Another Bhopal Tragedy – Oil spill off the Bombay coast
August 7 morning saw the biggest ever oil spill in India as MCS Chitra collided with MV Khalijia 10 km off the Mumbai coast with the former tilting precariously and leaking oil into the sea. An estimated 500 tonnes of oil spilled into the sea and about 250 containers, some carrying hazardous chemicals and pesticides got hurled overboard. This accident is having a ripple effect; not only affecting the flora and fauna in and around the coast but also causing losses to local fisherman with a ban being imposed on fishes. Even the export market is taking a toll as an estimated 24,000 ships are stranded due to the oil spill.
Several aquatic species and sea birds have been found dead along the Mumbai coast, as a result of the oil spill off Mumbai. The formation of thick layer of poisonous oil in the seawaters has inflicted a distressing blow to the biological equilibrium by rendering fishes, turtles and other species immobile due to the caused high viscosity. Many sea birds whose diet comprises aquatic species have consumed oil which has adversely affected their digestive tracts. Mangroves along the coast have also been damaged and it is asserted that only few of them will be able to regenerate. “Cleaning up process in on but it would take around 45 days”, said the Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.
Read more…
Categories: Accident, Accountable, Compensation, Crime, Health, India, Injury, Insurance, Maharashtra, Pollution, Punishment, Responsibility, Water Tags: Aquatic, Containers, Damage, Exports, Fish, High Sea, India, Marine Species, Mumbai, Offshore, Oil Leak, Oil Spill, Pollution, Ship, Ship collision
Personal finance – What is loan insurance ?
What is loan insurance, and why do you need it ?
Loan insurance is an insurance policy meant to cover the risks taken when a person takes a loan for which the principal amount is many times greater than your annual money inflow, and you need to have a backup plan if this source of income stops coming in, and still need to keep repaying the loan. Read more about this type of insurance at this article (link to article):
But what happens if suddenly things take a bad turn ?
- You lose your job
- Or even more horribly, the person gets injured or loses their life
In all such cases, the burden of repaying the loan becomes huge, since the income stream could reduce or vanish. When that happens, the bank or financial institution will want to reclaim their loan or their asset, and the family members will be in a bad position. The asset against which the loan was given could be taken away, or something similar could happen.
Categories: Finance, Insurance, Loan Tags: Checkup, Finance, India, Insurance, Loan, Medical, Personal, Premium, Property
Personal Finance: Insurance regulator gets strict on orphan policies
What are orphan insurance policies ? These are policies where the agent who sold these policies has shifter to another company, and the person who bought these policies no longer has an agent or an intermediary to help service them. This is a common problem in the life insurance business, since:
- An agent will do anything to sell a policy, including using charm, threatening about the problems that could occur later in life if you don’t have an insurance policy, using contacts, etc. The agent gets a good commission when the insurance policy is sold, but the amount of commission is drastically reduced in subsequent years, which leaves little incentive for the agent to remain and service the needs of the insurance buyer. If another company offers a better deal, the agent will move.
How can there be a solution that also helps the insurance buyer ? Well, the IRDA (insurance regulator) is making it more difficult for agents to shift so very easily, adding a set of conditions and rules (link to article):
