Air Force Group Insurance Society (AFGIS) entered its silver jubilee year in November last year. Twenty- five years is a reasonable length of time to take stock of the society's contribution towards the personnel of the Indian Air Force. The Indian Air Force can be justly proud to have conceived, formulated and put into practice the concept of social security i.e. group insurance that has stood the test of time and grown by leaps and bounds in the past twenty five years. Air Force was the first service to apply the concept of social security to bring qualitative changes by providing life insurance and other related services in order to improve the socio-economic environment and life-style of its personnel. AFGIS can be said to have become one of the important factors in ensuring the financial and physical well-being of Air Force personnel at the time of retirement and thereafter.

AFGIS was established since no insurance company in the country was ready to provide insurance cover to the Air Force personnel due to inherent high risks involved in the profession of flying. Various interactions and arrangements with the Life Insurance Corporation of India did not yield favourable results. Therefore, to cover the risk involved during peace and war, to meet the aspirations of the Air Force personnel and to improve the conditions of dependents and widows of those who sacrificed their lives in the service of the nation, the Indian Air Force took upon itself with the approval of the Central Government to form a group insurance society. Thus came into the existence the Air Force Group Insurance Society.

AFGIS is a registered society under the Societies Registration Act (XXI of 1860) and is governed by the rules and bye-laws approved by the Board of Trustees. AFGIS has to transact its business within the approved rules and no one has any discretionary powers in this regard. It provides a compulsory group insurance-cum-saving scheme for all Air Force personnel. This scheme is managed entirely out of the monthly premium paid by the Air Force personnel and is essentially a self-sustaining scheme.

For the last twentyfive years AFGIS launched many insurance schemes to meet growing insurance needs of the Air Force personnel. It made a modest beginning on November 1, 1975 with introduction of a life insurance cover of Rs 44000, Rs 33000, Rs 16500 and Rs 11000 to flying branch officers, ground duty officers, airmen of the rank of JWO and above and airmen of the rank of sergeant and below respectively. NCs (E) were not covered in the initial scheme. The insurance cover was revised with the introduction of RGIS-75 (Rs 66000 for officers, Rs 33000 for Airmen and Rs 11000 NCs (E), EGIS-82 (Rs 150000 for officers, Rs 75000 for Airmen and Rs 30000 for NCs (E), GIS-88 (Rs 3,30,000 for officers, Rs 1,65,000 for Airmen and Rs 55000 for NCs(E)) and GIS-97 (Rs 10,00,000 for officers, Rs 5,00000 for Airmen and Rs 2,50,000 for NCs (E). To cater to the flying risk and admissibility of flying pay, AFGIS also launched Flying Pay Linked Insurance Scheme 1981 and provided a cover of Rs 2,83,000 for aircrew officers and Rs 1,41,500 for aircrew airmen. All these schemes (except GIS-75) provided an insurance cover for disability at half the life cover and in proportion to the degree of composite disability percentage as approved by DGMS (Air) or his authorised representative subject to a minimum disability of 20% whether attributable to service or not.

Considering that retired personnel are part and parcel of the family and they also need an insurance cover after retirement, AFGIS launched Post Retirement Insurance Cover (PRIC-81) with effect from August 1, 1981, with an insurance cover of Rs 60000, Rs 30,000 and Rs 10,000 for officers, airmen and NCs (E) respectively. This cover was provided for 10 years or up-to the age of 65 years whichever is earlier. The cover was increased without charging any additional premium to Rs 80,000, Rs 40,000 and Rs 15000 with effect from August 31, 1985 for officers, airmen and NCs(E) respectively. The cover was also extended for 15 years from the date of retirement or upto the age of 65 years whichever is earlier subject to a minimum of 9 years cover for those who retired between 56 and 60 years. PRIC-90 was launched on September 30, 1990. The amount of insurance cover to officers was increased to Rs 2,00,000 to airmen Rs 1,00,000 and to NCs(E) Rs 30,000. The risk was covered for 15 years from the date of retirement or upto the age of 70 years. However, the amount of cover after 15 years is 50% of the original sum assured. To meet the increased insurance needs because of fall in value of rupee, Post Retirement Insurance Cover-99 (PRIC-99) was launched with effect from April 30, 1999. The compulsory cover provided under this scheme is Rs 3,00,000, Rs 1,50,000 and Rs 60,000 to officers, airmen and NCs(E) respectively. Members are provide with full insurance cover for the first 15 years and 50% thereafter upto the age of 70 years. The scheme also provides flexibility to members to opt for higher cover up to Rs 5,00,000 for officers, Rs 2,50,000 for airmen and Rs 1,00,000 for NCs (E) on payment of additional premium.

Retired service personnel are not entitled for specialised medical treatment from service/civil hospital at the government expense. The cost of such treatment is very high which ex-servicemen can ill-afford. To cater to the needs of the Air Force personnel, Air Force Group Insurance Society launched a Medical Insurance Scheme (MIS) on July 31, 1991. The insurance cover of Rs 1,00,000 was provided to all the Air Force personnel for 15 years or upto 70 years of age. However, on May 31 1993 the cover was extended to life-time. The scheme intended to provide financial assistance to a member and spouse for high cost of surgery/treatment of ailments connected with heart, cancer, renal and hip/knee joint replacement operation. On January 1, 1997, MIS-97 was introduced in view of spiralling increase in the cost of specified treatment and request from the retired personnel that the Medical Insurance Cover of Rs 1,00,000 is inadequate to meet the cost of a specialised treatment. MIS-97 provides a minimum compulsory cover of
Rs 1,00,000 each for self and spouse. There is no upper ceiling limit and a member can opt for availing higher cover in addition to the compulsory cover. The cover is available for life-time to the member and his spouse.

Loans for housing, car and two - wheeler were provided to the service personnel through public fund. However, due to budgetary constraints and limited funds the benefits could not be extended to all personnel. AFGIS was asked to provide these facilities without compromising on its insurance commitments. Accordingly, AFGIS extended house building loan (1988), conveyance advance for car and two-wheeler (1990) and personal computer loan (1998) to the serving personnel. As on date, these loans have really helped in meeting the aspirations and requirements of the Air Force personnel besides enriching their quality of life.

To safeguard the interest of the widows and the retired Air Force personnel from the fluctuations in the financial market and to provide safety and security to their investment with steady income, Air Force Group Insurance Society launched a Retired Personnel Investment Scheme in December 1991. The scheme is very popular and the widows and retired personnel are aware of the unmatched services of the AFGIS which provides safety, security and steady income. Many widows and retired Air Force personnel have availed the benefits of this scheme. On June 1 this year, AFGIS has launched a loan scheme for retired personnel to bring them at par with serving personnel on account of loans and advances. Under this scheme, a retired personnel/widow can avail loan against his/her deposit under RPIS for the purchase of house, car/two-wheeler or a personal computer. The loan amount is restricted to 75% of the deposit or the loan admissible to serving personnel, whichever is less.

With effect from January 1, 1996, AFGIS has been granting subsidy to the widows of Air Force personnel who die in an accident while in service for procuring dwelling unit under AFNHB/AWHO schemes. The subsidy is Rs 1,00,000 to the widows of Airmen/NCs(E) and Rs 1,50,000 to the widow of an officer which is funded by AFGIS/IAFBA/AFWWA(C)/CWF in the ratio of 60:20:10:10 respectively.