By IANS,
Chandigarh : Haryana Friday became the first state in the country to start an animal insurance scheme, with officials of the animal husbandry and dairy development department saying over 125,000 cattle head of farmers and dairy owners have been insured.
The animal insurance project has been initiated in five of the 21 Haryana districts as a pilot project.
The Haryana government has also extended the facility to dairy owners to get their milch cattle insured. Such animals are insured for Rs 100,000 against sudden death for a marginal premium of Rs 10 per annum.
Officials said the state government has also prepared a scheme to compensate farmers on the death of their cattle head.
Nearly 81,000 cattle head of the Scheduled Castes families have been insured free of cost by the state government for over Rs.30 million.
Haryana is famous for the ‘Murrah’ variety of buffaloes whose milk yield is high.