Himalayan Yaks to be insured

Himalayan Yaks to be insured

Subject: Environment

Context: Recently, the National Research Centre on Yak (NRCY) at Dirang in Arunachal Pradesh has tied up with the National Insurance Company Ltd. for insuring Himalayan Yak.

Concept:

• The high altitude yak, feeling the climate change heat across the Himalayan belt, will now be insured.
• The countrywide population trend shows that yak population has been decreasing at an alarming rate.
• The climate change and inexplicable changes in the weather pattern have been reported from the yak rearing areas throughout the country.
• The insurance policy would shield the yak owners against the risks posed by weather calamities, diseases, in-transit mishaps, surgical operations and strikes or riots.
• Under the insurance policy, the owners would have to get their yaks ear-tagged and provide a proper description in order to get their animals insured.

About Himalayan Yak

• It is a high-altitude bovine cousin of the cow grazes across the grasslands of the Tibetan Plateau.
• It is a long-haired bovine found throughout the Himalayan region of India.
• It is found throughout the Himalayan region of the Indian subcontinent, the Tibetan Plateau, Northern Myanmar, Yunnan, Sichuan and as far north as Mongolia and Siberia.
• It is a “flagship species” and indicates the health of the ecosystem within which it lives.
• It is a high-altitude animal, usually found 2,000-5,000 metres above sea level.
• It is superbly adapted to the climate of the area in which it lives, which includes conditions of “cold winter, low oxygen content, high solar radiation, and cyclical nutrition with short growing seasons.
• It is listed as ‘Vulnerable’ under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.