Model insurance villages

In news: The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has suggested setting up model insured villages across the country.

About the insurance villages-

It aims to increase insurance penetration in rural areas with special focus on agriculture and allied activities.
The concept may be implemented in a minimum of 500 villages in different districts of the country in the first year and increased to a minimum of 1,000 villages in subsequent two years.
The efforts in selected villages need to be continued for a minimum of 3 to 5 years so as to make insurance benefits visible to the community.
According to the draft proposal, insurance for rural people should cover the entire population in villages and their property, farms/crops, farm machinery, vehicles, manufacturing enterprises and other specific insurance needs of the particular village.
Various state and central government awards winning villages, villages with a track record of implementing various social welfare and environmentally friendly initiatives may be preferred for implementation.
The draft proposal says a focused publicity campaign needs to be carried out for a reasonable period of time showcasing the benefits of insurance, rural insurance products and its features.
The campaign in vernacular should be done through print, electronic, social media and through other traditional and innovative ways of reaching out to people.
The draft has further proposed a sandbox phase, inviting innovative products from insurance companies, insurance intermediaries, other research institutions/ universities and companies dealing with rural population and agriculture and allied sector.
These model villages are expected to tackle losses due to natural calamities like floods and earthquakes.
Every general insurance company and reinsurance company accepting general insurance business and having offices in India needs to be involved for piloting the concept.