Govt to roll out 3 social security schemes: Fernandes

New Delhi, Sept 10 (UNI) Labour and Employment Minister Oscar Fernandes today announced the Government's decision to launch three new social security schemes with the 'Aam Admi Bima Yojana', where by all the rural landless households in the country will be provided life and disability insurance cover.

The scheme will provide insurance cover of Rs 75,000 on death due to accident and permanent disability due to accident.

Addressing newspersons here today Mr Fernandes said, in case of partial disability due to accident, there would be insurance cover of Rs 37,500. Upon the death of a member prior to the terminal date, there is an insurance amount of Rs 30,000.

He said the premium to be charged under the scheme would be Rs 200 per annum per member of which 50 per cent would be contributed by the Centre and the balance by the State Government. The Finance Ministry has already committed to provide Rs 1000 as corpus for this scheme in the budget, he added.

Responding to questions Mr Fernandes said, most of the States except the eight North Eastern States had asked for some relief as 50 per cent contribution by the States will be huge for them. The point is being taken and the matter has been referred to the Finance Ministry.

He said National Old Age Pension scheme which also be soon launched and extended to all below the poverty line (BPL) and above the age of 65 years.

Under this scheme a pension of Rs 200 per month will be provided and the States will be requested to add another Rs 200 to benefit poors further. An amount of more than Rs 4,000 crore per annm will be spent for the sceme which will be administered by the Ministry of Rural Development.

Third and the last social security scheme that is going to be launched is the health Insurance Scheme (HIS), being formulated for all the BPL workers and their families.

Presently, there are about six crore families which falls under the BPL category and will be covered progressively over the next five years by the Government. In all, more than 30 crore workers would be benefited by the scheme.

''Under this scheme a provision has also been made for issuing smart card, carrying a unique identification number to each of these families. Both public and private health facilities will be provided to them for medical services and there would be cashless transactions to ensure that there is no harassment of the beneficiaries,'' Mr Fernandes said.

UNI