Describing the Prime Minister’s Crop Insurance Scheme as a “weapon” to fight rising farmer suicides, BJP Kisan Morcha national president Vijaypal Singh Tomar on Saturday said the BJP will launch the ‘Kisan Jagran Saptah’ at a national level from March 1-15 to reach out to farmers and create awareness about the scheme’s benefits. The scheme will be implemented from April 1.

Crediting the PM for devising the scheme, Tomar said it was the need of the hour to provide a protective cover to the farming community, which is facing repeated crop failure due to droughts.

“Farmers have been going through a difficult time for the last two years. We conveyed our suggestions to party president Amit Shah and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who addressed a national conclave organised by the Kisan Morcha in New Delhi on January 11 and 12. On January 14, the Union cabinet cleared the scheme, which is nothing short of historic,” he said. Mr Tomar said the scheme provides insurance cover to farmers from pre-sowing to a period of 14 days after the harvest.

“Under the scheme, a premium of 1.5 per cent will have to be paid for rabi and two per cent for kharif crops; this was 13 and 15 per cent respectively earlier. The Centre and the State will pay the premium on behalf of the farmers,” he said.

He added that the crop insurance scheme incorporates all previous schemes with key changes.

“It also removes the capping system present in previous schemes which gave less compensation for higher damage. Now, more compensation will be given if the crop damage is higher,” said Mr Tomar.