Despite the low premium and high benefits, the insurance schemes for handloom weavers has virtually remained a non-starter in Uttarakhand.
But now, the Uttarakhand government has launched efforts to cover maximum number of weavers under these insurance schemes. “We have asked all our district officials to explain the benefits of these insurance schemes to all the weavers. Besides, we are also organising special meets for weavers on regular basis,” said S C Nautiyal, director of the Uttarakhand Handloom and Handicraft Development Council.
As of now, there are two insurance schemes available for the state weavers which are being provided by LIC and ICICI Lombard. But both of them have not caught the fancy of the weavers,who mostly reside in the remote areas of the state.
According to an official estimate, there are nearly 20,000 to 30,000 weavers’ families in the state but only
1 per cent to 5 per cent avail of the benefits. For example, only 872 weavers have taken the scheme of LIC Mahatama Gandhi Bunkar Yojana where they have to pay just Rs 80 as a premium for four years. And in return, they get the benefit of special scholarships of Rs 100 for two children for a period of four years at school level besides several other insurance benefits like Rs 60,000 on natural deaths and Rs 1.5 lakh on accidental deaths.
On the other hand, ICICI Lombard has been able to provide its health scheme to nearly 3,122 weavers in the state. In this scheme, weavers will have to pay just Rs 50 as premium but can avail health benefits with a limit of Rs 15,000. This year, ICICI Lombard has already settled nearly 400 claims of the 550. “The only problem is that we are getting a lot of bogus claims which lead to lot of investigations,” said an official of the ICICI Lombard.