The district administration had planned to bring nearly 1.50 lakh farmers under the 'Yashaswini' insurance scheme during 2005-06.
Announcing this to the press here on Tuesday, Deputy Commissioner Anjum Parvez however maintained that due to lack of awareness among the farmers, the scheme had not achieved much success in the district. "Nevertheless, every effort was now being made towards popularising this scheme," he added.
Stating that this insurance scheme for the farmers was introduced two years ago, he said, the scheme covered only surgical operations to be done on the beneficiaries. He said, as there was lack of awareness among the people regarding the scheme, only 52,509 members had been enrolled in the scheme during 2004-05.
Of them, he said, 44,916 had been provided with the identity cards, and the rest had not been provided as they had not given their photographs. As each member had to pay Rs 10 per month, and Rs five if the member was below 18 years, Rs 32.11 lakh was collected as premium last year.
In all, Rs 32 lakh was paid to the different hospitals for the operations conducted on 167 patients. Of them 62 persons were referred to Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology at Bangalore for heart operations, he added.
During 2003-04, only 22,960 members were enrolled. Of them, 58 were referred to different operations, he said. "This year, we have targeted to enroll 1.50 lakh members," he added.
He said, considering the success of the scheme, the State Government had now included the members of the Sthree Shakti groups also in the scheme. "However, to become members in this scheme, they would have to be a member of any registered co-operative society as this is mandatory," he said. This was mainly because this was a scheme of the Co-operative Department, he added.
Dwelling upon the finer aspects of this ''Yashaswini' insurance scheme, he said, the main reason for introducing this scheme was to cover the farmers under the health insurance, especially when farmers could not pay for major operations. "The State Government footed the medical bills of its employees, and the respective companies paid the medical bills of their employees. But as there was nothing for the farmers, the 'Yashaswini’ insurance scheme was introduced, he added.
However, a major difference between the other health insurance schemes and 'Yesasvini' is that the conventional insurance schemes do not cover the ailment a person has before going in for the insurance cover.
However, this is not so with 'Yashaswini', and people with prior ailments can also join the scheme.
DCC bank
Gulbarga District Co-operative Credit Bank Managing Director Shivsharanappa Bennur, who was also present, stated that the bank had received Rs 15 crore from the Union Government under the Integrated Co-operative Development Project.
He said, a part of this would be utilised for shares in buying co-operative shares, and the milk unions would be given funds to buy 600 milch animals. Moreover, Rs three crore was being spent on constructing five large storage godowns with a 1,000 metric tonnes capacity, and 100 godowns with 100 metric tonnes capacity.
Mr Bennur said, a new four-floor building to house the bank had been planned, which would cost around Rs 3.5 crore. Of this, the ground floor would be utilised to house the bank, and the rest three floors would be used for commercial purpose, he added.
For the first time, the bank was getting a re-finance of Rs 2.50 crore form Nabard, and the amount to be disbursed through crop loans had been hiked to Rs 40 crore, against Rs 30 crore given last year, he said.
Mr Bennur said, the loan defaulters had to repay loans of Rs nine crore to the bank.
However, this had now attracted interest of nearly Rs 10 crore. But, the interest on these loans would be waived off if the farmers paid their principal amount by June 30, 2005, he said.
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Wednesday, April 20, 2005
