The Kerala government on Saturday issued a notification inviting applications from farmers for joining the weather-based crop insurance scheme (WBCIS) after a prolonged delay.
The farmers in the State had raised concerns over the delay in the announcement of the insurance scheme. In other States, the WBCIS was announced weeks ago.
The National Farmers Protection Committee (NFPC) had sought the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the announcement of the WBCIS.
Although the government opened the web portal for the WBCIS registration on Saturday, it is feared that many farmers would miss out as August 31 is the deadline for registration.
Farmers are demanding that the government extend the deadline by some more days.
In separate memorandums to the Prime Minister and senior Union government officials, the NFPC demanded that the insurance deadline be extended to September 30 considering the problems being faced by the farmers in the State.
Weather-Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS) is intended to provide insurance protection to the farmers against adverse weather conditions, such as deficit and excess rainfall, high or low temperature and humidity, which are likely to impact crop production adversely. It has the advantage to settle the claims within shortest possible time.
