"A Study Of The Performance Of The "Jeevan Saathi" And "Jeevan Mitra” Policies Offered By The L.I.C."

The main benefit of Jeevan Saathi policy is that, it is a joint life policy which covers the life of both husband and wife under a single policy. And they also get double benefit if any one of them dies during the term of the policy. The Jeevan Mitra policy is a single life policy, the main advantage of which is that the dependents get double benefit in case of normal death and triple benefit in case of accidental death during the term of policy. so both the policies have their own attractions but when compared with the annual sales of other policies, the additional increase in the sales of these policies are decreasing. It is a fact finding study concerned with market performance of these two policies by conducting a survey among the Jeevan Saathi and Jeevan Mitra policy holders, and a thorough analysis of the various information or data collected from them. This study is an attempt to present an integrated picture of the main features of the policy holders who have bought these policies, the major factors responsible for making them purchase these policies, the various difficulties faced by them at present and further modification needed in the plans of these policies according to the opinion of policy holders. For increasing accuracy of the conclusions, information is also collected from Agents and Development Officers by using interview schedule. The main purpose of this study is to draw attention of LIC to introduce new plans of policies taking into consideration the drawbacks or defects of the existing policies and present needs of policy holders. It will also help to make new plans in order to suit the needs of more people who want to buy life insurance policies

Rashtriya Swasthya Bhima Yojana-Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme (Rsby-Chis) In Kerala: A Study On The Effectiveness And Utilization Of The Scheme With Special Reference To Ernakulam And Wayanad Districts

Health insurance has become a necessity for the common man, next to food, clothing and shelter. The financing of health expense is either catastrophic or sometimes even frequently contracted illnesses, is a major cause of mental agony for the common man. The cost of care may sometimes result in the complete erosion of the family savings or may even lead to indebtedness as many studies on causes of rural indebtedness bear testimony (Jayalakshmi, 2006). A suitable cover by way of health insurance is all that is required to cope with such situations. Health care insurance rightly provides the mechanism for both individuals and families to mitigate the financial burden of medical expenses in the present context. Hence a well designed affordable health insurance policy is the need of the hour.Therefore, it is very significant to study the extent to which the beneficiaries in Kerala make use of the benefits provided by a social health insurance scheme like RSBY-CHIS. Based on the above pertinent points, this study assumes national relevance even though the geographical area of the study is limited to two districts of Kerala. The findings of the study will bring forth valuable inputs on the services availed by the beneficiaries of RSBYCHIS and take appropriate measures to improve the effectiveness of the scheme whereby maximum quality benefit could be availed by the poorest of the poor and develop the scheme as a real dawn of the new era of health for them

Econometrics as an Academic Discipline in Higher Education: An Exploratory Study of the Need, Relevance and Significance

Econometrics is a young science. It developed during the twentieth century in the mid-1930’s, primarily after the World War II. Econometrics is the unification of statistical analysis, economic theory and mathematics. The history of econometrics can be traced to the use of statistical and mathematics analysis in economics. The most prominent contributions during the initial period can be seen in the works of Tinbergen and Frisch, and also that of Haavelmo in the 1940's through the mid 1950's. Right from the rudimentary application of statistics to economic data, like the use of laws of error through the development of least squares by Legendre, Laplace, and Gauss, the discipline of econometrics has later on witnessed the applied works done by Edge worth and Mitchell. A very significant mile stone in its evolution has been the work of Tinbergen, Frisch, and Haavelmo in their development of multiple regression and correlation analysis. They used these techniques to test different economic theories using time series data. In spite of the fact that some predictions based on econometric methodology might have gone wrong, the sound scientific nature of the discipline cannot be ignored by anyone. This is reflected in the economic rationale underlying any econometric model, statistical and mathematical reasoning for the various inferences drawn etc. The relevance of econometrics as an academic discipline assumes high significance in the above context. Because of the inter-disciplinary nature of econometrics (which is a unification of Economics, Statistics and Mathematics), the subject can be taught at all these broad areas, not-withstanding the fact that most often Economics students alone are offered this subject as those of other disciplines might not have adequate Economics background to understand the subject. In fact, even for technical courses (like Engineering), business management courses (like MBA), professional accountancy courses etc. econometrics is quite relevant. More relevant is the case of research students of various social sciences, commerce and management. In the ongoing scenario of globalization and economic deregulation, there is the need to give added thrust to the academic discipline of econometrics in higher education, across various social science streams, commerce, management, professional accountancy etc. Accordingly, the analytical ability of the students can be sharpened and their ability to look into the socio-economic problems with a mathematical approach can be improved, and enabling them to derive scientific inferences and solutions to such problems. The utmost significance of hands-own practical training on the use of computer-based econometric packages, especially at the post-graduate and research levels need to be pointed out here. Mere learning of the econometric methodology or the underlying theories alone would not have much practical utility for the students in their future career, whether in academics, industry, or in practice This paper seeks to trace the historical development of econometrics and study the current status of econometrics as an academic discipline in higher education. Besides, the paper looks into the problems faced by the teachers in teaching econometrics, and those of students in learning the subject including effective application of the methodology in real life situations. Accordingly, the paper offers some meaningful suggestions for effective teaching of econometrics in higher education