Insurance cover for sheperds

Shimla, Jul 20 (UNI)The Himachal Pradesh Government would consider extension of insurance cover to shepherds of the state by bringing them under the fold of Shepherd Insurance Scheme in association with Government of India, LIC of India and the beneficiaries.

Disclosing this at review meeting of animal husbandry Department here, Chief Minister P.K.Dhumal said about 15,000 shepherds would be covered during current financial year and the beneficiaries would be entitled to compensation of Rs. 60,000 in the case of natural death of the policy holder and adequate compensation for accidental death, permanent disability, loss of limbs and eyes, as the case might be.

He said an annual premium of Rs. 330 would be required to be paid in the ratio of Rs. 100, Rs 150 and Rs 80 by the LIC of India, Government of India and the beneficiary respectively.

The insurance cover would be extended to every eligible member of the community in a phased manner, he added.

Mr Dhumal said 42,000 milk producers had been benefitted with the increase in the milk price by Rs. 2 per kg for which an amount of Rs. nine crore had been made available.

He said 374 societies were functioning under HP MILKFED and 4,996 self help groups formed in the dairy sector.

Stressing that the milk yield needed to be increased from 872 lakh tonnes to over thousand lakh tonnes, he said the milk producers should be motivated to rear high milch yielding species of the animals.

The Chief Minister said with a view to making dairy farming a viable avocation, cattle breed improvement activities would be carried out in a big way in future.

To tackle the problem of stray animals, maximum number of gosadans(homes for cow) would be encouraged in the private sector and the government would act as facilitator while the temple trusts would also be associated in achieving the objective, he added.

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