For a developing country like Nepal, insurance is the most effective way to reduce poverty. It plays an important role in poverty alleviation, providing economic support during emergent risks. With this consciousness, Subash Rijal of Butwal is taking the insurance as a mega campaign.

Subash Rijal, who has been in the life insurance business from Butwal, has been working for the past 7 years. Born as the ninth child out of 10 children in Kapilvastu, Rijal has completed master’s degree. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Pokhara and a Master’s degree in Sociology from Trichandra College, Pokhara.

After completing his studies, he returned from working in Korea for 5 years and is pursuing his career as an insurance agent. His background in insurance is poignant. He was also on a journey on the day of a big landslide near Siddhababa of Palpa 7 years ago. A doctor and his wife died on the spot. He could not sleep the whole night due to this incident. He felt that life was uncertain. Realizing that such uncertainty could not be prevented, the risk could be minimized, he went to the Butwal branch of Sanima Reliance, bought his one-year-old father, wife and self-insurance and entered this profession.

During this time, I got an opportunity to learn and learn a lot about insurance from Jaydev Gautam, Regional Manager of the company’s Regional Office, Butler, and Prakash Gautam, Branch Head. It was just before COVID-19. During the month’s commute, he not only insured himself but was also encouraged to become an agent and move forward professionally. After this, he decided that the profession of insurance agent is a social work. This 20-25 day stay encouraged Riza to embrace the profession of insurance agent and move forward.

To him, the profession of an agent is as important as any other profession. If someone buys an item for Rs 600 and sells it for Rs 1,000, he does not comment on the profit made from it, but he is very sad about the criticism of the agent profession as a commission according to the rules. He says that giving unlimited time day and night to get insurance will also cost time and various resources. In the initial phase, he insured the people of Butwal with big personalities. But he was told by the regional and branch head, “If you want to be known in the society and really do social service, then get the people in the rural areas insured.” This will be your virtuous deed. After this, he went to the rural settlement of Kapilvastu, where he was born.

Rijal, who has been providing insurance to the poorest of the poor, went to insure the children of the poorest people. At that time, he was among the biggest policy-issuers of Sanima Life. In this way, he took the insurance forward as a campaign. During this time, he had many bitter experiences. One of his close relatives had offered him insurance before Covid-19. He refused to buy insurance. He later died of COVID-19. After this, he was inspired to get into insurance. He also spent 20-30 lakhs on the treatment of Covid-19 and even lost his life.

He was the treasurer of the Swagatam Savings and Credit Cooperative, Butwal. Where one of the members of the loan committee proposed insurance to the couple of the aunt’s wife. But he asked me to wait a few days. Unfortunately, he died in an accident while on his way to Bhairahawa from Butwal. Similarly, he offered a friend an insurance of Rs 50 lakh. He said that he has a lot of property and he does not need insurance. He did not consume heavy alcohol and cigarettes, and his kidneys failed. Now, during his treatment, he has lost a large fortune. He says that he is now regretting that his friend refused to buy insurance.

He says that if someone falls ill, someone dies and an accident in course of getting insurance, he will never be deprived of this profession. He says, “Seeing the beggar walking on the road due to kidney failure, he feels that if this person could be insured on time, he would not have to face this day today.” Most of the people in the Terai community eat 15-20 bholas a day. There is a lot of consumption of liquor. According to him, if someone can save only the money to eat, then there will be an insurance of Rs 5 lakh. He is spreading awareness about this in every village. He also went to the hilly areas of Arghakhachi. They also advise those who rear cows and goats to get insurance equivalent to the amount of one goat. He went to the villages with the hope that the money would facilitate the higher education of the children in the future.

During this campaign, he has insured every village. He is not only working as an agent himself, but he is also building a big team by becoming an agent in every village. In this way, he has made thousands of insurance agents and has also created hundreds of agents. During this time, he also qualified MDRT for 2022. He is not only in this profession but has also taken his wife forward with him. His wife Radhika Pokharel has also qualified MDRT in 2023.

He has not claimed a single policy so far when he is insured in such a large number. It has pledged to make one person an agency manager this year. They have moved forward with the intention of building a team together and working in the team. In this way, he has created a situation where he can earn 4-5 lakhs monthly from this sacrifice penance. After working in Korea for 5 years, he has been earning better income in Nepal than in Korea. This has also encouraged him to stay in the insurance sector for a long time. He has built an agency from urban areas to rural areas. He has a goal of setting up an agency all over Nepal. While walking in this campaign, he found a tendency that people spend excessively but have no money for insurance. He says, “When you see people spending, it seems that no one here is poor. In small gatherings and gatherings, he slaughtered chickens, slaughtered goats, drank alcohol, smoked cigarettes and chewed betel leaves. But when it comes to insurance, do it like a wet cat. ’

He says that people are also demotivated by the wrong briefing of some people. In the beginning, insurance companies did not reach the villages as they are now. He had heard of many instances when there were no branch offices in cities and cities where the insured would pay the insurance premium to the agent and the agent did not pass the amount to the insurance company. As a result, he found, many people became negative about insurance based on the same incident.

When he went to the village for insurance, some of the insured people came to his house. He says, “In some cases, you have to bear the mistakes of others and answer them. I had to admit my mistake and explain the rest. When he goes to the villages, he sees his grandfather, father, son, and grandson living as porters, he says that insurance is the only option to transform him. He found that in some families, they did not study beyond the 5th grade. He was not qualified to become an agent. In this way, he has vowed to not only provide insurance but also to bring all people under the ambit of insurance and uplift their economic and social condition through his mega campaign of insurance.

During this time, he attends various school clubs. They don’t believe that they have to have insurance. Instead, they make the person they choose as an agent and get the insurance. On the other hand, cooperatives have also been submerged and savings groups have not been able to manage, so they have been restrained in paying insurance premiums. Here, he has to raise donations when his family members are sick, but he is not ready to take the risk under the ambit of insurance by insuring.

He said that families will be on the streets tomorrow if people do not have insurance despite having the capacity and this situation should be stopped. If everyone is insured, there will be a revolution in society, he argues. He argues that if the insurance is done on time, then the ability of people to save will also increase and if the insurance premium has to be raised anyway, then people who work for 6 hours will be able to work for 7-8 hours. Here, people have become poor by spending too much instead of saving the money they earn, according to his analysis. “If you save a certain amount of money through insurance, it will reduce the rate of poverty,” he said. That is why we need to reach the huts in the poor settlements. I am taking it forward as a mega campaign. ’