Banks seek insurance broking relief

 Commercial banks have sought the easing of at least three conditions from the government before they embrace the new insurance broking model.

Lenders now follow the corporate agency model that allows them to collaborate with one life, one non-life and one standalone health insurer to sell their products. When a bank becomes the corporate agent of an insurance company, it is known as a bancassurance partnership.

Several banks in the country have such joint venture agreements with insurance companies where they hold the majority stake.

In December, however, the finance ministry issued a circular directing banks to turn into insurance brokers. An insurance broker can market the product of more than one insurance company. Banks fear that their insurance subsidiaries could lose business if they convert into brokers.

“Giving up the current agency structure and model is likely to raise legal issues, besides leading to the loss of credibility of domestic partners in attracting further investments from their bancassurance partner,” says a senior official of a bank, which has a life insurance tie-up with an overseas partner.

Lenders have asked the authorities to do away with the rule that broking staff involved in sourcing insurance business will not be permitted to conduct any banking transactions.

“Apart from adding to our costs, deploying exclusive resources for insurance business at each branch will not be practical. Thus, many of our branches will not be able to offer insurance to their customers, thereby impacting penetration adversely, which is directly in contravention to the government’s intention,” R.K. Dubey, chairman and managing director of Canara Bank, told.

Banks also want the government to relax the norm that stipulates an insurance broker will not earn more than 25 per cent of its business in a fiscal from the company it has promoted.Besides, banks want the government to ease the earning cap from broking. The insurance regulator has suggested that the maximum commission a bank can earn as a broker should be 30 per cent. This is lower than the 35 per cent ceiling in bancassurance.

Punishments to 3,500 students, caught cheating during the +2 examination

BHUBANESWAR:

 The Council of Higher Secondary Education  CHSE is planning to award different types of punishments to 3,500 students, who were caught using unfair means during the +2 examination.

Last year, 2000 students were found copying. All of them had got the same penalty of cancellation of their respective papers.

CHSE chairman Basudeb Chhatoi said a committee has been constituted to review the malpractice cases individually. "If there is no conclusive evidence against an examinee, he or she will be let off. However, depending on gravity of the crime, the punishments may go up," Chhatoi said.

Chhatoi said the committee will decide whether to debar a student for a particular period of time from appearing for the examination, scrap the particular paper or any other punishment on case to case basis.

Official sources said CHSE, which has already completed evaluation of +2 answer sheets, is busy in tabulation of marks. "Hopefully, the tabulation work will be over by another couple of days," Chhatoi said.

Chhatoi said the council is most likely to publish results of all the streams, science, commerce, arts and vocational, by the first week of June. "We are completing works of science stream on priority. If we fail to complete the process for other streams, results of science will be published first," he said.


The state government has been insisting on publication of results of science at the earliest as the same would be required to draw merit lists of JEE  main. +2 marks are being given 40% weightage in JEE (main), whose ranks will be the basis of admission in many central-funded technical institutions such as NITs, besides engineering colleges in Odisha

Capital Boys High School to be First Tod Jod Fod Centre

Capital Boys High School is set to be anointed as the first Tod Jod Fod (TJF) centre of the State under the initiative promoted by Odisha State Innovation Council to foster innovative mindset in the young.

Taking cue from a similar programme launched by the National Innovation Council (NInC) last year, the State Council decided to implement it in Capital High School providing fun-filled sessions of experimenting and hands-on learning.

The TJF initiative aims at providing an environment where students can deconstruct, reconstruct and re-purpose everyday objects they see or use and link those with the concepts and principles that they learn in the classroom. The exercise of breaking or dismantling objects, machines and apparatus will not only be great fun for the young ones but also enable them to observe and understand the scientific principles behind the common products they use.

By doing so, they will gradually be inclined towards innovating things on their own. They can be drawn towards tweaking the things they dismantle to create new products or even use the items from the broken objects to churn a whole new thing. The sessions will also help them expand horizons to larger concepts and applications enabling them to solve real world problems.

The NInC has been conducting sessions in select schools and colleges in different States. Following the step, the State Innovation Council has decided to pilot it at Capital Boys High School. The theme of the TJF would be “how stuffs work”.

The Planning and Coordination department will be organising an orientation workshop for attuning headmasters and teachers of schools to the niche initiative. While the headmaster of Capital High School will attend the workshop, the School and Mass Education department is keen on pushing other schools like Government Boys High School, Unit-I for the TJF.

Driving school to come up in city

BHUBANESWAR: The state government has decided to set up a driving training institute to teach youths aspiring to drive heavy vehicles free of cost. A 12-acre land has been identified near Khandagiri for it.

"We will run the proposed training institute in public-private-partnership mode. A leading automobile company will operate the institute and train the drivers," regional transport officer (Bhubaneswar) Lalmohan Sethi told TOI.

At present, the state's lone heavy vehicle driving institute is located at Chhatia, which was inaugurated in 2012. To attract more learners to the proposed institute, the state transport department plans to provide free accommodation and stipend to them. The authorities will train the youths for 30 to 45 days.

"We want to attract more helpers of heavy vehicles' because they learn driving without guidance. We often came across accidents caused by rookie helper-cum-drivers," Sethi said.

The NH-5, passing through the city has turned into death trap as bulk of the accidents here was caused by heavy vehicles. More than 2,000 trucks pass through the NH everyday. While 599 and 625 accidents took place in 2011 and 2012 respectively, at least 675 mishaps were reported in 2013. As many as 200 persons died here last year as against 184 in 2012.

Absence of dedicated driving learning tracks for light vehicles here is another cause for concern. At present, private driving training institutes are imparting the skills to people on busy roads, causing mishaps on a regular basis.

School summer break from May 1

BHUBANESWAR:

 With no sign of any relief from the grueling heat, the state government on Saturday decided that summer vacation would begin in schools, both state-run and private, from May 1 and in colleges from May 9.

"Examinations in schools are over and they should go for summer vacation from May 1. Those who want to keep their institutions open beyond the said date have to take permission from the government," said chief secretary Jugal Kishore Mohapatra following a meeting on various measures adopted by the state government to prevent sunstroke cases.

He said the school and mass education department has been asked to ensure that children do not stay in schools after 11 am. The government has instructed anganwadi centres not to expose children to the sun.

Official sources said summer vacation in colleges will continue till June 17.

The government decision came amid serious concern in different quarters about possible heatstroke cases due to the scorching sun.

On Saturday, at least 17 places in the state recorded above 40 degree Celsius.

Of them, the mercury level at nine places hovered above 42 degree Celsius. Hirakud recorded the day's highest temperature of 43.8 deg Celsius, followed by Titlagarh and Bhawanipatna at 43.5 degree Celsius each. The state capital recorded 40.8 degree Celsius.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast that heatwave condition would continue at least till next week and may continue even after that.

Mohapatra said instructions have been issued to all district collectors and administrative departments to take steps to meet the heatwave and water scarcity situation. He also appealed to people to avoid moving outside during peak heat hours.

The state government has decided that heatstroke patients will also be treated in central government-run Employees State Insurance (ESI) hospitals and those being managed by it.

It directed chief district medical officers and other medical officers to undertake prompt inquiry into alleged sunstroke death cases. Ten alleged sunstroke death cases have been reported in the state. One case in Cuttack was confirmed after inquiry.

Official sources said restrictions were imposed on movement of public transport between 11 am and 3 pm. All bus owners and associations have been asked to ensure potable drinking water and first aid boxes in each vehicle and avoid overcrowding. The labour department was advised to restrict the working hours of labourers.

At the meeting, energy secretary P K Jena said uninterrupted power supply would be provided to pump houses, including those, which have defaulted in payment of bills, during summer.

The government also asked health and rural development departments to keep hired generator sets in pump houses to meet any power tripping.

A report from Sambalpur said normal life was affected as the temperature touched 43.4 deg Celsius on Saturday, the hottest day in the town this season.

Market places and commercial establishments remained closed during the day as people stayed indoors.

Last year, Sambalpur recorded the highest temperature of 47.4 deg Celsius on May 24. The all-time high of the town was 47.5 degree Celsius on June, 2, 1998.

Medical colleges to get constructed in Puri, Gajapati and Rayagada

BHUBANESWAR: 

The state government on Monday decided to construct medical college and hospitals in Gajapati and Rayagada districts in public-private partnership (PPP) to provide super- specialty healthcare facilities in tribal-dominated areas.

While the proposed hospitals will have 500 beds each, the medical colleges will have intake capacity of 100.

Health secretary Pradipta Mohapatra said each medical college and hospital will cost Rs 326 crore. He also said the Puri district headquarters hospital will be upgraded into a medical college and hospital. "If everything goes as planned, we will float tenders in June and start construction in October. We plan to make the proposed medical college operational in 2016," Mohapatra told the media.

The proposed medical college will have a student intake capacity of 100 while around Rs 200 crore will be spent for uplift of the hospital into a full-fledged medical college. Official sources said the project will be funded under the centrally-sponsored Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Surakhsa Yojana. The Centre and the state government would share 75% and 25% of the cost respectively.

Cyclone Phailin has started crossing Odisha coast near Gopalpur.

Cyclone Phailin has started crossing Odisha coast near Gopalpur. Windspeeds have touched about 200 kmph, IMD sources say. Meanwhile, heavy to very heavy rainfall is reported in Odisha and north coastal Andhra Pradesh.

Government on Saturday directed Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal to be prepared to handle the anticipated damage to the national highways from cyclone Phailin.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has put the NHAI officials in these states on alert. Regional Officers and Project Directors of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in Odisha, AP, and West Bengal should to be in full readiness to counter the damage to the national highways, an official statement said.

Of the total 3.61 lakh people evacuated in the last 24 hours, 1.2 lakh were from Ganjam district alone, Odisha Revenue and Disaster Management Minister S.N. Patro said.

Besides Ganjam, 80,000 people in Puri district, 16,380 in Khurda district, 56,998 in Jagatsingh district, 16,000 in Kendrapara district, 14,205 in Bhadrak district, 1950 in Balasore district, 46,409 in Cuttack district, 1,235 in Nayagarh district and 8,000 in Gajapati district were moved to safety, Mr. Patro said.

Of the total 3.61 lakh people evacuated in the last 24 hours, 1.2 lakh were from Ganjam district alone, Revenue and Disaster Management minister S.N. Patro said.

Besides Ganjam, 80,000 people in Puri district, 16,380 in Khurda district, 56,998 in Jagatsingh district, 16,000 in Kendrapara district, 14,205 in Bhadrak district, 1950 in Balasore district, 46,409 in Cuttack district, 1,235 in Nayagarh district and 8,000 in Gajapati district were moved to safety, Mr. Patro said

At least five people were killed as heavy rains and strong winds swept coastal Odisha ahead of cyclone Phailin’s landfall. Of the five dead, two died in Ganjam district, where the cyclone was likely to hit land. Two died in Jagatsinghpur district and one in Bhubaneswar.

Four of the deaths occurred as trees uprooted in strong winds fell on the people. An 80-year-old woman died after her mud house collapsed while she was asleep.

Wind speeds in several parts of Odisha were over 100 km per hour. More than a dozen seaside villages have been inundated.

Govt. ready with choppers, aircraft, ships for cyclone rescue

Eighteen helicopters, 12 aircraft and two war ships have been kept ready by the government for rescue and relief operations in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh which are facing the brunt of cyclone Phailin.

Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said the Indian Air Force choppers and aircraft and the two navy ships are placed in close proximity of the eastern coastline and would be deployed for rescue and relief operations.

“The cyclone has left Andaman Nicobar Islands and will hit Odisha any time now. Three districts of Andhra Pradesh and 8 districts in Odisha are likely to be affected,” he told reporters in New Delhi.

Mr. Shinde said 5.5 lakh people in Odisha and 1 lakh people in Andhra Pradesh were evacuated in safer places, mostly in 500 cyclone shelters.

“Some people have showed resistance . Forces have been alerting them. Police have been trying to evacuate them,” he said.

Cyclone Phailin is closing in on Odisha and is just 30 km away from Gopalpur in Ganjam district tonight, chief of Cyclone Warning Centre Mritunjay Mahapatra said.

Mr. Mahapatra told  in Bhubaneswar that the cyclone will strike with a windspeed of 180 kmph to 190 kmph.

Earlier it was predicted that it will hit the Odisha coast between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. with a speed of 210 kmph to 220 kmph gusting to 230 kmph.

The IMD forecast waves with a height of 3.0 metre to 3.5 metre in Ganjam, Puri, Khurda and Jagatsinghpur districts.

The Great Danger Signal 10 has been hoisted at Gopalpur and Puri and Great Danger Signal 9 at Paradip and Chandbali ports.

7.54 p.m. Cyclone Phailin static, gains strength; 30 km from Gopalpur

7.41 p.m. Windspeeds in Gopalpur is about 180-190 kmph.

7.40 p.m. Impact on coastline between Paradip in Odisha and Kalingapatnam in Andhra Pradesh

7:35 p.m. Wind speeds likely to be more than 230 kmph, says IMD. No power supply in coastal areas of Odisha. Power utilities in Andhra Pradesh under the Eastern Power Distribution Company Ltd have geared up to meet any emergency arising out of cyclone ‘Phailin’ hitting the coastal districts of Srikakulam, West Godavari, East Godavari, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam.

7.32 p.m. The West Bengal government deployed disaster management and civil defence personnel in the coastal areas with Cyclone Phailin poised to strike neighbouring Odisha this evening.

Manmohan Singh briefed by Cabinet Secretary on arrangements put in place to deal with Cyclone Phailin: PMO.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh directed that all possible assistance be extended to the states which are on alert for cyclone ‘Phailin’ after reviewing the situation soon after his return from an overseas tour.

The Prime Minister’s Office said Singh was briefed by the Cabinet Secretary immediately upon his return from Indonesia.

He was apprised about the arrangements which have been put in place to deal with the crisis.

“PM was briefed by the Cabinet Secretary on the arrangements that have been put in place to deal with the impact of the cyclone,” the PMO said in a tweet.

The cyclone is set to hit the eastern coastline in the evening with lakhs of people having been evacuated by authorities.

Dr. Singh had gone to take part in the 11th ASEAN-India summit in Brunei from where he travelled to Indonesia.

Intermittent rains and up to 150 kmph winds hit Srikakulam.

Cyclone Phailin, which is likely to hit the eastern coast anytime now, was just 70 km off Gopaplpur and has intensified its speed, Meteorological department said.

The storm, which is likely to make a landfall anytime between 6 to 8 p.m., has intensified its speed to 20 kmph — it was moving at the speed of 15 kmph until few hours back.

“The cyclone makes landfall on Saturday evening and the intensity will continue until Sunday morning, but will slowly mellow down by Sunday evening and Monday morning,” said L.S. Rathore, Director-General Meterology told reporters on Saturday.

“With the tides rising up to 3 to 3.5 meters, sea water could enter in land up to 300-600 meters. The Ganjam area will be maximum hit due to this,” he added.