‘Meri Policy Mere Haath’ campaign launched by Agri Minister in Kangra
Under the Pradhan Mantri Crop Insurance Scheme (PMCIS), Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Minister Chander Kumar launched the district-level ‘Meri Policy Mere Haath’ campaign at Jawali in Kangra district yesterday. The campaign has been launched by the state Agriculture Department with an objective to hand over crop insurance policy documents to the farmers. Presiding over a kisan seminar, the minister handed over crop insurance policy to 10 farmers of the area. As many as 250 farmers of the area participated in the seminar.
The Agriculture Minister said the scheme was important as it will safeguard the farming community from crop loss due to natural calamities. He said farmers can get their crops insured through the PMCIS portal themselves or by taking assistance from any Lok Mitra Kendra. He added that as many as 33,236 farmers have insured their wheat and barley crop in Kangra district before December 15 last year and the policy documents would be distributed to them in the next two weeks. He said in the 2023 kharif season, 30,916 farmers of Kangra had registered their maize and paddy insurance, besides compensation was given to 12,102 farmers for the loss caused due to natural reasons.
“Farmers have to pay a premium of Rs 72 per bigha for insurance of wheat crop and Rs 60 for barley crop. If crops are damaged due to natural calamity, the farmer will get a maximum of Rs 4,800 and Rs 4,000 for wheat and barley crop, respectively, per bigha,” he said. He also exhorted farmers to apply for their Kisan Credit Cards.
The Agriculture Minister said the state government had taken several important measures like subsidy on agricultural equipment, purchasing naturally grown wheat and maize crops on minimum support price, expansion of irrigation facilities and soil health card scheme for the assistance of the farmers in the state.
On this occasion, Additional Director Agriculture Dr Rahul Katoch said the department was continuously working to achieve the goal of empowering farmers financially. He called upon the farmers to take maximum benefit of the PMCIS and secure their crops. He briefed the farmers about various welfare schemes launched by the state government for them.