Uttarakhand Becomes First State to Start Insurance Scheme for Sericulturists: Ganesh Joshi

According to state agriculture minister Ganesh Joshi, Uttarakhand has started the nation's first "Resham Keet Bima" scheme to protect its sericulturists.

In the first phase of the pilot project, which began in Uttarakhand, 200 sericulturists from five blocks across four districts — Dehradun, Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar, and Nainital — received insurance against the negative impacts of climate change, water shortage, and other hazards.

Joshi said that in order to protect the farmers from loss, the scheme has been started as a pilot project covering five development blocks of four districts of the state. The decision to do this has been taken by the Agriculture Insurance Company of India and the department.

The programme, which is being managed by Saral Krishi Beema, was introduced on Thursday in Dehradun in the presence of the director of the silk directorate, AK Yadav, the chairperson of the Uttarakhand Cooperative Silk Federation Limited, Ajeet Singh, the CMD of the Agriculture Insurance Company of India Limited, Girijia Subramanian, and the CGM of NABARD.

The project, in Ajeet Singh's opinion, is an effort to encourage the state's silk manufacturing. Sericulture affects roughly 12,000 families in the state both directly and indirectly, and 6,000 stakeholders generated almost 300 metric tonnes of silk fibroin there every year.

Joshi remarked, "It has come to my attention that the majority of farmers in the state who work at producing silkworms fall into the small/marginal category and are not financially stable. As a result, the insured is unable to pay the premium for the sum promised."

Ganesh Joshi also stated that the state government would be responsible for paying the insurance premium amount in the upcoming years, thus the director of Silk in Uttarakhand has to start working on a plan immediately and submit it to the authorities.