Responding to Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah’s announcement that the Centre will facilitate the setting up of a life insurance company in the cooperative sector, a group of retired bankers, teachers and economic officers from among the alumni of SCD Govt College, Ludhiana appealed to the Centre to ensure that the rural sector ultimately benefits from the new insurance firm.
Initiating a discussion on the issue, Brij Bhushan Goyal, a retired banker, said, “Nearly half of India's workforce continues to depend on agriculture, making rural livelihoods highly vulnerable to crop failures, livestock losses, climate shocks and fluctuating farm incomes. The limited acceptance of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana in states like Punjab, coupled with persistent agrarian distress and debt-driven farmer suicides, highlights significant gaps in rural social security which any insurance scheme must cover.”
Goyal said the cooperative insurer should therefore evolve into a comprehensive rural risk assurance institution by integrating life, crop, livestock and livelihood protection under one umbrella. “Such an approach would reduce financial vulnerability, improve resilience and reinforce farmers’ confidence in the cooperative model. Since the cooperative movement was founded to safeguard the economic interests of rural communities, the proposed insurance company should remain true to that legacy,” he said.
K B Singh, a retired Economic Officer in the banking sector, said the proposed cooperative life insurance company is a good idea, but the premium under the scheme should be capped so that it becomes affordable for the last mile person to be insured.
Economist Prof Balwinderpal Singh said agriculture university experts, farmer unions and economists must be consulted before finalising the cooperative sector insurance company.
“It should not be superimposed like the three proposed bills on agriculture. Some comprehensive schemes can be made through different models. India is a vast country, and a progressive and secure farmer will be a strong asset of our economy. There should be total transparency about the use of money collected by this insurance company,” he said.
The group will send its suggestion to Amit Shah.
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