NEW DELHI: Expressing concerns over the rising frequency and intensity of disasters, the Principal Secretary to Prime Minister, PK Mishra, on Saturday stressed the need to expand affordable disaster risk insurance to vulnerable populations.Addressing a workshop of the National Disaster Management Authority, Mishra highlighted key issues, including challenges of reaching underserved populations with affordable insurance and ensuring a simplified claims process. He also stressed upon the importance of public-private partnerships in widening the reach of insurance products and ensuring the fiscal sustainability of such initiatives.Mishra said he was saying so on the basis of the Prime Minister’s 10-point agenda for Disaster Risk Reduction from 2016.He also delved upon the government’s role in supporting the expansion of disaster insurance, either by acting as a facilitator for the private sector or taking a direct role.Mishra underscored two major government-backed insurance programmes, the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and Ayushman Bharat, as examples of successful risk protection initiatives.The PMFBY provides affordable crop insurance to farmers, shielding them from income losses due to natural disasters, while Ayushman Bharat offers health insurance to economically disadvantaged individuals, helping to reduce medical expenses.
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