The agitating employees said the Centre was now going to imple-ment the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2008 and the LIC (Amendment) Bill, 2009, after neo-liberal economic policies.
They added that this implementation would rise foreign direct in-vestment to 49 per cent from the current 26 per cent in the insurance sector. "We started the strike against government's move to raise FDI in the insurance sector. The bills have been mooted by the UPA government at the behest of the private insurers," said Bha-bendra Kumar Kalita, general secretary of the employee's association of LICI here.
The association members said they would also launch a national campaign against the raising of FDI in the sector.
In Jorhat, the division insurance employees' association members said the Centre should stop the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and General In-surance Corporation (GIC) privatization process at the earliest.
Addressing a press conference in Jorhat, Dhrubajyoti Boruah, president and Dwipen Kakoti, the general secretary of the organi-zation, said, "We have been protesting the privatization of LIC and GIC for the greater interest of more than a lakh insurance employees. Although the Centre had made announcement that they may take steps for privatization of the two insurance companies, we strongly op-posed this decision and sought its withdrawal."
The association members added, "For growth of the Indian economy, role played by public insurance companies is significant as they contribute an important share in the country's economy."
Drawing a comparison between the public and private insurance companies working in the country, they said, "From 2005 to 2009, a total of 36 private insurance companies invested Rs 5,850.5 crore while the public insurance companies invested Rs. 51,252.9 crore."
Source:toi
