Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Monday, Apr 10, 2006
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Monday, Apr 10, 2006 |
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Insurance Money & Banking - Human Resources Impersonation scam rocks insurance institute exams Radhika Menon
Slipping standards "We acted on a tip-off and conducted inspections to discover around 200 cases of impersonation among students. It is disappointing to know that such poor ethical standards prevail in the industry today."
Mumbai , April 9 Candidates appearing for the insurance agents' exams conducted by the Insurance Institute of India appear to have taken a leaf out of the film `Munnabhai MBBS'. Get someone else to write and pass the insurance agents exams. This is precisely what happened when the Insurance Institute of India detected more than 200 cases of impersonation among students in each of the last three examinations conducted by it. Applicants to the examinations are required to fill a form as well as an admission card that serves as the hall ticket. Both the form and the hall ticket require photographs to be affixed. The impersonations were discovered when officials of the Institute began comparing the pictures on the application form and the hall tickets returned after the exams. Worse, all the major insurance companies seem to be endorsing these impersonations as the photographs and other personal details carried an official stamp. The Insurance Institute of India is one of the premier educational bodies in the country authorised by the IRDA to conduct these pre-recruitment examinations. The 50-year-old institute has now approached the IRDA to decide on the appropriate course of action. Mr Shewak Gidwani, Secretary-General of the Institute, said that it conducts examinations in over 150 centres across the country and that over five lakh students appear for its pre-recruitment exams annually. "We acted on a tip-off and conducted inspections to discover around 200 cases of impersonation among students. It is disappointing to know that such poor ethical standards prevail in the industry today." More than 200 cases of impersonations discovered in each of the two examinations held in February and one in March. As per regulation, all insurance agents have to undergo 100 hours of training and pass the pre-recruitment exams to receive the licence from the insurance company. Hence, entrance to the exams requires candidates to be sponsored by insurance companies. The entry of private players in the insurance sector five years ago has led to a correspondent surge in the number of life insurance agents in the country. Mr Gidwani said that while cheating was a criminal offence, every complaint would have to be filed individually at a police station near the examination centre. The immediate decision of the disciplinary committee of the Insurance Institute of India has been to declare the results of the impersonators as null and void.
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