Udupi : Insurance Employees and Officers under the banner of the Joint Front hold one hour walk out strike during the lunch break on Tuesday, February 4 at LIC offices campus, Ajjarkad here.
The walk out strike protest was organized by Insurance Employees and Officers affiliated of LIC Class I Officers' Association, National Federation of Insurance Field Workers of India (NFIFWI) and All India Insurance Employees' Association (AIIEA) held demonstrations all over India against the budget proposal to list LIC in the Stock Exchange and sell part of its stake via public offering.
Anayya Neelavar (Federation of Class I Officers) said that the hont front of these major Unions representing over 90 percent of LIC Officers and employees strongly opposes this move of the government. The LIC which is at present 100 percent government owned mobilizes small savings of the people and makes them available for national development. Since its inception in the year 1956, the LIC has earned the trust and goodwill of millions of Indians and has crossed many milestones.
He said that the LIC has et unprecedented performance records in various aspects of Life Insurance Business. Commencing its operations with a paltry sum of Rs 5 crores in the year 1956, the LIC today commands over an astronomically huge asset base of over Rs. 31 lakh crore. The total Life Fund of LIC as on 31.03.2019 was Rs 28.28 lakh crore. Even after two decades of competition in the Life Insurance business, the LIC stands tall with a market share of more than 73 percent.
He said that The LIC has the proud distinction of contributing more than 25 per cent to the total budgetary efforts to the government of India. The LIC has recently paid a dividend of Rs 2611 crore to the government of India against an initial equity of 100 crore. It is pertinent to mention here that the total dividend paid by LIC since its inception is a huge Rs. 26,005.38 crore. The contribution of LIC to independent India's planned development process and its investments in the social sectors of the economy have simply been phenomenal.
He said that selling part of LIC's stake to private interests and its disinvestment would be surest blow to the resource mobilization efforts of India. At a time when the Government is faced with a severe resource crunch because dwindling tax revenue collections, selling part of government equity in LIC would be akin to killing the golden goose that lays golden eggs.
