THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Dairy farmers are worried due to the suspension of Gau Samridhi insurance scheme of Animal Husbandry Department. Farmers are now in a situation where they do not get a single rupee if their cow gets sick or dies. The reason is that Rs 6 crore allocated in the budget for the insurance scheme has not been transferred to the animal husbandry department.

This year, not even a single cow has been added to the scheme, which used to insure up to 60,000 cows in a year. As soon as the farmers paid their share of the insurance premium and produced the receipt, the share of the animal welfare department was added to the insurance. For this, the method was to transfer the government share to the SBI account. However, the finance department did not give permission to transfer the money to the state bank this year. The proposal to the Finance Department for selecting the insurance company and fixing the premium was not approved.

What happened so far

• March:- Rs 6 crore was set aside for insurance premium in the budget
• April:- Fund was sanctioned but not disbursed to the Animal Husbandry Department
• May: The Insurance Company was selected by the Animal Husbandry Department.
• June:- Proposal submitted to Finance Department
• January:- Finance Department yet to respond in this regard

Gau Samridhi

□Premium for this year- 3.9%

□Farmer share- 50%

□ SC / ST -30 %

A new insurance scheme is being planned with 60% central share and 40% state share.

- J. Chinchu Rani

Minister of Animal Husbandry