Health insurance scheme launched by the Union government for women in sericulture sector has started witnessing response in the silk producing states of the country.
The concept of gender budgeting introduced by the Union government during the Tenth Five Year Plan has been adopted by the Central Silk Board, the apex of body the Indian silk industry, to asses the adequateness of the allocation of resources for women and ensure that the gender commitments coupled with budgetary commitments are translated into achievements. The Eleventh Five Year Plan made a separate ‘Women Development Component”, primarily to address the social security concerns of women associated with the silk industry. As a part of this initiative, the CSB in association with state sericulture departments, launched a health insurance programme for women beneficiaries not only to address the health problems associated with the sericulture industry but also all the health related issues.
The scheme has been implemented as part of the Catalytic Development Programme (CDP) taken by CSB in collaboration with the states. The scheme aims at financially enabling the women involved in sericulture sector to get access to the best of the healthcare facilities in the country and covers not only the woman as the prime insurer, but also her husband and two children.
The major health problems generally observed include asthma, infection and blisters on hand, burning in eyes, cough, dyspnoea, skin allergy and abdomen pain in reeling sector and seed production centres. Most of the health problems in these activities affect women more because of their greater involvement. Around 60% of the workforce involved in various activities in the country’s sericulture industry are identified as rural women.
The CSB has set a target of insuring 29,000 women and their families under the porgramme in the Eleventh Plan. The government may consider to extend the programme to more women depending on its success in the field, an official attached to CSB said.
Already, the scheme has become very popular in rural India as the premium is being shared by both CSB and state sericulture departments along with the beneficiary. Funding pattern for a single policy with total premium of Rs 767.28 per person a year include contribution of Rs 628.15 a year by CSB and Rs 83.47 by the state sericulture department and Rs 55.66 by the owner of the sericulture unit or beneficiary. The programme has already been launched in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir and will be launched in Andhra Pradesh in the near future.
Till date, the CSB has covered 21,280 beneficiaries under the health insurance scheme. Karnataka ranks first in the coverage with 10,000 beneficiaries followed by Assam and West Bengal with each covering 3,000 persons. In Jammu and Kashmir, the government has covered 2,500 beneficiaries under the scheme followed by 1,410 in Jharkhand and 1,370 beneficiaries in Tamil Nadu.