Cong gives conditional support to IRDA Bill

He said his party had moved an amendment to ensure that the social sector was not affected and benefits of liberalisation were extended to poorer sections. Pilot said Left parties, now opposing the Bill, were part of the erstwhile United Front government when it was tabled in parliament by then Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudi supported the Bill saying it would generate additional employment and funds to strengthen social infrastructure to tap all the potential.

He said the services of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and General Insurance Corporation (GIC) were "poor" because of their monopoly over the country’s insurance sector.

CPI leader Gita Mukherjee said the two insurance companies had carried out record premium mobilisation in the last few years, while CPI(M)’s Rupchand Pal wanted to know whether there was any consensus among members of BJP and Congress on opening up the insurance sector to foreign multinationals. Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav also opposed the bill.

Mukherjee said opening up of the insurance sector did not come under the WTO agreement and therefore there was no compulsion for the government to privatise the sector.

She said the corporate sector would not have any social obligations and not operate in unprofitable sectors. As a result these areas will remain underdeveloped. Pal named leaders of both parties, many of whom were currently members of the house, had earlier opposed the opening up of the insurance sector and had now switched their stand.

Appealing to Congress and BJP members to use their conscience to vote on the IRDA Bill, he warned that the Bill would allow multinational corporations to penetrate the Indian economy at a time when mergers and emergence of cartels in this sector were taking place in the global arena.

The CPI(M) leader said many leaders, who were now sitting in the treasury benches including George Fernandes, Yashwant Sinha and even former minister Sushma Swaraj, had opposed the privatisation of the financial sector.

Stating that Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) alone had raised over rs 1.3 crore for investment in the national economy, Pal said foreign companies would never do such a national service which Indian companies were doing. He alleged MNCs had already started "poaching" in the Indian insurance sector and luring best brains available.

B B Ramaiah (TDP), while supporting the bill, said the way competition had improved services in the aviation sector, it would do so in the insurance sector as well.

1.95 lakh employees strike work

Over 1.95 lakh insurance workers all over the country today went on a day-long strike to protest enactment of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) Bill.

Only the insurance employees belonging to the class two, three and four categories took part in the strike.

“The insurance employees strongly condemn the indecent haste with which the government is proceeding towards enactment of the IRDA Bill despite all round opposition”, the general secretary of the All India Insurance Employees Association, N M Sundaram said in a statement.

On October 29 about 2.15 lakh insurance employees from over 25,000 offices of LIC and GIC all over the country observed a one day strike to protest introduction of the IRDA Bill in parliament.

The union leaders said they feared the decision could lead to siphoning off of funds of the common people.