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CPI(M) leads protest against Insurance Bill

NEW DELHI: Amid stiff opposition from the Left, the government introduced the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill in the Rajya Sabha and the Life Insurance Corporation (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

The issue was raised in the Rajya Sabha by Brinda Karat (Communist Party of India – Marxist), who found energetic support from the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhgam and Telugu Desam Party.

As Minister of State for Finance Pawan Bansal rose to introduce the Bill, T.K. Rangarajan (CPI-M) rushed towards him, forcing External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee to put up a restraining hand.

One CPI(M) member even tore the agenda papers. The protests forced Deputy Chairman K. Rehman Khan to adjourn the House.

Opposing the introduction of the LIC (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to increase the government’s equity in the corporation, the CPI(M) pressed for a division in the Lok Sabha, stating that the simultaneous introduction of the two Bills was a first step towards privatisation of the LIC.

As the House was not in order — with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena members picketing the Well in protest against Minister for Minority Affairs A. R. Antulay — Speaker Somnath Chatterjee adjourned the proceedings for 45 minutes. When it resumed, the Speaker called for a division after once again asking the CPI(M) if it wanted to press for a vote. As the Left members persisted, the introduction of the Bill was put to vote and cleared with 106 members favouring it.

Outside Parliament, the Left parties criticised the government’s decision to raise the Foreign Direct Investment in the insurance sector from 26 to 49 per cent.

“It is shocking that the Congress-led government is taking this step at a time when the financial crisis in the United States has exposed the pernicious practices of the insurance and financial companies of the West,” the CPI(M) Polit Bureau said in a statement.

Denouncing the move, the Polit Bureau said it would harm the financial sector and import the crisis into the country’s system.

Extending the party’s full support to Tuesday’s strike by insurance employees against the Bill, the CPI(M) said the government’s move confirmed it was more interested in favouring international financial capital at the expense of the country’s interest.

Conveying its opposition to the Bill, the CPI said the step was “retrograde” and came at a time when there was a global financial crisis. Party national secretary D. Raja wondered about the need for such a move since Indian public sector insurance companies were making huge profits. “This opening up is not in our interest and the Congress-led government is betraying its own legacy of nationalisation and encouraging creeping privatisation.”

G. Devarajan of the All-India Forward Bloc said the LIC (Amendment) Bill was a commitment that the government made at an India-U.S. CEOs’ meeting and this dispensation was hell-bent on introducing it though the corporation did not need additional capital.

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