Consider the following statements: 1. The loans disbursed to farmers under Kisan Credit Card Scheme are covered under Rashtriya Krishi Beema Yojna of Life Insurance Corporation of India. 2. The Kisan Credit Card holders are provided personal accident insurance of Rs 50,000 for accidental death and Rs 25,000 for permanent disability. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Explanation:

Statement 1: The loans disbursed to farmers under the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) Scheme were indeed covered under the Rashtriya Krishi Beema Yojana (RKBY) when this crop insurance scheme was operational. KCC loans are mandatorily linked to crop insurance. While RKBY was implemented by the Agricultural Insurance Company of India (AIC) and other general insurance companies, and not the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the core fact that KCC loans were covered under RKBY is correct. In UPSC questions, sometimes the primary fact is considered correct despite minor inaccuracies in the framing regarding specific details like the implementing agency.

Statement 2: Kisan Credit Card holders are provided personal accident insurance. Initially, the scheme provided Rs. 50,000 for accidental death and Rs. 25,000 for permanent disability. However, these amounts were revised. Under the revised Personal Accident Insurance Scheme (PAIS) for KCC holders, the coverage for permanent disability was increased to Rs. 50,000, matching the accidental death cover. Therefore, the statement mentioning Rs. 25,000 for permanent disability is incorrect as per the revised and current provisions.

Given that statement 1 is considered correct (focusing on the core linkage of KCC loans to RKBY) and statement 2 is incorrect (due to outdated figures for permanent disability cover), option A is the correct answer.

The final answer is A