The Hindu : Rs. 100-crore corpus for Yeshaswini

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 29, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Rs. 100-crore corpus for Yeshaswini

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, JAN. 28. The State Government, enthused by the success of the Yeshaswini Insurance Scheme, a health programme for farmers, has decided to create a corpus of Rs. 100 crore with contributions from the Government, profitable cooperative institutions, multinational corporations, and other donors. This was decided at the review meeting chaired by the Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, here today.

Announcing the decision to presspersons after the meeting, the Minister for Cooperation, H. Vishwanath, said 17 lakh farmers had been enrolled under the scheme in the past nine months, and the target was to increase the figure to 50 lakhs. A beneficiary had to be a member of a cooperative society and pay Rs. 5 a month as contribution. The State contributed Rs. 2.50 per person each month. He added that 21,000 persons had availed of treatment and 5,033 had undergone surgeries.

Mr. Vishwanath said that there was a proposal to issue "smart cards" to farmers to streamline the functioning of the system and to avoid fraudulent practices. As per the desire of the Chief Minister, farm labourers would also be given membership cards. The modalities were being worked out, he added.

The Chairman of Narayana Hrudayalaya, Devi Shetty, said that to reach the target of enrolling 50 lakh farmers under the scheme, a larger network was needed. The number of hospitals in the scheme would increase from 97 to over 130, he added.

Dr. Shetty said the Rockefeller Foundation would introduce the scheme in two taluks in the State and fund the project. The foundation was keen on replicating the project.

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