Tuesday, December 16, 2008

The LIC way of fooling people


LIC Jeevan Aastha is a new LIC offering which is open just for 45 days, meaning think less, get in quickly as time is the essence and in the process get duped. The following is what LIC site says and no LIC agent will explain to the Aam Admi.
A)Death Benefit: On death during the first policy year: Basic Sum Assured with Guaranteed Addition.
On death during the policy term after first policy year, excluding last policy year: 1/3rd of Basic Sum Assured with Guaranteed Addition.
On death during last policy year: 1/3rd of Basic Sum Assured with Guaranteed Addition along with loyalty addition, if any
B)Maturity Benefit: On maturity, the maturity Sum Assured along with Guaranteed Addition and Loyalty Addition, if any, shall be payable.Maturity Sum Assured shall be 1/6th of Basic Sum Assured.
C)Guaranteed Addition: The policy provides for Guaranteed Addition at the following rates:
· Rs. 100 per thousand Maturity Sum Assured per year for a policy of 10 years term.
· Rs. 90 per thousand Maturity Sum Assured per year for a policy of 5 years term.
D)Loyalty Addition: Depending upon the Corporation’s experience the policy will be eligible for Loyalty Addition on death during the last policy year or on the Life Assured surviving the stipulated date of maturity at such rate and on such terms as may be declared by the Corporation

Life insurance is is a contract between the policy owner and the insurer where the insurer agrees to pay a sum of money upon the insured individual's death to his/her nominee.

You need not be an IIM MBA to know that the probability of one's dieing increases with the increase in age.

This insurance product is perhaps the first insurance product in the world which gives a DECREASING cover that is as your chances of dieing increases with time your insurance cover decreases. Who benefits from such a plan, of course the company and not the Aam admi. So as an insurance policy LIC Jeevan Aastha is a very poor policy made with the benefit of insurance company in mind and not the insured person.

The advisors and agents of LIC are promoting this product as a 10% safe, tax free return. Again, it is nothing but making fools of people as the guaranteed 10% return is not on the basic sum assure but on the maturity sum assured and maturity sum assured is "Maturity Sum Assured shall be 1/6th of Basic Sum Assured." This can be better understood if you see the illustrations given in the LIC site. After 10 years for a 35 year old Rupees 48,975 (forty eight thousand nine hundred seventy five) becomes Rupees 1,00,000 (one lakh) which will be somewhere around 7% thus making PPF (as an investment) more attractive than this product as both of them are tax free and gets 80C benefit.

This product is nothing but a ploy of LIC to suck liquidity from the hands of Aam admi and using the proceeds to give loans to corporate India or shore up the tanking stock markets by confusing and pretending to be giving 10% return as well as insurance. This scheme has been kept open for just 45 days to make an impression that it is a limited period offer with unexpected benefits.

This product of LIC is a purely thumbs down both as an insurance and as an investment.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Pakistan; International migraine or cancer


Pakistan or Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a country located in South Asia. Pakistan is bordered by India in the east, Afghanistan and Iran in the west, Arabian Sea in the south and China in the North east. Pakistan has four provinces viz., Balochistan, North West Frontier Province, Punjab, and Sind.

The North West Frontiers of Pakistan is the hotbed of terrorist activity and it is here that the Head Quarters of the Al-Qaeda is located. It is in this part of Pakistan that most of the training camp of Al-Qaeda and its sister organizations brainwash people, run training camps, motivate people to become suicide bombers. It is also the place where most of the who's who of Al-Qaeda is residing. It is this part of Pakistan that the Pakistani civilian government has absolutely no control of.

It is the NWFP that some of the major terrorist attacks across the globe has been conceptualized, strategized, training imparted, and terroist dispatched viz.
1. The Pentagon, USA, 9/11/2001
2. World Trade Center, USA, 9/11/2001
3. Parliament attack, India, 12/13/2001
3. Cassablanca, Morocco, 5/16/2003
4. Madrid train bombing, Spain - 3/11/2004
5. London Underground train bombing, UK, 7/7/2005
6. Bali, Indonesia part I and part II - 10/12/2002,10/1/2005
7. Indian Embassy attack, Kabul, 7/7/2008
8. Mumbai, India 11/26/2008

In a recent interview Pakistan President Zardari commented "But at the same time, as the President of Pakistan let me assure you [that] if any evidence points to any individual or group in my part of the country, I shall take the strictest of action in the light of the evidence and in front of the world." This "my part of the country" perhaps says it all that President Zardari does not have control of all of Pakistan and his control is perhaps limited to a small part. The rest is controlled by Taliban, Al-Qaeda and Pakistani Taliban. It is these parts of Pakistan that President Zardari has no control and not his part of the country and hence his inability to take action against people based on these parts.

Migraine is a neurological syndrome characterized by altered bodily experiences, painful headaches, and nausea.

Ms Albright, a former top US official, recently said "My own sense is Pakistan has everything that gives you an international migraine. It has nuclear weapons, it has terrorism, extremists, corruption, very poor and it’s in a location that’s really, really important to us.”

Terrorism as being carried out from Pakistan in the other parts of the world is far from just being a painful headache and nausea (feeling of vomitting) anymore. These acts of terrorism carried out not just kills people as seen by the death toll but also makes children orphans, brings an entire family to lose livelihood, traumatizes victims who then may develop psychiatric disorders, there is a general sense of fear as no place is safe, people lose trust.

Cancer (malignant neoplasm) is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth (division beyond the normal limits), invasion (intrusion on and destruction of adjacent tissues), and sometimes metastasis (spread to other locations in the body via lymph or blood).

The Pakistan brand of terroism is a classic case of cancer wherin they are having uncontrolled growth (spreading all across the globe), invading and metastasizing to different locations and killing innocent people of all color, caste, religion and region.

Paksitan, is international cancer and terrorism spread out of Pakistan has no religion, but only one motive of spreading terror and the Al-Qaeda leaderships intent to rule (as they once did in Afganistan).

Cancer can be treated with surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or monoclonal antibody therapy. The therapy choice depends upon location, grade and stage of the disease.

International terrorism too can be treated only like cancer. The Pakistan brand of terrorism is in very advanced stage and can be treated with combination of chemotherapy and radiation therapy (carpet bombing) followed by surgery (army marching in).

If thoughts like Pakistan has nuclear bomb are acting as deterrents for the International community in general and India in particular then the world will have to be ready for many such terror attacks and the terrorists will be happy sitting up there and planning their next target as they are sure nobody will ever attack them because Pakistan is a nuclear state.

Terrorism cannot be solved by diplomacy, hard talk but only by military action. With the Mumbai invasion, I think it is time for the Indian leadership and the World leadership to sit up, take notice, and take action before it is too late. Remember, even today no place is safe anymore because Moshe's father, Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg, 29, and mother, Rivka, 28, were killed in their own home by the terrorists. If one’s home is not safe then what is?

It is therefore the duty of the Indian Army to arrange a rendezvous of the Al-Qaeda leadership and their patrons (Pakistan Army) and god because “forgiving terrorists is left to god but fixing their appointment with god is our responsibility.”