Insurance penetration

Apropos the article ‘Address basic problems in insurance industry’ (April 19), the Covid pandemic, ironically, has worked as a catalyst for innovation and digitisation by insurers and made people aware of the risks of not being insured and increased the demand for life insurance. Life as well as non-life insurance has been experiencing reasonably good growth, except for a slight slowdown in 2023.

But most of the growth is confined to urban pockets and insurance penetration in rural areas has been very low. Just as “bail is the rule and jail is an exception” in judicial context, “approval of claim is the rule and rejection is an exception” should be the guiding principle in insurance claims. Insurance products should be specifically and consciously sold as risk-covering products, rather than as investment or tax saving products.

Kosaraju Chandramouli

Hyderabad

Clarity in policies

Life insurance and health insurance are of utmost importance to any individual in the country. Both are interrelated to several issues such as the income, health condition and age of the individual and no insurance company will issue a policy without knowing correctly all the details. Insurance must be taken for the sake of protection and not for any gains. The IRDAI should categorise insurance amounts into three categories — for pre-admission tests, post-admission tests, including surgery if any, and for post discharge expenses — in the bond.

Surgery cannot be made a compulsive factor for giving health assistance. Most of the middle class will be interested in insurance if the policies are clear and without any ambiguity.

Katuru Durga Prasad Rao

Hyderabad

Conduct of elections

The Election Commission of India uses all the resources at its disposal to ensure a free and fair election, which every right thinking individual in the world’s largest democracy demands. That said, we read reports of huge amounts of money (meant for distribution to voters) having been seized. Unless strict action is taken against those who violate the rules, free and fair election will not be possible. Also, people should say a vociferous ‘no’ to ‘cash for votes’ to ensure a robust democracy.

S Ramakrishnasayee

Chennai

BJP’s TN gameplan

This is with reference to the editorial ‘Battle for TN’ (April 19). It hardly matters for the BJP as to the number of seats it wins in Tamil Nadu, as the party is confident of winning a majority in the House even if it does not win a single seat in Tamil Nadu. Nevertheless, all the stalwarts of the BJP, including the Prime Minister, did their utmost to woo the voters of Tamil Nadu and increase the BJP’s vote share. It is a known fact that both the Dravidian parties have been ruling Tamil Nadu, giving no scope for the BJP to win seats in this southern State. Hence, the game-plan of the BJP is to increase its vote share with an eye on the State Assembly elections due in 2026.

Veena Shenoy

Thane

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