Health Insurance Scheme for weavers The Government has issued following guidelines for the implementation of Health Insurance Scheme (HIS) for weavers under Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY): i. Health Insurance Scheme for Handloom weavers would be implemented by MoHFW for the year 2016-17 and the budget for the same would be provided by Ministry of Textiles. ii. States would implement the scheme on the same norms as RSBY by including the beneficiaries given by Ministry of Textiles. Scheme would be implemented only in the States presently implementing RSBY. iii. The State Governments which would implement the scheme of health insurance for handloom weavers should ensure that there is no duplication of benefits to the same beneficiaries from both RSBY and the Handloom Weavers Health Insurance Scheme. The handloom weavers belonging to BPL categories in 19 states (including Odisha) which were implementing RSBY during 2015-16, are already covered under the scheme. After issuance of guidelines, all weavers in state of Gujarat are covered under the scheme. The Health Minister, Shri J P Nadda stated this in a written reply in the Lok Sabha here today.
