendra Singh Ola, shows that the proportion of Rajasthan's gross cropped area insured under PMFBY has fallen every year for five straight years - from 39% in 2021-22 to 36% in 2025-26. In absolute terms, insured area has dropped from 107.10 lakh hectares to 101.50 lakh hectares, even though the state's total sown area has held roughly steady at 275-282 lakh hectares throughout the period. A district-wise analysis of official data shows that the decline in crop insurance coverage is widespread across Rajasthan rather than confined to a few regions. Since 2021-22, the share of insured cropped area has fallen in 23 of the state's 33 districts, while only 10 districts have recorded an increase. The sharpest declines were reported in Bundi and Jaisalmer, where coverage dropped by 19 percentage points each over five years. They were followed by Bikaner (down 16 percentage points), Bhilwara (down 15 percentage points), and Chittorgarh and Kota (down 13 percentage points each). Among the districts that registered improvements, Nagaur recorded the highest increase, rising by 16 percentage points to 47% coverage, while Jodhpur improved by 14 percentage points to 43%. The statewide picture highlights the extent of the decline in coverage. In 2025-26, only two of Rajasthan's 33 districts - Barmer (69%) and Churu (77%) - insured more than half of their cropped area under PMFBY. In contrast, 17 districts, accounting for over half the state, recorded insurance coverage of less than 30% of cropped area. These included Dholpur (5%), Karauli (7%), Dausa (9%), and Banswara, Rajsamand and Sirohi (12% each). Several other districts, including Jhunjhunu (42%) - one of the constituencies referred to in the Lok Sabha question - remained in the 20-45% coverage range, with little change over the past five years. Even as insured area declined or remained stagnant, farmer enrolment under the scheme increased. The number of enrolled farmers rose to 6.25 million in 2025-26 from about 5.4 million in 2024-25, an increase of nearly 900,000 farmers despite the reduction in the total insured area. Over the five years to 2025-26, Rajasthan's farmers, the state government and the Centre together paid Rs.26,757.56 crore in premiums - Rs.4,650.78 crore from farmers, Rs.11,253.68 crore from the state exchequer and Rs.10,853.10 crore from the Centre. Against this, insurance companies paid out Rs.18,189.16 crore in claims - leaving a gap of more than Rs.8,568 crore, close to a third of all premium collected in the state, that was never returned to farmers as compensation. Rajasthan's claims bill is nonetheless the second-highest of any state, behind only Maharashtra's Rs.27,538.13 crore, and the state accounts for by far the largest number of applications nationally - 1,881.54 lakh over five years, close to 30% of the countrywide total of 6,306.32 lakh applications, and more than double the next-highest state, Madhya Pradesh. The government's reply also rules out any additional central support for crop insurance schemes run independently by state governments. Asked whether the Centre extends financial assistance to such schemes, the minister's answer was direct: central premium subsidy flows only through PMFBY and the Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS), and no assistance is provided for any other state-run crop insurance programme. On claim rejections, the government said all applications are screened for insurable interest, proof of land ownership or tenancy, and matching of insured and Aadhaar-linked farmer details, with non-compliant applications liable to rejection - though district-wise rejection figures were not furnished in the reply. Rajasthan agriculture minister Kirodi Lal Meena said the sole objective of both the state government and the Centre is to ensure farmers benefit from the scheme. He said all efforts are being made to ensure farmers receive their dues and that the scheme is further strengthened. Commenting on it, president of Kissan Mahapanchayat, Ram Pal Jat, said, "We have been continuously saying the scheme has been designed to benefit insurance companies, not farmers." "Even today, farmers are not receiving insurance benefits on time and are forced to keep running from pillar to post to get their claims settled," he said....