Health and weather are the two high-risk sectors that pull farmers into the debt trap," says Smita Aggarwal, the head of insurer ICICI Lombard's rural and agricultural business group. The lady is convinced that insurance can help break the "vicious cycle perpetuated by high-cost borrowings from money-lenders". And do so profitably. That could explain the company's decision to ally with Biocon Foundation, the charity arm of biotech firm Biocon, and Bangalore-based hospital Narayana Hrudayalaya to launch a scheme that provides policy-holders cash-free diagnosis and treatment at select hospitals, and discounted medicines at BioCare Pharmacies, a Biocon offshoot. That fits in with Biocon founder Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw's objective of "providing affordable healthcare to 1 billion Indians". All this costs Rs 180 a year (for one person), and Rs 480 for a family of four. That's b-o-p.