The Telangana government will launch a comprehensive life insurance programme for farmers and their families with the active participation of insurance major the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC).

Farmers will get Rs 5-lakh coverage. The kin of farmers, who have committed suicide, will also be covered under the scheme.

A MoU between the state government and the LIC was signed here at the Hitex convention hall on Monday, at a meeting of the Block and District level farmer coordination committees and  Agricultural extension officers in the run-up to the launch of the insurance scheme, which is slated to be unveiled on August 15 this year.

“I will not be availing the Rytu Bandhu input assistance but will certainly claim the insurance as I am a farmer first and this is the most significant thing that I ever did for my fellow farmers,” Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, said.

V K Sharma, LIC Chairman, calling Rao a visionary has said that Rao has put his heart for the prosperity of the farmers, the real ‘Rythu Bandhu”.

“This farmer’s son is saying proudly that this will go a long way in the prosperity of Telangana and particularly farmers of Telangana”, Sharma, who hails from the state, said.

The LIC chairman also said the corporation’s dream is that every person in India has a life insurance.

The LIC’s faith in the Telangana government is such that the corporation is the “first to rush to put money in the RBI whenever it calls for raising funds to provide loans to Telangana,” Sharma said.

Rao, in his response, said “Your praise will instill a lot of confidence in farmers of Telangana. I thank you for assuring that any insurance claim will be cleared within 10 days”.

Rao also gave a set of directions to the extension officers saying that the insurance scheme's implementation will be their responsibility.