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Rahul Wadke

Mumbai, Oct 21

The humble bullock may be at the heart of rural economy. But for bankers and general insurance companies, it has been a nightmare. For the former, the challenge has been to prevent the security of a pair of bullocks being offered to succession of banks for fresh loans. For managers in the insurance industry, it is a case of how to prevent bogus insurance claims.

A microchip (Radio Frequency Identification tag or RFID tag, for short) implanted in the cattle might provide a solution to the dilemma. The Gujarat Government has already ventured into this field.

The State Government would soon be implanting 1.5 lakh cattle with these chips to prevent fraudulent applications for loans or claims against cattle insurance policies. The District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) in Gujarat would be permanently injecting the microchips in the cavity behind the ear of cows and buffaloes.

The microchip is based on WORM (write once and read many) technology making it tamper resistant and giving a unique 15-digit identification number for the cattle sporting it. Talking to Business Line, Dr Vasanth Kalaria, Veterinary Surgeon with DRDA, said once injected, the RFID tags would be very difficult to remove and the farmers would have to take the help of a surgeon to remove it. Any kind of tampering or effort to insert a new tag by the cattle owner could result in loss of coverage. A cattle that is brought to them and sporting an RFID identification that is currently not in their data base would be counted as a new cattle, he said.

Mr Ashwin Thakkar, Divisional Manager, Oriental Insurance Company Ltd, Rajkot, said that RFID tags are going to help in reducing fraudulent cattle insurance claims. The currently used external plastic tags are easily tampered and can be transferred to other cattle, he said. The DRDA would be subsidising the cost of these tags, he added.

Mr Thakkar said that in many instances, local veterinary officer, in cahoots with village cooperative, would insure 100 cattle but never tag the animals and the farmers would claim insurance for their dead cattle according to their convenience, he said.

DRDA has already completed a pilot project for RFID tags with Amul Dairy. The first round of mass tagging would be undertaken by November on cows and buffaloes, which are to be given to the below-poverty-line families under the Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana, a centrally-sponsored scheme for poverty alleviation.

Mr V.V. Vaja, Director of DRDA for Kheda district, said that the pilot programme has proved that the tags are compatible with the tissues of the cattle. They are ISO compliant and do not have any negative effect on the cattle. The backend software support for the chips is also being created. It will host all the data on the cattle including milk yield, hereditary diseases, insemination and pedigree, he said.

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