Chennai: Around 150,000 public sector insurance employees will strike work Tuesday, protesting against the government's move to amend the Insurance Act and the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Act.

The government amid strong protest by the Left parties Monday tabled the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill in the Rajya Sabha and the Life Insurance Corporation Act in the Lok Sabha.

The amendments propose to increase the foreign direct investment (FDI) to 49 percent from 26 percent and also Life Insurance Corp of India's capital to Rs.1 billion from the present Rs.50 million.

According to J. Gurumurthy, secretary of All India Insurance Employees' Association, "If the country is less affected by the global economic crisis, it is because of our strong public sector banks and insurance sector."

He asked why the government was rasing the FDI cap in Indian companies at a time when many insurance companies were being nationalised overseas owing to the global meltdown.

 

Source : IANS