Claims worth Rs 2,403 cr settled under PM Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana since Apr 1 last year

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, a total of 1.2 lakh claims amounting to Rs 2,403 crore have been settled under the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) since April 1, 2020, as per the Finance Ministry.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday met heads of insurance companies through video conferencing to review the progress made under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) insurance scheme for health workers fighting COVID-19. She also called for accelerating disbursement of pending claims under PMJJBY during the pandemic.  

"...under PMJJBY, a total of 4.65 lakh claims have been paid of value Rs 9,307 crore and since the beginning of the pandemic i.e., 1st April 2020 onwards till date, 1.2 lakh claims have been paid amounting to Rs 2,403 crore, at a disposal rate of 99 per cent," a release from the finance ministry said.

Sitharaman also took stock of Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), under which a total of 82,660 claims of Rs 1,629 crore have been paid as on May 31, 2021.

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PMJJBY and PMSBY were launched in 2015 to provide life and accidental insurance covers, respectively, of Rs 2 lakh each to all beneficiaries enrolled under the schemes through their banks with annual premium of only Rs 330 and Rs 12, respectively. The objective of the schemes is to ensure that people working in unorganised segment get financial security at a premium of less than Rs 1 per day.

The finance minister stressed the importance of streamlining process and documentation requirements under the schemes so that claims are disbursed speedily.

On insurance for health workers, the release said, "...the finance minister observed that under the PMGKP scheme, a total of 419 claims have been paid as on date, amounting to Rs 209.5 crore disbursed in the account of their nominees. To address the issue of delays arising out of states sending documents, the finance minister said that a new system has been put in place whereby a simple certificate from the district magistrate (DM) and endorsed by the nodal state health authority will be sufficient to process these claims."

She directed states to take up COVID claims of health workers on priority and make maximum use of the simplified mechanism.

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