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Full-day strike on Wednesday against insurance bill's introduction in Parliament

About 200,000 insurance employees will go on strike on Wednesday to oppose the Insurance Regulatory Authority bill which was introduced in Parliament today and sent to joint select committee of Parliament.

Besides observing full-day strike against the introduction of the IRA bill, all the trade unions in LIC and GIC have decided to intensify the struggle against the move for privatisation.

The effective campaign and struggle carried on by the insurance employees have created a political crisis as a number of political parties and groups have come forward to oppose the IRA bill. The employees are determined to fight out the issue with all their strength.

The Insurance Regulatory Authority bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha and sent to the joint select committee of Parliament on Tuesday afternoon.

In the morning, a determined Opposition barring the Congress blocked the introduction of the IRA bill when slogan-shouting members forced an abrupt adjournment of the House.

As Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha tried to introduce the bill, members belonging to the Left parties, the Rashtriya Lok Tantrik Morcha, the Bahujan Samaj Party and some other parties rushed into the well raising slogans demanding withdrawal of the ''sell out'' bill.

After a 15-minute interruption of the proceedings, Speaker Ganti Mohana Chandra Balayogi adjourned the House till 1330 hours.

Repeated pleas by the Speaker to resume their seats were not heeded by the agitated Opposition members. The Speaker also assured the members that he would invite the floor leaders for a discussion to allay their apprehensions about the bill.

The bill seeks to permit the entry of multinational firms, overseas corporate bodies and non-resident Indians into the insurance sector. The main Opposition, the Congress, had already announced that the bill be referred to the finance ministry's standing committee for further scrutiny throwing a spanner in the government's move to have the bill adopted during the current Parliament session.

Late evening on Monday, the prospects of the IRA bill being adopted in the current session of Parliament receded when the main opposition Congress demanded the bill be referred to the standing committee on finance for further scrutiny.

At the end of the two-hour session of the legislative affairs committee of the party on Monday evening in New Delhi, leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sharad Pawar said it would be appropriate that the bill be referred to the standing committee on finance in view of the wide-ranging ramifications.

The meeting which was presided over by Congress president Sonia Gandhi was attended among others by former finance ministers Pranab Mukherjee and Dr Manmohan Singh. Divergent views were expressed on opening up the insurance sector and whether it would be beneficial to the economy. There was however unanimity on safeguards to be built into the bill to channelise the funds received for developmental works.

The bill which was circulated to members last week is likely to be introduced in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. With barely a week to go for the winter session to end, the Congress demand that it should be referred to the standing committee would mean the bill would not be adopted during the current session.

The general view at the meeting was that the present bill was different from the one which was sought to be introduced by the previous finance minister P Chidambaram. That bill was scrutinised by the standing committee on finance of the last Lok Sabha. The new bill to be piloted by the Bharatiya Janata Party government should also be scrutinised by the standing committee, the meeting held.

Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Dr Manmohan Singh said the opening up of insurance sector meant there would be flow of funds into the country but these funds need to be channelised to developmental works. His sentiments were echoed by Pranab Mukherjee.

Several speakers including M Hanumanthappa felt that the party should not rush into adopting the bill. Some of them like Vayalar Ravi and Janardhana Poojari felt the opening up would harm the domestic insurance industry and therefore should not be allowed.

UNI

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