All ryots in age group of 18 to 59 to get life cover

The insurance cover of ₹5 lakh for farmers which the Telangana government will launch on August 15 will be against any kind of death but restricted only to those in the age group of 18 to 59 years.

The decision was announced by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao at a meeting with the officials, elected representatives and the officials of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) here on Friday.

The entire premium amount would be borne by the government with specific allocation in the budget so that it is paid to the insurance company on August 1 every year.

Although providing insurance cover against accidental death would have lessened the burden on the government, it was decided to cover any kind of death since only accidental death cover would not benefit the farming community much, the Chief Minister said.

Sole livelihood

“Some 93% of the total farmers in Telangana are either small or marginal and the number of those having landholding of less than an acre is nearly 18 lakh. Such farmers have landholding as their sole livelihood and in the event of death of the farmer, his/her family is devastated. The State government has decided to introduce insurance cover to farmers to overcome such a pathetic situation with life insurance cover of ₹5 lakh,” the Chief Minister said explaining the need for the initiative.

“In addition to uninterrupted free power supply to agriculture and ₹8,000 per acre investment support every year, the life insurance cover is another step forward in the welfare of farming community,” Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao noted.

Quick processing

In the event of death of an insured farmer, the nominee appointed by the farmer would be paid the claim of ₹5 lakh within 10 days of producing the farmer's death certificate by the family concerned, the Chief Minister announced at the meeting attended by Agriculture Minister P. Srinivas Reddy, Chief Secretary S.K. Joshi, Chief Advisor Rajiv Sharma, Rythu Samanvaya Samithi president G. Sukhender Reddy, Principal Secretary (Finance) K. Ramakrishna Rao, LIC Regional Manager R. Chander and several others.

The LIC officials said it was for the first time in the country such a mass-scale life insurance scheme was being introduced although group insurance schemes with only few thousands of beneficiaries were not new. Besides, providing insurance cover of ₹5 lakh was highest for groups schemes, Mr. Chander stated.