Employees protest against amendment in LIC Act
On the call of Northern Zone Insurance Employees Association (NZIEA), employees working in LIC of India, on Saturday, registered their protest against the proposed amendments in insurance law and LIC Act, pending in the Parliament. The employees demanded that Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2008, was placed in Rajya Sabha on December 22, 2008, and LIC (Amendment) Bill, 2009, was placed in Lok Sabha on December 7, 2009. They said, "The bills were referred to the standing committee on finance on September 9 and 14, 2009, respectively, and these proposed amendments are detrimental to the interest of policy-holders and national economy." Through Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2008, the government wants to hike FDI capital in insurance sector from the present limit of 26% to 49%, to amend General InsuranceBusiness Nationalization Act (GIBNA) permitting four public sector general insurance companies to approach the capital market to raise the capital for their business activities. "By LIC (Amendment) Bill, 2009, the government wants to increase the capital of LIC from Rs 5 crore to Rs 100 crore and to dilute the pattern of sovereign guarantee," the employees said. Discussing their demands, Harbans Singh, president of NZIEA said, "The hike in foreign equity will increase the ability of private companies to manipulate and exploit the insurance market. Nearly 50% funds of private companies are invested in equities thus limited funds are available for infrastructural investments. Therefore the government should amend these decisions."