Kathmandu. Madhes Province, which is considered the lifeline of the country in terms of road connectivity, agricultural production and economic ease, is far behind Karnali Province in terms of access to insurance. Nepal Insurance Authority’s Fiscal Year 2081. The latest data of 82 percent and the revised population analysis have shown that the insurance cover in Madhes is very weak. Yes.
| region | Active Insurance | population(revised estimate) | Insured Access(percent) |
| Koshi | 1,748,179 | 5,006,049 | 35 % |
| Madhesh | 650,661 | 6,586,440 | 10 % |
| Bagmati | 10,181,860 | 6,358,449 | 160 % |
| Gandaki | 852,401 | 2,414,940 | 35 % |
| Lumbini | 1,074,366 | 5,276, 241 |
20% |
| Karnali | 544,074 | 1,729,287 |
31 % |
| Farwest | 579,458 | 2,662,634 | 22 % |
| Jamma | 15,630,999 | 30,034,040 | 52 % |
The main reason for Bagmati’s 160 percent access is the focus of foreign employment insurance, microfinance insurance and corporate offices in Kathmandu. The fact that Bagmati Province has more than 100 per cent access to insurance does not mean that all the people of Bagmati are insured. The business of Bagmati is high as the compulsory term life insurance of the workers going for foreign employment and the insurance policies of big microfinance companies are issued from the central office (Kathmandu). Apart from this, the insurance policy of the microfinance company is also issued from the central office.
On the other hand, the subsidy-based micro-insurance of the government and local levels has contributed a lot to the 31 percent access in Karnali which is considered geographically remote. However, in Madhesh, the penetration has been reduced to 10 percent due to the absence of subsidy-based life insurance and the predominance of expensive insurance policies of only term nature.
On the other hand, due to government subsidies and local-subsidized micro insurance in Karnali, the access to active insurance has increased more than that of Madhes. In addition, the absence of grant-based life insurance policies in Madhesh and the high population density with the high number of term insurance policies seem to be very weak.
Insurance Authority’s Fiscal Year 2081. According to the statistics of 82, 52 percent of the total population has access to insurance on the basis of active insurance policy. Access to insurance in Madhes is far below the national average.
Although Madhes (0.485) is higher than Karnali (0.427) on the basis of Human Development Index, it is far behind in terms of interest in insurance. The per capita income of paddy, sugarcane, pulses and remittances from foreign employment in Madhesh is higher than that of Karnali.
Despite this, the following reasons seem to be behind the lack of access to insurance:
Fascination with LIC: } Due to the open border, the people of Madhes have the old trust and affection towards the Life Insurance Corporation of India rather than the Nepali company. The domestic insurance market has not been able to cover a large part of Madhes due to the tendency of crossing the border to insure and saving.
Saving and interest preference: People prefer to keep money in cooperatives rather than insurance as they look at insurance from the point of view of savings and interest rather than risk management.
Poor financial literacy: is a source of income but due to lack of information about long-term financial security, access to Madhesh insurance is under a ‘black shadow’.
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It can have a long-term impact if it can run a street drama campaign that includes the stories of the villages rather than the direct publicity of insurance for public awareness in Madhesh. Although the audience of street drama is limited, it is an effective medium to retain the audience and convey a message that touches the audience. It has proved to be very effective for public awareness about dowry system, child marriage, education and sanitation in Madhesh.
Collaboration with the local level has been seen as essential to expand the insurance safety net in Madhes. It is necessary to develop the habit of insuring the general public by issuing subsidized term insurance through the cooperation of all three tiers of government, insurance authority, private sector and donor organizations for at least temporary and micro insurance. Once you can get the benefits of insurance, it will contribute to raising awareness about insurance.
