The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi is addressing a congregation of farmers at Sehore in Madhya Pradesh today. He is likely to highlight Government initiatives for the development of the agriculture sector and welfare of farmers.
The Prime Minister will distribute soil health cards, and crop insurance settlement claims to select beneficiaries in the state.
He will also release the guidelines for operationalization of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, the scheme for crop insurance, that was approved by the Union Cabinet last month.
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.
