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National Insurance names education policy after Amartya

Arup Chanda in Calcutta

After a spate of honorary memberships including those of the Calcutta Club and East Bengal, a leading soccer club, the economist has been honoured by National Insurance Company in a novel way. The company has christened a policy as Amartya Siksha Yojana Policy.

The scheme, launched by Sen himself in Calcutta, provides insurance cover of upto Rs 1 million to students whose guardians have met with accidental deaths or are disabled.

A N Poddar, National Insurance chairman-cum-managing director, said the scheme is essentially a social security tool and would serve a dual purpose. "Not only would the policy ensure that academic pursuits of students were not hindered in any way, it would also rid parents of unnecessary worry about unforeseen risks," he said.

He said National Insurance was open to the idea of the scheme covering overseas education. Although approval of the Reserve Bank of India would be needed for this purpose, Poddar felt the scheme would be very popular. The company would effect changes in the policy if these could make it more useful for the beneficiaries, he added.

Poddar said National Insurance had recently introduced various "socially-oriented schemes". These included the Office Package Policy, Videsh Yatra Mitra Policy, Bhagyashree Child Welfare Policy, Raj Rajeshwari Mahila Kalyan Yojana, Critical Illness Policy and NRI Accident Policy.

UNI

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