Bhopal, Dec 14 (IANS): The Madhya Pradesh government started 'Pashu Dhan Bima Yojana' offering insurance cover to the indigenous cattle owned by farmers. This will help them in mitigating the loss they suffer due to the death of cattle.

As per official information, scheme has been implemented across all the districts and the cattle including the milch animals will be covered under it.

A beneficiary could insure five animals. 10 animals in the category of sheep, goat, cow, buffalo etc. are counted as one unit, therefore, the cattle owners can insure 50 animals at a time. The cattle owners in the Above Poverty Line (APL) category would get 50 per cent subsidy while the owners in the Below Poverty Line (BPL), Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) category will get 70 per cent subsidy on insurance premium.

The maximum rate of insurance premium would be 3 per cent for one year and 7.5 per cent for three years. The cattle owners can insure their cattle for one to three years.

The owners will have to inform the insurance company about the death of the insured cattle within 24 hours. The doctors from the Animal Husbandry department would perform an autopsy of the cattle's body and mention the cause of death in the report. The officials will have to submit the insurance claim to the insurance company within a month and the company will have to settle the claim in 15 days.