The government’s plan to extend the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, the health insurance scheme for the poor, to all NREGS (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) workers is set to be delayed because of the slow progress in working out the number of Above Poverty Line workers participating in the job scheme.

Sources said the Rural Development Ministry is yet to tabulate the number of APL households participating in the NREGS although it had last month itself written to state governments asking for the figures. The decision to extend the health insurance scheme to all the NREGS workers was taken at a meeting convened by the Prime Minister’s Office over a month ago.

Since the health insurance scheme now covers only the Below Poverty Line workers, its expansion to include APL families and households requires the Cabinet’s sanction. Before approaching the Cabinet, the Labour Ministry, which implements the RSBY, needs to ascertain the number of APL families participating in the NREGS to work out the financial burden.

According to official estimates, almost 80-85 per cent families in the NREGS belong to BPL while the rest are APL. It was decided at the meeting, chaired by a top PMO official, that the Rural Development Ministry will work out the number of APL families taking part in the NREGA and share it with the Labour Ministry.

Till date, the Labour Ministry has issued 66 lakh smart cards across 23 states and Union Territories. Under the cashless, paperless insurance scheme, launched on April 1, 2008, the Centre pays 75 per cent of the premium while the rest is borne by the state governments.

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