The Government has introduced Group life insurance scheme for all the farmers in the state of Telangana. All the holders of Pattadar Pass Books issued after the recently concluded land records updation programme will be eligible for enrolment in this scheme. The farmers in the age group of 18–59 as on 15.8.2018 would be covered under this Scheme and the sum assured of Rs.5.00 lakhs would be paid on death, due to any cause, to the nominee of that enrolled farmer, declared by him/her at the time of enrolment.
Objective of the Scheme: The main objective of the scheme is to provide financial relief and security to the family members/dependents of the deceased farmer (Pattadar) in case of his/her death. In Telangana, majority of the Farmers are small and marginal and farming is the sole source of livelihood to them. In the event of the death of the farmer/ bread winner, their families are facing severe financial problems even for their day-to-day needs. Hence it is expedient to implement farmers Group Life Insurance Scheme so as to ensure financial security and relief to the bereaved members of the farmer’s family.
The reasons for selecting LIC of India are:
a) LIC’s claim settlement ratio is the highest amongst all insurance companies as per the data compiled by IRDAI.
b) Only LIC can offer Group Life Insurance Schemes seamlessly integrated with Government of India’s Social Security Schemes.
c) The benefit of lowest possible premium rates and scope for further review of the premium subsequently.
d) Only LIC has the experience of successfully managing very large Social Security Schemes with membership running into crores. This means they have the experience and the ability to roll out the scheme whenever Government decides to commence it.
e) LIC is the only the Public Sector Life Insurance Company and Government of India provides sovereign guarantee to its policy holders.
Memorandum of Understanding
A Memorandum of Understanding with LIC, based on all the discussions and consultations, was signed in the presence of the Hon’ble Chief Minister on 4.6.2018.
The main features of the Scheme are:
a. Pattadar Passbook holders in the State of Telangana who are between the ages 18–59 years as on 15th August 2018 are eligible.
i. In case of new farmers (Pattadars) getting admitted into this Scheme during a Policy Year, Government will effect the insurance on their lives by paying full yearly premium
ii. In case of insured farmers (Pattadars) losing Land on account of any reason, the insured member will continue to get insurance coverage till next annual renewal date.
b.Benefits of the scheme:
The Nominee registered by the farmer (Pattadar) of the scheme shall be entitled to get Rs. 5.00 lakhs in case of death of the enrolled farmer due to any cause.
Premium
The premium payable in respect of the members is Rs. 1925/- per annum per member plus GST @18%. The total premium payable Rs. 2271.50.
i. The premium for subsequent years will be subject to actual claim experience based on the ERA (Experience Rating Adjustment). The conditions of assurance and rates of premium may be revised upward or downward by the Corporation based on claim experience on annual basis. The Government shall arrange to remit the renewal premium to the Corporation on or before the annual renewal date to P&GS Unit, Hyderabad.
ii. The Government of Telangana shall pay the premium on adhoc basis to LIC of India, on or before 1st of August every year.
Administration of Scheme:
Commissioner of Agriculture is designated as the Nodal Agency on behalf of the Government of Telangana to implement the Rythu Bandhu Group Life Insurance scheme and the scheme will be administered by the LIC of India Ltd.
The information about the number of farmers to be enrolled as members in the scheme and other details would be passed on to LIC in electronic form. The nomination forms would be collected from each and every eligible member by the Agriculture Extension Officers in the month of June-2018 initially and as and when the member gets enrolled subsequently.
The Commissioner & Director of Agriculture will act for and on behalf of Government of Telangana and the insured Members in all matters relating to the scheme. The agreement made between the Corporation and the Government shall be binding on the representatives of Government and insured Members.
i. Government will furnish to the Corporation the data of new insured Farmers (Pattadars) enrolled as members on monthly basis in electronic form.
ii. On each annual renewal date, the consolidated data of eligible farmers (Pattadars) may be submitted to Corporation on or before 1st of August along with adhoc premium
iii. The Government will furnish to the Corporation online all the relevant particulars of the members as required for the administration of the scheme. They shall include
a. Data as per the enrolment form
b. Annual premium
iv. In case of a farmer holding multiple Pattadar Pass Books, he/she will be enrolled as a single member only based on Aadhar identification.
v. The Corporation, after verification and admission of members into the Scheme, will allot the Master Policy Numbers for the Scheme along with individual LIC id for each insured member and make such list available to the Government in electronic format.
vi. The Commissioner Agriculture will ensure that all the eligible members have been allotted with the individual ids by the LIC and discrepancies, if any, with the master list provided to the LIC shall be separately notified and monitored.
Eligibility of Farmer:
1. The farmers in the age group of 18 to 59 years as on 15th August 2018 (born between 14.8.1959 to 15.8.2000, both days inclusive) for the year 2018-19 and having the new Pattadar Pass Books issued by the Government of Telangana are eligible to be enrolled under the scheme.
2. The age of the farmers would be determined based on the age as mentioned in the Aadhar card. In case only the year is mentioned in Aadhar card, the default date would be taken as 1st July of that particular year.
3. A farmer will be eligible for enrolling for a single policy only, even though he owns land in different villages/districts or has more number of PPBs. The farmer has to choose the village in which he prefers to be insured. Aadhar number will be used for de-duplication of the pattadar pass books data / enrolment data to ensure that that the farmer is issued only a single certificate.
4. Lateral Entry to the scheme: In case of mutation of land and issue of fresh pattadar pass book to the purchaser and if the purchaser is not already enrolled in the scheme, the purchaser will be enrolled into the Rythu Bandhu Group Life insurance scheme.
5. Such list of lateral entries, on a monthly basis, would be furnished by the Nodal Agency to the LIC. The date of enrolment and eligible age will be as on 1st of that particular month in which he/she is enrolled. The premium with respect to these additional members would be payable on a quarterly basis.
6. No other new entry of members into the scheme in between the policy running year will be entertained other than the above lateral entrants. Other new members crossing the minimum age at entry of 18 years into the scheme will be enrolled only in the next renewal date of the policy.
Enrolment of the Farmers:
i. The total number of farmers to be enrolled is based on the data to be furnished by the Revenue Department, indicating the details of the Farmers for whom PPBs have been issued after the Land records updation programme.
ii. Pre-populated enrolment/Nomination forms are printed and supplied to the districts based on the data of the PPBs distributed received from the CCLA or provided by the Collectors in the shape of attested hard copy.
iii. The Nomination forms are printed both in English and Telugu (in the same form).
iv. The AEOs shall visit the farmer in person and fill up the Farmers enrolment- cum-nomination form along with the farmer’s signature.
v. The detailed circular instructions for collecting the nomination forms from the farmers for enrollment have been issued separately.
vi. The enrolment-cum-nomination forms shall be collected from each and every eligible member by the Agriculture Extension Officers in the month of June’ 2018.
vii. The farmer should submit the nominee/nominees details in the enrolment or nomination form, duly signed by him designating the nominee/ nominees.
viii. In case the nominee is minor, the farmer has to provide the details of “Appointee” (Guardian), who is a major, along with his/her relationship with the nominee.
ix. The farmers should have an Aadhar Card as it would be used as documentary proof for confirming correct name and the age of the farmer. If any farmer does not have an Aadhar card he should enroll himself/ herself for Aadhar card. The AEO during the visit to the Farmer has to verify the new PPB issued to him by the Revenue Authorities. A copy of the Aadhar card of the enrolled farmer should be collected and attached to the enrollment form as documentation proof.
x. AEOs should actively involve the Coordinators and members of Rythu Samanvaya Samithis at village and mandal level in the enrolment of farmers in the village
xi. All the above details shall be updated in Electronic Format in the Rythu Bandhu-Rythu Bima portal by the AEO under the supervision of the concerned MAO.
xii. 100 % verification of the forms collected by the AEOs will be done by the mandal agriculture officer.
xiii. The master list of all the members pertaining to a village will be submitted by the AEO through proper channel to the District Agriculture Officer.
xiv. The District wise lists will be furnished by the DAO to the C&DA designated as Nodal Agency.
xv. The same will be shared with the LIC so as to verify if all the enrolled farmers are updated in the MIS and passed to them i.e. LIC.
xvi. The Corporation reserves the right to verify such Register of members available with the Representative.
Enrolling Non-resident farmers:
• Different modes of publicity like Tom-tom, TV Scrolls and Newspapers for enrolling the beneficiaries who are not residing in the villages.
• Assistance of Sarpanch/Rythu Samanvaya Samithi Coordinators and others in the village will be taken to inform the non-resident Pattadars regarding the enrolment in the scheme.
Enrollment of new Pattadars (lateral entries) after 15th August:
The Mandal Agricultural Officers shall collect the details of the new Pattadars from the MRO by 5th of every month and should collect the nomination forms from the eligible Pattadars and to furnish the same to the District Agriculture Officer through proper channel and DAOs shall furnish the list of the new Pattadar Pass Books holders every month to C&DA.
Custody of the physical forms:
All the nomination forms shall be under the safe custody of the ADA for a minimum period of two years. All the claims settled forms should be kept separately and should be retained for a period of 10 years.
Verification of uploaded data:
The data will be verified for de-duplication and age correctness at NIC by using Aadhar as documentary proof. LIC will also shall verify the by way of De-duplication at their level
Procedure for modifying the Nominee:
If any request for change in nominee is received from the enrolled farmer, it has to be obtained in the prescribed format and pin it to the original application form and the same shall be produced to the LIC at the time of claim.
Certificate of Insurance:
i. LIC would be issuing a Certificate of Insurance (Annexure II) to each and every farmer who is included in the scheme.
ii. The distribution of the Certificates shall be commenced from 15th August 2018 onwards.
Settlement of Claims:
The Scheme is operative for one full year i.e., from 15th August 2018 to 14th August 2019 and would be renewed on an annual basis. The master list of all the members would be furnished by the Nodal Agency to LIC on an annual basis.
i. In the event of death of the Insured Member while being covered under the scheme, the benefits under the Assurance on his life will be credited to the Account of the Nominee of the Beneficiary, on receipt of claim online along with the requirements to the satisfaction of LIC.
ii. The AEO will collect the claim form along with the bank account details of the Nominee and the death certificate issued by the competent authority. The claim form along with the below mentioned documents shall be uploaded by the AEO in the Rythu Bandhu- Rythu Bhima portal.
iii. The requirement for death claim will be as under :
Claim intimation/Discharge form duly filled, signed and attested by the authorised signatory of the Nodal Agency.
Death Certificate original/duly attested copy.
Aadhar Card of the deceased and the nominee.
Nominee Bank Account Passbook, first page having details of the A/C holder, Account No. and IFSC Code of the Bank Branch.
iv. The insurance claim would be settled and amount would be paid based on a claim form. The amount would be paid into the account of the Nominee designated by the pattadar through electronic transfer only within 10 days.
v. Death Claims should be preferred with the Corporation within (6) months of the date of death of the insured member. In case of Claims delayed beyond (6) months, the Corporation may consider such Claims only on valid grounds and specific recommendations by the Government
vi. The claim amount is payable to the registered nominee only. However, the member has provision to alter the nomination during the term of the policy intimating to the Nodal Agency/Representative.
vii. In case of disputed claims, neither the Life Insurance Corporation of India nor the Government of Telangana/Nodal Agency, viz., Department of Agriculture, Govt. of Telangana, will involve in deciding the legal heirs of the disputed claim. If such issue raises, it is upto the risk and responsibility of the claimant/s to obtain a suitable order from the competent court 0f law.
viii. The Scheme implementing Agency shall upload the death Claim requirements such as Claim form and death certificate on line. However, LIC reserves the right to call for the physical papers whenever required. The Scheme implementing Agency, shall also submit a summary of the Claims with due authentication in the format specified by LIC. The Authentication to be done by an authorized official of Government. Corporation shall down load the required information and process the claims online.
ix. The payment in respect of Claims admitted by the Corporation will be made to the credit of the bank account of the claimant as per the particulars provided with an intimation to claimant and implementation agency
x. The Scheme shall be serviced by LIC by extending support at various levels to enable the scheme to run successfully. The Claims settlement will be within (10) working days from the date of receiving all the requirements. In case of delay, interest is payable as per IRDAI regulations from time to time
xi. The grievance redressal mechanism stipulated by IRDAI shall be applicable for this scheme. Corporation shall provide the necessary information and assistance by Hyderabad Unit to the Government.
PORTAL for Scheme Implementation (Management Information System):
i. A separate module in the same Rythu Bandhu Portal is developed for entering the details of the farmers insured.
ii. An additional feature is provided in the existing Rythu Bandhu Portal, with respect to the Group Life Insurance (Rythu Bima).
The National Informatics Center (NIC), Telangana State is designated as nodal agency for development of MIS for Rythu Bandhu Group Life Insurance Scheme. The State Informatics Officer, NIC, Revenue and DAOs will ensure flow of registered farmers’ data in the portal to enable the LIC for issuing the Certificate of Insurance.
The Dash board will be provided depicting the enrolment of farmers, no. of claims received and the claims settled by LIC along with amount.
Publicity and Training:
LIC will provide necessary publicity material for implementation of the scheme and also provide the necessary training to the members of the Nodal Agency.
Disentitlement for benefits and redress Grievances:
The farmer who has attained the age of 60 years shall cease to be a beneficiary.
Any grievance shall be addressed by the LIC (Implementing Agency) which shall dispose within thirty (30) days.
Power to amend scheme:
The state Government may by notification in the official Gazette, modify or amend the scheme for its proper implementation and in the interest of the farmers.
Monitoring mechanism:
A state level, District level, mandal level Monitoring Committee under will be constituted once in three months so as to list out new Pattadars for enrolment under Rythu Bima for arriving at the lateral entries if any to be insured and premium is to be paid to the Corporation and also Pattadars to be deleted based on the land registration records for the coming year The committee will meet periodically to review and also monitor the Status settlement of claims in the State. The committee shall also monitor the overall implementation of the scheme and give necessary guidance wherever necessary.
