The high-altitude yak, feeling the climate change heat across the Himalayan belt, will now be insured.The National Research Centre on Yak (NRCY) at Dirang in Arunachal Pradesh’s West Kameng district has tied up with the National Insurance Company Ltd. for insuring their livestock.
The National Insurance Company Ltd has approved an insurance policy for yaks, following relentless efforts by the National Research Centre on Yak (NRCY) here in West Kameng district.
This will address the long-pending demand of yak owners for financial assistance in the face of climate vagaries and uncertainties.
Yak population in India
The total yak population in India is about 58,000. The Union Territories of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir have some 26,000, followed by 24,000 in Arunachal Pradesh, 5,000 in Sikkim, 2,000 in Himachal Pradesh and about 1,000 in West Bengal and Uttarakhand.
- Yaks belong to the Bovini tribe, which also includes bisons, buffaloes, and cattle.
- It can tolerate temperatures as low as -40 degrees Celsius
- IUCN Red list status: Vulnerable
- Listed under Appendix I of CITES
- Indian WildLife (Protection) Act of 1972: Schedule II
- The most serious threat to the Wild Yak’s survival is casual and market hunting. The Yak is hunted for its meat, horns, and other materials.
The Need For Insurance:
The countrywide population trend shows that yak population has been decreasing at an alarming rate.
Further, climate change and inexplicable changes in the weather pattern have been reported from the yak rearing areas throughout the country.
More than 500 yaks died in a single spell of heavy rainfall in the north Sikkim area in 2019, leading to heavy financial burden on the owners,
Procedure:
According to the policy, the owners would have to get their yaks ear-tagged and provide a proper description in order to get their animals insured.
For getting the claim, the owner has to submit the completed claim form, death certificate from the veterinary practitioner, the postmortem report, and the ear tag.
Also, there has to be a 15-day waiting period to claim the amount, that is, death of an animal due to some disease within 15 days from the commencement of the risk is not payable.
The National Research Centre on Yak (NRCY)
CAR-National Research Centre on Yak is a premier research organisation exclusively engaged in research and development of Yak in India. The institute was established in 1989 by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research at Dirang, West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. At present, the institute is located at Dirang (1500 m above msl) and experimental Yak farm at Nyukmadung (2700 m above msl) at a distance of 31 km from Dirang.