Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY)

What is Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana?

Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY) is a social security scheme that provides life and disability insurance to people in rural landless households and in a range of unorganised-sector occupations. It is administered by the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) on behalf of the Government, under the Ministry of Labour & Employment, and is run as a group insurance scheme rather than an individual policy.

AABY in its current form dates from 2013, when the earlier Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana and Janashree Bima Yojana were merged into a single scheme. It is meant for people who would otherwise have no life cover at all: landless rural families and workers in identified occupational groups, and it bundles a death benefit, an accident-disability benefit and a children's scholarship into one low-cost package.

Key features

• Group life and accident cover administered by LIC.
• Membership open to those aged 18 to 59.
• Annual premium of Rs 200 per member, shared between the Central Government and the State Government / Nodal Agency.
• A free add-on scholarship for the children of covered members.
• Cover is arranged through a State Nodal Agency, not by individual purchase.

How much does AABY pay?

According to the scheme's benefit structure administered by LIC, AABY provides:

• Natural death: Rs 30,000 to the nominee.
• Death due to accident: Rs 75,000 to the nominee.
• Permanent total disability due to accident (loss of two eyes or two limbs): Rs 75,000.
• Permanent partial disability due to accident (loss of one eye or one limb): Rs 37,500.

In addition, AABY carries a free add-on scholarship of Rs 100 per month per child for up to two children of the covered member who are studying in classes 9 to 12. This scholarship is paid half-yearly and is separate from the insurance cover.

The premium for this cover is Rs 200 per year per member. Half is met by the Central Government through a Social Security Fund maintained with LIC, and the remaining half by the State Government or the Nodal Agency operating the scheme for a particular group. As a result, the covered worker often pays a very small share or nothing at all, but the exact split depends on the group and the state, so it should be confirmed with the Nodal Agency.

Who is eligible for Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana?

You can be covered if:

• You are aged between 18 and 59.
• You are the head of the family or one earning member of a rural landless household, or
• You belong to one of the 48 identified occupational / vocational groups covered under the scheme (for example, various artisan, worker and self-employed categories notified by the Government).
• You are enrolled through the State Nodal Agency that holds the group policy with LIC.

You cannot be covered if:

• You are below 18 or aged 60 or above — the cover normally ceases at 60.
• You do not belong to a rural landless household or a notified occupational group.
• You try to buy AABY as an ordinary individual policy at an LIC branch. It is a group scheme, so enrolment must go through a Nodal Agency.

Because AABY works through group policies, whether you can join often depends on whether your occupation or community has an active Nodal Agency and master policy in your state.

What documents are required for AABY?

How to apply for Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana

1. Identify the State Nodal Agency for your group. This is usually a state welfare board, government department or registered society that holds the AABY master policy with LIC for your occupation or for rural landless households.
2. Approach the Nodal Agency with your age proof, proof that you belong to an eligible group, bank account details and nominee details.
3. Enrol under the group policy through the agency, which pays the premium to LIC on behalf of the members (with the Government share built in).
4. Register your children's details if you want the education scholarship, so that up to two children in classes 9 to 12 can receive Rs 100 per month each.
5. At the time of a claim, submit the death certificate (and, for accident claims, the police/post-mortem report or the disability certificate) through the Nodal Agency, which processes the claim with LIC.

Individual walk-in enrolment at an LIC branch is not the route for AABY; the scheme is delivered through Nodal Agencies, so start there.

Where to get help

For claim procedures and cover details, contact the State Nodal Agency through which you were enrolled, or reach LIC through its customer helpline. The Nodal Agency is best placed to confirm your premium share, your enrolment status and the documents needed for a specific claim, because it holds the master policy for your group.

Why AABY matters

For a landless rural family or an unorganised-sector worker, AABY provides something that is otherwise hard to obtain: real life and accident cover for a premium of Rs 200 a year, most of which is met by the Government. A death benefit of Rs 30,000 to Rs 75,000 and a scholarship for two school-going children can make a meaningful difference to a low-income family at exactly the moment they are most vulnerable. The one thing to remember is that AABY is a group scheme. The way in is through your State Nodal Agency, not an individual policy counter.

How to check your application status

AABY does not have a public online portal where a member can log in and track an enrolment or claim, because the cover is issued as a group policy to a State Nodal Agency rather than to individuals. To check where things stand:

• Confirm enrolment first, not a claim. Ask your State Nodal Agency (the welfare board, department or society through which you joined) whether your name appears in the member list sent to LIC for your group's master policy. This is the only real record that you are covered.
• Ask for the master policy number. The Nodal Agency holds a group policy number with LIC for your occupational category or rural landless household group. Quote this number, along with your own name and enrolment year, whenever you follow up.
• For a pending death or disability claim, the Nodal Agency is the point of contact, since it forwards claim papers to LIC on the member's or nominee's behalf. Ask the agency for the date the claim was submitted to LIC and for LIC's claim reference, if one has been issued.
• Call the LIC customer helpline (022-68276827) once you have the policy number or claim reference, and ask LIC's social security cell to confirm receipt and processing status. LIC generally cannot look up a claim by the individual's Aadhaar or bank account alone; it works off the group policy and member records supplied by the Nodal Agency.
• Follow up in writing with the Nodal Agency if a claim has been pending for several weeks, and keep a copy of the death certificate or disability certificate submission with a receiving stamp or acknowledgement, since this is often the only proof that the claim was actually filed.
• For the children's scholarship, check with the same Nodal Agency whether the half-yearly Rs 100-per-month payment has been credited, since disbursal is usually batched through the agency rather than paid directly by LIC on request.

Because there is no self-service tracking, the practical rule is to always go back to the same Nodal Agency that enrolled the member, since it is the only party holding both the group policy details and the individual member's record.

Common reasons for rejection

• The person was never actually enrolled under a group policy. AABY cannot be joined as an individual walk-in policy at an LIC branch. If no State Nodal Agency ever submitted the person's name as a member of its master policy, there is no cover to claim against, however genuine the death or accident. The fix is to confirm enrolment with the Nodal Agency before treating cover as active, and to enrol through an eligible group in advance rather than after an incident.
• Age outside the 18 to 59 band at the relevant time. A claim is rejected if the member was under 18 or had crossed 59 (cover ceases at 60) when the policy was taken or when the insured event occurred. Keep valid age proof on the enrolment file so the age used for cover start and cessation is not disputed later.
• The person does not fit an eligible category. AABY only covers the head or one earning member of a rural landless household, or someone in one of the 48 notified occupational groups. A claim can be denied if the deceased or disabled member's household or occupation does not match what the Nodal Agency certified at enrolment, so it matters that the group-membership proof given at enrolment accurately describes the person's actual status.
• Missing or inconsistent nominee details. If no nominee was recorded, or the person claiming is not the recorded nominee and cannot show a valid legal-heir claim, LIC may withhold or delay payment. Update nominee details with the Nodal Agency whenever family circumstances change, rather than leaving an outdated or blank nominee field.
• Incomplete claim documentation. A natural death claim without a death certificate, or an accidental death or disability claim without a police report, post-mortem report or medical disability certificate, will not be processed. Since the Nodal Agency assembles these papers before forwarding them to LIC, missing any one document usually shows up as delay or return of the claim rather than an outright rejection, but the practical result is the same until the papers are complete.
• Premium lapse at the group level. Because the premium is paid centrally by the Nodal Agency (with the Government's share routed through LIC's Social Security Fund), an individual member does not usually lose cover for a personal non-payment. However, if the Nodal Agency itself has let the group policy lapse or has not renewed it for a cycle, claims for members under that group can be rejected. This is outside an individual member's control, but it is worth periodically confirming with the Nodal Agency that the master policy is current.
• Cause of death or disability outside the policy definition. Permanent partial disability is defined narrowly (loss of one eye or one limb) and total disability similarly (loss of two eyes or two limbs); disabilities or conditions that do not match these definitions may not qualify for the higher accident benefit, even if they are genuinely disabling. Where the actual disability differs from the policy wording, it is worth asking the Nodal Agency or LIC directly which benefit tier applies before assuming the higher amount.