Karnataka sees surge in health and life insurance buyers post COVID-19: Policybazaar

Insurance

As per Policybazaar data, the age group of 42-50 saw the highest increase in buying of term insurance.

TNM Staff

Image Credit: Picxy.com/indianeye

With the COVID-19 pandemic bringing the importance of health and financial stability to the fore, consumers in Karnataka are investing more in term and health insurance policies, a study by Policybazaar has shown. The sale of term insurance policies specific to Karnataka region went up by 54% in April and by 32% between April-September. In terms of health insurance bought, the state witnessed a growth of 92% year-on-year and 25% on an average from April-September. A spike in buying behaviour has been clearly pronounced for term life insurance, with nearly 64% of the customers buying term policies with a cover of Rs 1 crore and above during the period of April-September 2020. “Sudden uncertainty at any point of time may leave your family in a huge trouble if you do not have a safety net in place. Term insurance does not only help your beneficiary when you are not around but also protects you against the accidental un-stabilities. COVID has increased insurance awareness and consumers are keen to protect their families for the unpredicted times,” the company said in a statement. For a 30-year old individual buying term insurance with Rs 1 crore sum assured and for a cover up to 70 years, the premium comes around Rs 1,000 per month. As per data, the age group of 42-50 years witnessed highest increase in term insurance buying, followed by the age group 31-40. Santosh Agarwal, CBO-Life Insurance, Policybazaar.com, said “We have introduced various kinds of income surrogates, such as Credit Card limits, monthly SIP for mutual funds, bank statement for saving account in individual name and property loan statement, to ease out the process of arranging income documents which replicates their true capacity to take adequate sum assured. We have also tied up with bureaus like CIBIL, CRIF, and Experian Verifying the profiles & documents.  Interestingly, a Kotak Insurance report on Wednesday saw that the life insurance market too is bouncing back, after seeing a decline over April-August 2020. Gradual revival in ULIPs, increase in sales through agency channel and strong traction in non-par savings segments are likely drivers, it said.  

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Pandemic invades nursing homes again

Care facilities can’t keep the virus out as it spreads through communities.

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Toyota declares lockout in Bidadi plant following strike by workers

Controversy

The Bidadi facility manufactures the company's popular SUV and sedan models like Innova, Fortuner and Camry Hybrid among others.

TNM Staff

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Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) on Wednesday said it has declared a lockout at its Bidadi manufacturing facility in the outskirts of Bengaluru following workers' union members resorting to a sit-in strike at the factory premises to protest against the suspension of a worker. The staff of the factory- almost 1200 people- had gone on strike on Monday after one of their colleagues was suspended by the factory management.  The company's media statement claimed that the suspension was fair given the person's “record of misconduct” and in this instance he was found to have violated the factory discipline. Incidentally, the suspended worker was also the worker union's treasurer. However, the factory workers refuted the company management’s stance stating that workers were harassed even if they asked for their due leaves. Speaking to TNM, a worker on condition of anonymity, said, “The management is harassing us by suspending our treasurer (Umesh Gowda Alur). Since lockdown we are having issues with increased work pressure. Even if people take leave for genuine reasons, it is considered unauthorised leave.” He added, “The treasurer was suspended but there was no misconduct. He represented the workers and their issues including health issues. Management wanted to pressurise us, that's all.” With the factory locked up, the protests have now shifted outside the factory premises. The company's Bidadi facility has two production plants with a total installed capacity of 3.10 lakh units per annum. The units manufacture the company's popular SUV and sedan models like Innova, Fortuner and Camry Hybrid among others. "Despite our efforts to maintain a cordial and healthy working environment based on active employee participation and maintaining desired level of discipline in the plant, one of the employees who has systematic record of misconducts was again involved in breach of discipline and unacceptable behaviour which is in violation of law and service policy of the company," TKM said in the statement. Accordingly, he has been placed under suspension pending enquiry in line with the company rules and applicable laws, it added. The company noted that as per extant service rules and keeping in mind the principles of natural justice, all possible opportunities will be provided to the employee during the inquiry process. The company said the worker’s union has resorted to an illegal sit-in strike and those team members are unlawfully staying in the company premises and compromising the COVID-19 guidelines, it said. "Due to the current volatile atmosphere and to protect the safety of employees, the company is forced to declare a lockout until further notice," TKM said. Further, the company said communication and dialogue with relevant stakeholders is ongoing to try and resolve the issue. (With inputs from PTI)

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Shooting for Bengaluru don MP Jayaraj’s biopic ‘Head Bush’ to begin in February

Entertainment

The shooting was earlier scheduled to begin in the summer of 2020, but was delayed due to the lockdown.

TNM Staff

After a delay in its commencement, Head Bush: The Rise & Rise of Bengaluru Underworld is set to begin shooting in February next year. Head Bush is a biopic on Bengaluru’s former underworld don MP Jayaraj, and the poster for the film was released in August by Sandalwood star Puneeth Rajkumar. The shooting was supposed to begin in the summer of 2020; however, it was delayed due to the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown.    In his directorial debut, Shoonya, who formerly worked with Rakshit Shetty as an assistant director, is yet to finalise on the female lead for the film. Sandalwood actor Dhananjay will be playing the role of MP Jayaraj. Based on the autobiography written by former gangster Agni Sridhar -- My Days in the Underworld, the film is the first among four volumes. Head Bush is scripted by Agni Sridhar, and his nephew Abhishek Basanth is working as the editor for the project.  Agni Sridhar told TNM that the film will have Bollywood actors cast in it too, and that the cast would be finalised soon. The official announcement of the cast is expected by the end of December. “We wanted to rope in Amitabh Bachchan to play the role of Devaraj Urs (former Karnataka Chief Minister) and he had agreed too. We had also held talks with him. But we decided not to as the character of Devaraj Urs would be overshadowed by Amitabh’s persona. We will announce the cast soon,” he said.  The movie is set between 1974 and 1977, when Bengaluru’s first underworld don, MP Jayaraj, came into power. The film tracks the political patronage he received and how he went on to become one of the most dreaded mobsters in Karnataka’s history.  Director Shoonya said that the film is inspired by The Godfather series. Head Bush was originally planned as a two-part series, and was later expanded to accommodate four films. The series will trace the rise of the underworld, and will have separate films to showcase the periods of various dons, including Kotwal Ramachandra and Muthappa Rai. 

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Man dies in Bengaluru after cab jumps median and crashes into bus

Accident

Police and other authorities had to spend one hour to retrieve the body from the mangled front portion of the car.

TNM Staff

A 35-year-old cab driver in Bengaluru died in a road accident on Tuesday morning on the Ballari Road, which connects the city to the airport. According to the police, he was crushed to death at around 5 am in the morning as the cab he was driving towards the Kempegowda International Airport jumped the median and rammed a private bus coming from the opposite side. The victim has been identified as Vijay Kumar. Police said he was a resident of south Bengaluru’s Laggere. A traffic police officer said, “We suspect the driver might have fallen asleep at the wheel. We will send the body for postmortem but we are not expecting this to be a case of drinking and driving.” Police and other authorities had to spend one hour to retrieve the body from the mangled front portion of the car. A case has been registered at the Yelahanka Traffic Police Station. The sole passenger in the cab has been taken to a hospital where they are being treated for minor fractures. The passenger has been identified as one Mahinder. He was scheduled to travel to Rajasthan on work. According to the police, all 35 passengers and the driver of the bus escaped with no or minor injuries even though the bus crashed into the Yelahanka Airforce Station compound wall. The roads leading up to the airport from the city limits have seen multiple accidents in the past as well. In one such incident in February, a traffic police constable was knocked down by  a speeding car and another constable was severely injured. In that incident that took place in the evening, the two traffic police personnel who were part of the interceptor vehicle team and penalizing speeding vehicles near the toll gate near the airport were hit by a speeding vehicle that lost control. In another incident in May 2019, five of a family died on the same road when their car collided with an ambulance at around midnight.

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Mysuru airport runway expansion: Rs 50 cr to be released soon, says BJP MP

Transport

The funds for the first phase of land acquisition are expected to be released in the next five days.

TNM Staff

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The land acquisition process for expanding the existing runway at the Mysuru Airport is set to begin by next week. The proposal for expanding the runway has existed since 2012. However, the land acquisition process had not begun as the state government had not released adequate funds.  Mysuru-Kodagu MP Prathap Simha said that out of the 20 acres required, an agreement was reached in 2012 to acquire 114 acres of land and that the land owners are awaiting compensation. Prathap Simha said that Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa had agreed to release Rs 50 crore in the first phase within the next five days.  At present the airport in Mandakalli has a single runway, which is 5,700 ft in length and suitable for providing short-haul flight operations. The expansion plans include increasing the runway’s length to 7,900 ft and 45 m in width.  The existing airport is spread across 490 acres of land and allows aircraft such as the Airbus 320 to land on its runway. The expansion plans were proposed to increase flight traffic to and from the Mysuru Airport and also provide connectivity to metro cities including Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, and also the national capital New Delhi.  With the expansion, the government has identified 20 acres of land to be acquired. This includes the 114 acres of land identified in 2012. In 2012, the market value for one acre of land was estimated to be Rs 40 lakh. Now it has increased to Rs 1 crore per acre, Prathap Simha said.  The Expert Advisory Committee, setup to develop the airport in Mysuru, met on Tuesday to discuss the various developmental works that need to be carried out. According to the Mysuru Airport Director, Manjunath, the expansion of the runway, would also ensure that inter-city flights can begin operations in Mysuru.  The members of the committee said that foreign investments would likely increase in the city, if flights from Mumbai and New Delhi were to land in Mysuru. Currently, direct flights to Goa, Hyderabad and Kochi take off from Mysuru. Intra-state flights to Hubballi and Belagavi also take off from the airport in Mandakalli.  The committee also said that Karnataka State Road Transport buses will commence operations by the end of the month from the airport to Mysuru city. The buses were stopped due to the lockdown and will commence operations once again. The committee also proposed redeveloping the bus station and including more bus routes from the airport to different parts of the city.   

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'Baahubali' series dubbed in Kannada, likely to release during Deepavali

Entertainment

Colors Kannada has procured the dubbing rights for the film.

TNM Staff

One of South India’s biggest blockbuster films, SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali, is being dubbed in Kannada and will likely be released on television during the Deepavali festival. The two films in the series, Baahubali parts one and two, were originally made in Telugu and Tamil.  The Kannada-dubbed versions are likely to be released on the television channel Color Kannada, at 4.30 pm on November 15. Colors Kannada acquired the dubbing rights for the films around a month ago. However, it is not yet certain whether they will be released on this tentative date and time.  Baahubali was initially dubbed in Malayalam and Hindi. However, it was not dubbed in Kannada due to the ongoing scuffle between Sandalwood filmmakers and the dubbing industry in the state. The indigenous Kannada filmmakers view dubbed films as an impediment to the success of films made in Kannada.  The first film in the series, Baahubali: The Beginning, was released in 2015. The film stars Prabhas, Rana Daggubati and Anushka Shetty, with actors Tamannaah, Ramya Krishna, Sathyraj and Nassar playing supporting roles. Baahubali: The Beginning had received international recognition in various film festivals, other than being a popular favourite. Among other notable accolades, the movie was screened along with live music and a full symphony orchestra at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall in London. The sequel, Baahubali: The Conclusion, is also one of the most successful films in the history of Indian cinema. The film was released in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi in April 2019, and created a record in terms of impressions when it premiered on television. According to the Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC), Baahubali: The Conclusion managed to get 26,054 impressions on October 8, 2017, compared to Salman Khan’s Tubelight, which was a far second, with 5,195 impressions. The two movies, which were made on a budget of around Rs 400 crore, went on to make over Rs 1700 crore worldwide. This made it one of the most successful movie franchises, not only in Telugu cinema but in the whole country.

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