MP government’s Pashu Dhan Bima Yojana’ to benefit cattle owners

To safeguard the cows in Madhya Pradesh, government has come up with a new scheme that can enable cattle owners insurance cover for the cow. The Madhya Pradesh government started ‘Pashu Dhan Bima Yojana’ providing insurance coverage to indigenous cattle owned by farmers. This will allow them to reduce the damages they suffer as a result of the death of cattle.

The scheme has been implemented across all the districts and the cattle including the milch animals will be covered under it.

Five species will be protected by the beneficiary. 10 animals in the division of sheep, horse, donkey, buffalo, etc are counted as one class, so the owners of the cattle will insure 50 animals at a time. Cattle owners in the category Above Poverty Line (APL) will receive a 50 per cent subsidy while owners in the category Below Poverty Line (BPL), Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) will receive a 70 per cent subsidy on insurance premiums.

The overall insurance premium rate will be 3% for one year and 7.5% for three years. Cattle owners may insure their animals for up to three years.

The owners would have to notify the insurance provider of the death of the covered cattle within 24 hours. Physicians from the Department of Animal Husbandry will conduct an autopsy of the body of the cattle and state the cause of death in the journal. Officials will have to file liability premiums to the insurance provider will have to settle the claims in 15 days.