PM to speak on initiatives for farmers on Thursday

New Delhi, Feb 17: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a farmers' rally in Madhya Pradesh tomorrow, highlighting the government's initiatives for the development of the agriculture sector and welfare of the agriculturists, including the recently-announced Crop Insurance Scheme.

During the 'Kisan Kalyan Mela' at Sehore, he will release the guidelines for operationalisation of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana which was approved by the Union Cabinet last month, a PMO statement said.

The scheme will come into effect from the upcoming Kharif season. It envisages a uniform premium of only 2 per cent to be paid by farmers for Kharif crops, and 1.5 per cent for Rabi crops.

The premium for annual commercial and horticultural crops will be 5 per cent. There is no upper limit on government subsidy for this scheme. The provision of capping the premium rate, which existed in earlier schemes, and resulted in low claims being paid to farmers, has been done away with.

Farmers will get claims against the full sum insured, without any reduction. The Prime Minister will distribute soil health cards, and crop insurance settlement claims to select beneficiaries, the statement said.

PTI