Relationship Between Percieved Usefulness of Yashaswini Health Scheme and Socio-Economic Characteristics of Farmers

Health is one of the vital indicators of human development. Health standards in India have improved considerably since independence. The efforts of the government and other agencies engaged in expanding the health infrastructure have paid off well as evidenced by the improvement in some of our health indicators. Government has made deeper inroad into rural areas with focused schemes like the Yashaswini and even started a scheme for health insurance for the poor population. Creating bridge between farmers and their need to live a healthy life, Yashaswini scheme has brought quality healthcare to the farmers’ doorstep in the state. A study was conducted to analyze the perceived usefulness of Yashaswini Health Scheme during 2012-13 in Belgaum district of Karnataka state. Purposive random sampling technique was used for the selection of four blocks i.e., Ramdurg, Savadatti, Gokak, and Bailhongal. One hundred and twenty farmers from eight villages were selected from four taluks. Age, education, family size, farming experience, mass media exposure and organizational participation showed significant relationship with awareness level. Whereas, family type, land holding annual income had no significant relation with awareness level of the beneficiaries. Age, education, family size, farming experience, organizational participation, showed positively significant relationship with perceived usefulness of the beneficiaries.