Farmers Accidental Insurance Scheme (Khedut Akasmat Vima Yojana)

What is the Farmers Accidental Insurance Scheme?

Farmers Accidental Insurance Scheme, known across Gujarat by its Gujarati name Khedut Akasmat Vima Yojana, is an accident cover provided by the Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Co-operation Department, Government of Gujarat and administered through the Directorate of Agriculture and the district agriculture machinery. The Government of Gujarat has implemented the scheme since 26 January 1996, making it one of the oldest continuously running farmer welfare measures in the state.

Farmers Accidental Insurance Scheme exists because farming carries a high accident risk that ordinary household savings cannot absorb: tractor and implement accidents, falls from wells and trees, snake bite, electrocution from irrigation pumps, drowning in canals, and road accidents on the way to and from the field. When a khatedar farmer dies or is permanently disabled in such an accident, the family loses its income and its ability to work the land at the same time.

According to the Directorate of Agriculture, the scheme is 100 percent sponsored by the Government and the premium is paid by the government for all farmers. From 1 April 2008 the scheme has been operated under the Gujarat Community Group Janta Accidental Insurance Scheme through the Director of Insurance, Gandhinagar. A farmer therefore does not buy a policy, does not pay anything and does not enrol separately, coverage follows from being a registered khatedar in the land record.

Key features

• Rs 2,00,000 for accidental death or permanent disability.
• Rs 1,00,000 for the accidental loss of one eye or one limb.
• Cover extends to the khatedar farmer, the spouse, and every son and daughter.
• Age band of 5 to 70 years.
• No premium, no enrolment form, no annual renewal for the farmer.
• Claim window of 150 days from the accident.

Who is eligible for Khedut Akasmat Vima Yojana?

You are covered if:

• You are a registered khatedar farmer of Gujarat, with land held in individual or joint name in the village land record.
• You are the husband or wife of a registered khatedar farmer.
• You are a son or daughter of a registered khatedar farmer.
• You are aged between 5 and 70 years at the time of the accident.
• The death or the permanent disability was caused by an accident.

You are not eligible and cannot claim if:

• The death was by suicide. The Directorate of Agriculture states plainly that suicide is not covered.
• The death was natural, from illness, age or any non-accidental cause.
• The person was under 5 or over 70 years of age at the time of the accident.
• The person is not a khatedar farmer and is not the spouse or child of one, for example a landless agricultural labourer or a tenant cultivator with no entry in the 7/12 record. These families should look instead at Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and the state's unorganised worker schemes.
• The claim is filed after 150 days from the date of death or disability.
• The disability is temporary rather than permanent, or falls below the threshold certified by the civil surgeon.

Note that the scheme uses the land record as the eligibility test. If land was recently inherited or partitioned and the mutation is not yet entered, get the 7/12 corrected as a matter of routine, not after an accident.

How much does the scheme pay?

The payment is a one-time settlement, not a pension, and it is credited to the bank account of the farmer in a disability claim or of the approved heir in a death claim. Because the scheme is state-funded and not a commercial policy, there is no maturity value, no bonus and nothing payable if no accident occurs.

What documents are needed to file a claim?

How to apply for the Farmers Accidental Insurance Scheme

1. Report the accident to the police immediately and make sure an FIR and a panchnama are recorded. Without a police record the claim cannot be established as accidental, and this is the step families most often skip in the confusion after a death.
2. Obtain the medical papers — the post-mortem report in a death case, or the civil surgeon's permanent disability certificate in a disability case.
3. Collect the land record. The 7/12 and 8-A extracts showing the khatedar entry, from the talati or the e-Dhara centre.
4. Get the prescribed claim form from the office of the District Agriculture Officer, the District Panchayat agriculture branch or the taluka level agriculture staff, and fill it in completely.
5. Attach every supporting paper, death certificate, FIR, panchnama, post-mortem or disability certificate, age proof, heirship affidavit and bank passbook copy.
6. Submit the complete file to the concerned District Agriculture Officer or District Panchayat within 150 days of the date of death or of the accidental disability, and collect a dated acknowledgement.
7. Follow up with the district office using the acknowledgement, as the file moves to the Director of Insurance, Gandhinagar for settlement.

The village-level extension worker (gram sevak) and the taluka agriculture officer are the first points of help for a family that does not know how to begin. Scheme information and formats for Gujarat's agriculture schemes are published on the state farmer portal ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in.

How to track a claim

Farmers Accidental Insurance Scheme is settled through the district agriculture administration rather than through a self-service online tracker. To follow a pending claim:

1. Keep the dated acknowledgement issued when the file was submitted.
2. Visit or call the District Agriculture Officer's office and quote the acknowledgement number and the date of the accident.
3. Ask specifically whether the file has been forwarded to the Director of Insurance, Gandhinagar, and whether any document has been objected to.
4. If a document is short, submit it in writing with a fresh acknowledgement so the 150-day compliance is on record.

Why claims fail, and how to prevent it

• No FIR or panchnama. A death treated as unexplained rather than accidental will not qualify. Insist on a police record even where the accident is obvious.
• Post-mortem not conducted. In a death claim the post-mortem report is the medical proof of an accidental cause.
• Land record does not show the deceased as khatedar, or the relationship of the deceased to the khatedar is not documented. Correct mutations promptly.
• Age outside 5 to 70. Verify age from a school certificate or birth record before filing.
• Filed after 150 days. This is a hard limit; a late file is normally rejected.
• Suicide or natural death wrongly filed as an accident.
• Heirship not clear, with more than one claimant for the same farmer.
• Bank account details wrong, causing the DBT to fail after sanction.

Key dates

Farmers Accidental Insurance Scheme has no application season and no annual last date, because it is a claim-driven scheme rather than a subsidy with a window. Two dates matter: the date of the accident, and the 150th day after it, by which the claim must reach the District Agriculture Officer or the District Panchayat. Families should treat the 150-day period as the real deadline and file even if one supporting paper is still awaited.

Where to get help

• District Agriculture Officer of the district where the land is recorded. The primary office for this scheme.
• District Panchayat agriculture branch and the taluka agriculture officer.
• ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in, the Gujarat state farmer portal, for scheme information and formats.
• Directorate of Agriculture, Gujarat at dag.gujarat.gov.in, which publishes the state-sponsored scheme list, government resolutions and district office contact details.
• Kisan Call Centre on 1800-180-1551 for general farm scheme guidance.

No fee is payable to any officer or agent for filing a Khedut Akasmat Vima Yojana claim. The premium is paid by the Government of Gujarat and the entire claim process is free for the farmer's family.