ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company has been given the mandate to provide weather-based crop insurance for rabi season (2010-11) in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar,Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh. The insurance company will cover 69 districts — 30 loanee districts (farmers who have taken loans) and 39 non-loanee districts. The major crops that ICICI Lombard covers for the season are winter paddy, cotton, wheat, mustard, barley, maize, onion, potato, tomato, lentil, peas, arhar, jowar, fenugreek, coriander, cumin, methi, isabgol, brinjal among other crops. Weather-based crop insurance provides cover against weather-related risks such as excess or deficit rainfall, variations in temperature and fluctuations in humidity. This scheme facilitates immediate compensation based on certified data collected from independent third party bodies such as Indian Meteorological Department ( IMD ) and National Collateral Management Services Ltd. ( NC...