Vyaktigat Durghatana Bima Yojana in Rajasthan (व्यक्तिगत दुर्घटना बीमा योजना)
In June, 2016, the Govt. of Rajasthan under the leadership of Hon’ble CM, Vasundhara Raje launched a very welcome initiative to provide accidental insurance to all the farmers residing in her state, known as VDBY. This scheme has gained mass popularity since its launch as no such insurance policies were there, provided by the state government, exclusively for the farmers in the state. As the name suggests, the state govt. will provide insurance on any kind of personal accidents leading to death, of all the registered farmers under the VDBY scheme. As of now, a total of 18 lakh farmers have already been included in this scheme and are getting accidental benefits in Rajasthan.
Vyaktigat Durghatana Bima Yojana coverage and premium
The state govt. has introduced this unique scheme which covers all the farmers in the state of Rajasthan under any type of accidents and provide them economic as well as social support. The total cover of the VDBY scheme is Rs. 5 lakh for every registered beneficiary. Initially, the scheme was intended to provide only 3 lakh accidental insurance, but later the insurance amount has been raised to 5 lakh. To avail this scheme, a farmer has to just pay a small token of premium every year which is fixed to Rs. 27, which is highly subsidized, compared to similar insurance programs for farmers in other states of the country. With the payment of the premium every year, the farmers and their family will be covered under the VDBY and in case of any unfortunate incident causing death of the farmer, who is the earning member.
Scheme target on Vyaktigat Durghatana Bima Yojana
The Rajasthan govt. is determined to provide any type of financial assistance, including insurance coverage on accidents for the farmers of the state, which constitute of a large proportion. Around 40 per cent population in Rajasthan alone depends on farming itself. The Raje govt. has set a target of including around 25 lakh farmers under this insurance policy – VDBY in this fiscal year. After the scheme has been rolled out in the month of June, a total of 18 lakh farmers were registered under this policy till latest records of the month of November. Process of farmer registration to the VDBY scheme is going on in full swing by the Zilla Panchayats and block administrations to achieve the set target for this fiscal year. The co – operative banks are also making contribution in the VDBY scheme to provide financial assistance and social support to the farmers and their families.
Cases where the scheme will provide cover
For almost all types of accidents leading to death, the VDBY scheme will provide the insurance claim to the farmers’ families. In fact in case of suicides and murders also, the state government will provide the amount of Rs. 5 lakh to the members of the farmer’s family who are registered as nominees of the scheme. Generally the life insurance schemes do not provide claims in cases of murders or suicides to their beneficiaries. Only death due to accidents are covered under any other life insurance schemes. But this scheme is designed to provide full support to its beneficiaries in case of such incidents and the claim amount will be handed over to the family.
Eligibility criteria of the scheme
The Rajasthan state govt. has also set some criteria of eligibility to join the scheme.
- The first and the foremost is that the beneficiary must be associated in farming or any agriculture activity which is the source of income.
- The farmer must be a permanent resident of the state.
- The minimum age required to receive the benefit of the scheme is 18 years where as the farmers up to the age of 60 years can join also. This means, if the registered member of the scheme dies within the age of 18 to 60 years, the family of the farmer will receive the policy amount.
Procedure of making claim under the scheme
There are some procedures which are to be followed in case of such accidents leading to loss of life of the registered member of the VDBY scheme.
- In case of death of the farmer within the age of 18 to 60 years, the family members must lodge an FIR in the concerned police station reporting such incident.
- In case of natural death, any doctor will provide death certificate which is very crucial to claim the insurance amount.
- In case of murder, suicide or any other reasons of death, post mortem is mandatory and the report of post mortem will be necessary to claim the insured amount.
- With the certificate of death, the family of the deceased farmer must approach the black authorities to claim the sum of insurance.
- The insurance amount will be provided in form of cheque to the family of the farmer.
Comparison to farmer insurance policies of other states
However, there are similar farmer insurance schemes launched in several states, but the attempt made by the Rajasthan Govt. is appreciable by keeping the policy premium very low i.e. Rs. 27 per year and providing insurance cover of Rs. 5 lakh to its farmers. Below are some data of some of the states with similar insurance schemes for farmers:
| Sl. No. | State | Sum Insured |
| 1 | Haryana | Rs. 50,000 |
| 2 | Telangana | Rs. 1 lakh |
| 3 | Madhya Pradesh | Rs. 2 lakh |
| 4 | Gujarat | Rs. 4 lakh (Yearly premium Rs. 44) |
| 5 | Punjab | Rs. 5 lakh (Yearly premium Rs. 110) |
Why there is need of such insurance scheme?
As most of the families, mainly in rural areas of Rajasthan depend on farming and agriculture activities, the burden of the entire farmer’s family is on the soul bread earner i.e. the head of the family working in the fields. So if any personal accident happens to the farmer, this results in complete financial crisis of the entire farmer’s family. So keeping these points in mind, the Rajasthan state govt. has started this insurance policy which will provide accidental cover which will also include suicides or murders and the policy amount will be provided to the family of the farmer. In India, the cases of farmers’ suicide are rising year after year which is considered one of the major concerns of both the central and the state governments.
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