A seminar on ‘Citizen Awareness Programme onInsurance’ was organised by M/s Consumer Rights, Education andAwareness Trust (CREAT) on 12th November, 2013 at JSS College of Law at Saraswatipuram, Mysore. There were around 100 participants. The seminar was attended by consumers, consumer activists who reside in and around Mysore city, students and lecturers of the JSS Law College.

The seminar was inaugurated by Dr CG Betsurmath, Commissioner, Archaeology Museums and Heritage Department, Mysore. During his inaugural speech, he highlighted the need for insurance among the citizens and also precautions to be taken while purchasing a policy. Shri Y.G.Murlidharan, CREAT, explained the object of holding the seminar in his welcome address. Prof. K.S. Suresh, Principal, JSS Law College, thanked in his speech, for choosing JSS College for the seminar and the college will be keen to organise many more such programmes in the interest of the students.

The first technical session on ‘Importance of Life Insurance’ with a presentation by Shri Niha Ranjan Tripathy, Marketing Manager, LIC, DO, Mysore, explained the basic concept of insurance and various concepts of insurance like doctrine of utmost good faith, principle of indemnity; insurable interest etc. Thereupon, he explained the various types of policies and the need for life insurance.

The session on ‘Financial Health care throughHealth Insurance’ was handled by Shri Ravi Sheshadri, Bharathi Axa Insurance Co., and he said the health policy is essential for all human beings and more so for those who are not covered by any other scheme like ESI, CGHS etc. He spoke about the precautions tobe taken by prospects while purchasing health insurance.

The session relating to ‘Employment Opportunities in insurance sector’ was handledby Shri Nagendra, practicing advocate, spoke about insurance as a career. He said that there is a demand for various personnel in the sector and students should utilize the opportunity, which will not only help themselves but also the policyholders in getting quality service from insurance companies.

Shri Satish Hegde, OSD, IRDA, made presentations on ‘Role of Insurance Intermediaries’ and ‘Grievance Redressal Mechanism available for policyholders’. In his session, he said insurance intermediaries are playing very important role since most of insurance products/policies are purchased through agents and brokers. While dealing the session on ‘Grievance Redressal Mechanism’, he explained about the IRDA’s Integrated Grievance Management System and IRDA’s Consumer Education Website. He informed that policyholder is expected to take up the complaint with insurance company at the first instance if there is no reply from the insurance company or he/she is not satisfied with the resolution given by the company then he may approach IRDA. He also explained about procedures relating to the Insurance Ombudsman Scheme.

The consumer education material published by IRDA was distributed among the participants. Prof. Nagendra Murthy, JSS College, proposed vote of thanks.

Back to Report on Seminars 2013-14