Now, use WhatsApp video to claim car insurance

Mayur.Shetty @timesgroup.com

Mumbai:12.07.2018

Future Generali India Insurance has become the first non-life insurer to adopt WhatsApp to deliver policies to the client.

The company will also allow customers to use the messaging platform to register claims and upload videos of vehicles damaged in accidents. “We feel that WhatsApp is something that most customers are familiar with and use all the time, which is why we have decided to use this channel,” said Future Generali MD and CEO K G Krishnamoorthy Rao.

The delivery of policies through the instant messaging platform will be in addition to the email copy that the company will be sending. The customer will also receive a physical copy of the policy, the need for which depends on the requirements of local police. While the policy delivery will be a straight-through process, the claims registration will be done by company representatives who will also guide the policyholder on how to shoot the video of the damaged vehicle using his mobile phone. Future Generali has already rolled out delivery of policies through WhatsApp and has sent more than 5,200 policies via the platform as part of a pilot run, which started on June 15. WhatsApp for business is already being used by BookMyShow to deliver movie tickets and ICICI Bank also plans to start using it as a channel to communicate with customers. Last year, the messaging platform received permission from the National Payments Corporation of India to partner multiple banks to allow users to make in-app payments and money transfers using the Unified Payments Interface.

Directors need to give KYC details to remain on board

PAN-Linked E-Signatures, Certificate From CA/CS Required

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:  12.07.2018

The 30-35 lakh “active directors” on company boards will have to submit PAN-authenticated digital signatures and a certificate from a chartered accountant or a company secretary to remain on boards as part of a massive KYC exercise undertaken by the government to ensure that only genuine individuals are responsible for running the affairs of companies.

The ministry of corporate affairs has ordered that it will be conducting the KYC exercise with all the 50 lakh individuals holding DINs, or director identification numbers, being asked to fill up an electronic form by August 31. Those who do not submit the form will see their DINs deactivated. The exercise covers all DINs issued up to March 31, 2018. The details of KYC, such as digital signature and certification by a chartered accountant or a company secretary, will be specified shortly as the government is invoking a legal provision to ask two professional institutes — ICAI and ICSI — to help in the “national cause” to clean up businesses.

The plan for KYC is part of the government’s drive to rid the corporate sector of shell companies and bogus directors as it has seen that rogue businessmen often designate their household helps, drivers or gardeners as board members. Most of the times, these individuals do not even know that they are directors on boards of companies promoted by their employers and details come to light only when action is initiated against the company or its owners. “The exercise will help clean up the sector, at least from now on,” said an official.

While the original plan was to go for an Aadhaar-linked authentication, the move had to be shelved in the wake of the ongoing case in the Supreme Court. PAN-authenticated digital signatures will also serve the purpose, explained government officials. PAN in the digital signature will be matched with the income tax department’s database to ensure that bogus directors are weeded out. Besides, most of the PANs are linked to Aadhaar, providing further comfort.

In addition, requirement for a certificate from a CA or CS will also ensure that the director’s credentials are verified and the board member knows about his or her legal status.

The norms would be applicable to Indian as well as foreign directors on the boards of Indian companies.

Test may spot cancer years before symptoms

Alex Matthews-King  TOI  12.07.2018

Blood cancers could one day be detected by screening after scientists found signs of their onset etched in the DNA, years before symptoms begin.

Mutations which drastically increase the chances of someone developing acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) are measurable up to five years before it emerges, researchers from University of Cambridge have shown.

They hope to use this window to test interventions to prevent the disease — which can materialise without warning and demand urgent life-saving treatment — from emerging at all. However, more work is needed before a screening programme for AML would be cost-effective and accurate enough to prevent people from wrongly being told they are at risk.

“AML often appears very suddenly in patients, so we were surprised to discover that its origins are generally detectable more than five years before it develops,” said Dr Grace Collord, one of the lead authors of the study published in ‘Nature’.

Researchers used blood samples from 800 patients in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EpiC) which launched in 1992. In this group, 124 of the participants developed AML.

Researchers showed that the more mutations were present at early ages, the higher the risk of AML emerging. THE INDEPENDENT

Denied class leader post, teen ends life

REJECTION PUSHES YOUNGSTERS TO TAKE EXTREME STEP

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru:  12.07.2018

A 14-year-old boy, reportedly upset at not being elected class leader, hanged himself at his home in Ideal Home Township, Rajarajeshwarinagar, south-west Bengaluru on Tuesday night.

R Dhruvraj, a Class IX student of Baldwin Co-education Extension High School, RR Nagar, was upset as he did not get elected as class leader, his mother R Divya told police. The school said the class leader election had nothing to do with his death and there could be personal reasons.

“The election for class leader happened around a month ago. There were four contenders and my son was confident of victory. However, another classmate was chosen. My son was not happy as he thought he had all the qualities of a leader and there was no reason to reject him,” police quoted Divya as saying.

“On June 10 after attending a school programme, became more depressed. He did not go out to play in the evening,” she said. Divya added that Dhruvraj locked himself in his room around 10.30pm. “A neighbour came and we forcibly opened the door and we saw my son hanging from the ceiling.” A family member said that Dhruvraj’s father, businessman Rajesh Kumar, had committed suicide when the boy was a UKG student. “Dhruvraj had seen his father’s body hanging. We’re not sure why Rajesh took the extreme step,” the relative added.

UNENDING ROW

Govt defends ex-HRD secy who appeared as Jio Institute adviser

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:  12.07.2018

The controversy triggered by naming of Jio Institute among the six institutions of eminence refuses to die. The ministry of human resource development (MHRD) on Wednesday denied there was any conflict of interest due to the presence of former HRD higher education secretary, Vinay Sheel Oberoi, standing in as adviser for the private university when it gave its presentation before the empowered expert committee chaired by exchief election commissioner N Gopalaswami.

The Economic Times reported on Wednesday that Oberoi was part of the eight-member Jio team that made its presentation before the committee. Jio Institute of Reliance Foundation was subsequently named as one of the institutions of eminence in the “greenfield category” — a category which facilitates entry to this elite club for yet to be established institutions based on their proposals.

Oberoi was secretary, higher education, at the human resources development ministry in 2016 when the IoE scheme, then called the World Class Institutes programme, was announced in the Union budget. He retired in February 2017. Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers have to take a break, also called a ‘cooling-off period’, of a year after retirement from government before taking up any commercial job offers. While Oberoi did seem to complete the cooling off period of one year, he however is associated with the MHRD as he headed the committee set up by the ministry to recommend measures for examination reforms following CBSE board exam paper leak in April 2018.

While Oberoi could not be contacted over phone for his comments till filing of this report, R Subrahmanyam, secretary, higher education, MHRD said that Oberoi was not involved with the framing of the regulation or implementation of the scheme.

“This insinuation is completely wrong. He is a man of repute and he retired long before the regulations came on August 2017. Also the plan of the IoEs was at the nascent stage when he was the secretary and no concrete decision was taken at that point of time,” said Subrahmanyam.

BABU BANARASI DAS UNIVERSITY

REGION DIGEST

Srirangam Jeeyar passes away in Trichy

12.07.2018
Sri Ranga Narayana Jeeyar, the 50th Jeeyar of Sri Ranganathaswamy temple at Srirangam, passed away at a private hospital in Trichy on Wednesday evening. The 88-year-old, who was engaged in serving the Srirangam temple, was unwell for more than a week. He was admitted to a private hospital in Trichy where he died. Born Sri Varathachariyar at Nayinarpalayam village in Villuppuram district on December 3, 1929, he studied Rig Veda at Sankara Matam in Thiruvanaikaval and mastered Sanskrit at Chidambaram. Sri Ranga Narayana Jeeyar started his spiritual life as a priest at Sri Lakshminarayana Perumal temple in Coimbatore in 1959. He was a devotee of Ranganathaswamy since his early days and became its 50th Jeeyar at the age of 60 in 1998.

Pondy govt to consult MCI on HC ‘grace mark’ order: The Puducherry government will consult the Medical Council of India (MCI) to decide on the future course of action after the Madurai bench of the Madras high court on Tuesday passed an order directing the CBSE to award 196 ‘grace marks’ to the candidates, who appeared for NEET in Tamil due to errors in the question paper. Chief minister V Narayanasamy made an announcement in this regard when AIADMK legislature party leader A Anbalagan urged the government to initiate efforts to prepare a new merit list based on the revised marks of the students following the court’s order. The chief minister said the government would initiate alternate measures after consultations with the MCI and Centac.

Man, 27, arrested for rape and murder of girl: The Sivaganga district police have arrested a 27-year-old man in connection with the rape and murder of a speech-impaired girl. He was produced before a judicial magistrate and lodged in Madurai Central Prison on Wednesday. The accused was identified as Manickam from the same village. He is married and an alcoholic. Police said when he was going past the victim’s house in Acharampatti village on Tuesday, he saw the 19-year-old girl taking bath. He entered the house and raped her before killing her with a rod.

Bank employee held for stealing from customers’ accounts: A 32-year-old employee of Canara Bank in Thumbalam on the outskirts of Trichy was arrested for misappropriating around ₹11 lakh from customers’ accounts. He was identified as A Karunanidhi, 32, of Thumbalam village.