165 farmers enrolled in Telangana’s Rythu Bima scheme die, kin of 113 get Rs 5 lakh each in claim amount

As many as 165 farmers enrolled in Telangana’s farmers’ insurance scheme, Rythu Bima, have died. The kin of 113 deceased farmers have received a claim amount of Rs 5 lakh each from the Life Insurance Corporation, which is implementing the scheme.

The government has been enrolling eligible farmers in the scheme in the last two weeks. Though formally launched on August 15 by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao, the farmers have been receiving the policy bonds from the state’s ministers in the last two weeks.

The government, which was not so forthcoming with information on the deaths of the farmers, said some of them died of ailments.

The insurance scheme provides a life cover of Rs 5 lakh for farmers in the age group of 18 to 59 years. The government pays about Rs 1,000 crore to LIC, with the premium per head pegged at Rs 2,271.

Farmers’ unions and non-governmental organisations have said the number of deaths indicated the enormity of the agrarian crisis. “We have been arguing that the crisis is deep-rooted and needed serious efforts to address the challenges,” S Malla Reddy, Vice-President of the All India Kisan Sabha, told BusinessLine .

“The government used to deny reports of farmers’ deaths in order to evade paying compensation. Now, they themselves are accepting the numbers. The deaths have vindicated our point,” he said.

Sajaya of Caring Citizens’ Collective (CCC), which works with the families of the deceased farmers, said the debt burden had gone up significantly as they had borrowed money on high interest rates. “Rythu Bandhu (financial assistance scheme) and Rythu Bima can’t address the huge challenges the farmers face. We need systematic changes to solve the agrarian crisis,” she said.

“The number of deaths is increasing every year. There is a need to study the phenomenon much deeper,” she said.

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