Rythu Bima group life insurance scheme introduced by the Telangana government for all the landholding (pattadar) farmers in the age group of 18-59 years from August 14 is proving to be an instant succour to their families in case of death of the enrolled farmer, irrespective of the cause — either natural or otherwise.
With the help of information technology being used for implementation of one of the flagship schemes of the State government, the settlement of claims has proved to be the fastest under any life insurance schemes available in the country. “Settlement of 52 claims out of deaths of 78 beneficiary farmers in the first five days of implementation of the scheme is an ample proof of fastest life insurance claims settlement in the country,” Principal Secretary (Agriculture) C. Parthasarathi told The Hindu on Saturday.
At the outset, the Rythu Bima group life insurance is being claimed as the most unique of life insurance schemes wherein the death of farmers with any reason is compensated within a maximum time of seven days.
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On the first day of Rythu Bima on August 14, death of three farmers was reported, claims were filed and the settlement of claims was made on the next day, save public holiday on August 15, through NEFT transaction by crediting the amount of ₹5 lakh each into the nominees’ accounts.
Although field functionaries in several State government departments have been provided with tabs, it is the Agriculture Department officials who haven putting the devices to optimal use beginning with collection of details of lands under cultivation by Agriculture Extension Officers early in 2017. Later, the devices were used during purification of land records and now for Rythu Bima.
“Manual work in the settlement of Rythu Bima claims is limited only at village and mandal-level where the AEO concerned collects the copies of Aadhaar of deceased farmer and the nominee, bank account passbook copy of the nominee, filled-in claim form and death certificate and they are attested by Mandal Agriculture Officer (MAO) at mandal-level. It’s everything online from the next step onwards — till crediting of claim amount to the nominee account,” explained Mr. Parthasarathi.
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The NIC has developed a special software for the purpose of forwarding the claims received from District Agriculture Offices (DAOs) to the LIC without human intervention every day at 5 p.m.
“The software creates a text file of all claims received till 4 p.m. every day and forwards them to LIC's E-Sat office in Hyderabad along with scanned documents in PDF format for further processing,” an IT official involved in the process stated.
Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Bima have improved the image of Agriculture Department and its officials in villages enormously and the recognition would help in maintaining good liaison with farmers.
Besides, the act of helping somebody get instant help gives immense satisfaction to the field-level, another senior official felt.