In India, cattle insurance claimants are required to cut off part of the deceased animal’s ear with the punched ear tag and submit it to the insurance company. This leads to concerns regarding the relatively primitive system’s vulnerability to fraud.
When a cow or other farm animal such as a goat or a camel is bought, a veterinarian attaches a tag carrying a unique identification number to its right ear. If the animal dies prematurely, the veterinarian will perform an autopsy and submit a report to the insurance company along with the severed ear.
“The cattle insurance scheme is a loss-making one. Since at least 90% of the claims we received were false, we have limited this department to a large extent,” an official from the state-owned insurer told DNA India.
The official said that many times, the ear is taken from the slaughterhouse and punched with a tag. The insurer is then informed over the weekend about the animals’ death, and by the time an inspector arrives at the scene, the carcass is already decomposed, leaving only an ear and a medical report. In many cases, even the veterinarians and bank officials are in on the scheme.
