Haryana govt gives insurance cover to milch cattle

Chandigarh, Jul 6: Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that the state government has earmarked a sum of Rs five crore for the insurance of milch cattle of the Scheduled Caste families in the current financial year.

This is against the Rs 4 crore spent for the insurance coverage during the last financial year.

While stating this today, Chief Minister said that about 75,000 milch cattle of families belonging to scheduled castes were insured during the last financial year.

He said that another Livestock Insurance Scheme which was funded by Central Government was also being implemented in the state.

The milch cattle of five districts of Bhiwani, Rohtak, Jind, Jhajjar and Hisar were covered under this scheme.

The cost of insurance premium was borne on sharing basis by the Central Government, State Government and the owner of the domestic animals. The share of Central Government was 50 per cent of the cost of the insurance premium, the share of State Government was 25 per cent and the remaining 25 per cent was borne by the cattle owner.

Over 65,000 animals were insured for about Rs four crore under this central scheme.

He said that the milch animals belonging to the non scheduled castes families of the districts other than five districts covered by the Central Government scheme would also be provided insurance cover by the State Government during 2008-09. Under this scheme 75 per cent of the cost of insurance premium would be borne by the State Government and 25 per cent by the owner.

About 1.25 lakh animals were expected to be insured during this financial year and an amount of Rs 6.75 crore would be incurred for providing insurance cover to milch animals under this scheme.

He said that an amount of about Rs 15 crore was likely to be spent for welfare of the farmers annually as far insurance was concerned.

UNI