The 1st Insurance Awareness Programme (IAP) of the year was held at Shantiniketan on 23rd July, 2022 for the students of ‘Patha Bhawan’ (school) of Visva Bharati University. A team of 5 comprising Sri Prodip Dutta, General Secretary, Smt. Rakhi Bhowani, Joint Secretary, Sri Manish Nahata, Joint Secretary, Sri Sudipto Sarkar and Smt. Mousumi Basu Paul, Council Members left Kolkata on 22nd July for the programme. They returned to Kolkata on 24th July after successful completion of the programme. The programme was initially planned to be held at classroom of Patha Bhawan, but later shifted to the Central Library Hall to enforce Covid related restrictions properly in view of rising cases. Ultimately, the programme was held at the Hall inside ‘Bangladesh Bhawan’. This must have happened by God’s grace as there could not be any better, gracious and spacious venue for our programme. This is the venue of international standard which was inaugurated jointly by the Indian Prime Minister Sri Narendra Modi and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sk. Hasina in 2018. The programme started sharp at 10 am on 23rd July as planned beforehand. Sri M. Nahata, Sri S. Sarkar and Smt. M. Basu Paul visited the venue on 22nd itself to check & confirm that all necessary facilities like public address system, projection with sound etc. are in place to conduct the programme smoothly. Inaugurating the programme, Professor Kishore Bhattacharya told the students that a proposal came from Indian Insurance Institute, Kolkata to organise an IAP at the school. Knowing the content & purpose, they agreed to do it as it would help the students to appreciate the value of human life and other belongings apart from getting an idea of what is insurance. He told that life is a precious gift from God and so is the nature and our surroundings. We must live it to the fullest and contribute our mite to the World. Still, some youngsters try to end their lives abruptly.
The 1st Insurance Awareness Programme (IAP) of the year was held at Shantiniketan on 23rd July, 2022 for the students of ‘Patha Bhawan’ (school) of Visva Bharati University. A team of 5 comprising Sri Prodip Dutta, General Secretary, Smt. Rakhi Bhowani, Joint Secretary, Sri Manish Nahata, Joint Secretary, Sri Sudipto Sarkar and Smt. Mousumi Basu Paul, Council Members left Kolkata on 22nd July for the programme. They returned to Kolkata on 24th July after successful completion of the programme. The programme was initially planned to be held at classroom of Patha Bhawan, but later shifted to the Central Library Hall to enforce Covid related restrictions properly in view of rising cases. Ultimately, the programme was held at the Hall inside ‘Bangladesh Bhawan’. This must have happened by God’s grace as there could not be any better, gracious and spacious venue for our programme. This is the venue of international standard which was inaugurated jointly by the Indian Prime Minister Sri Narendra Modi and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sk. Hasina in 2018. The programme started sharp at 10 am on 23rd July as planned beforehand. Sri M. Nahata, Sri S. Sarkar and Smt. M. Basu Paul visited the venue on 22nd itself to check & confirm that all necessary facilities like public address system, projection with sound etc. are in place to conduct the programme smoothly. Inaugurating the programme, Professor Kishore Bhattacharya told the students that a proposal came from Indian Insurance Institute, Kolkata to organise an IAP at the school. Knowing the content & purpose, they agreed to do it as it would help the students to appreciate the value of human life and other belongings apart from getting an idea of what is insurance. He told that life is a precious gift from God and so is the nature and our surroundings. We must live it to the fullest and contribute our mite to the World. Still, some youngsters try to end their lives abruptly.
This unfortunate trend has increased during Covid period. To come out of this menace a small health talk was arranged where Dr. Arindam Chatterjee, attached with the Pearson Hospital & CMOH, Visva Bharati University would share some important life-style tips with the students. This would be followed by the IAP. He then called upon the students to present the opening song. A beautiful chorus song presented by a group of 7 students just set the mood of the programme. Our Council Member Smt. M. Basu Paul acknowledged the effort of Sri K. Bhattacharya in arranging the programme and giving us a chance to be a part of it. She then requested our General Secretary Sri Prodip Dutta to say few words about our programme. Sri Dutta said that Shantiniketan was the workplace of Gurudev Rabindra Nath Tagore and a place of worship for all of us. We are fortunate to start our IAP for the year from such a sacred place. He said that Sri M. Nahata would give a comprehensive Power Point presentation regarding basic level insurance education, to be followed by a brief profile of I.I.I.- Kolkata and career options in insurance available with our Institute. He then requested to welcome and honour Guests of the programme. On behalf of our Institute, Smt. Rakhi Bhowani welcomed Dr. Arindam Chatterjee and Smt. Mousumi Basu Paul welcomed Smt. Bodhirupa Sinha, Principal- Patha Bhawan and honoured them with ‘uttariya’. Dr. Chatterjee, a very soft spoken person, advised students to be healthy & well. But to be healthy doesn’t only mean being physically strong or remain disease free; a person cannot be termed as healthy unless he/she is mentally fit also. If a person, otherwise of sound health, remains stressed, depressed or often gets annoyed or suicidal, he/she cannot be said to be in good health. From the cases he dealt in hospital, it seemed, students get very stressed and tensed before examinations. He advised them to study uniformly throughout the year to get rid of such unnecessary stress. Also, they should accept that everyone cannot be no.1 and being on top cannot be the only motto of life. He said that nowadays, youngsters & students are addicted to mobile devices and through it, to games & social media. According to WHO, if a person use mobile more than an hour at a stretch, it is termed as ‘addiction’. Persons like doctors have to use mobiles for long to keep in touch with patients and serve the community. But students should never do that. During Covid period, online classes & other activities have increased. But on that pretext, students should not spare more time with mobiles. At this stage, we’ve understood that Corona will not be removed completely. It will stay and we’ll have to go with it. At some intervals, cases will shoot up which are waves; then it will come to normal. Keeping in view the damages pandemic has done to the economy and society, the Government will not impose total lock-down any more. Some local containments may come. To keep minds fresh & stress free, students may watch good movies, do pranayama. Jogging in the morning helps keep both body and mind healthy and fit. Ups & downs are part of life. There are many good things to do in life & good things to enjoy. Small failures should not lead to drastic steps like suicide.
This unfortunate trend has increased during Covid period. To come out of this menace a small health talk was arranged where Dr. Arindam Chatterjee, attached with the Pearson Hospital & CMOH, Visva Bharati University would share some important life-style tips with the students. This would be followed by the IAP. He then called upon the students to present the opening song. A beautiful chorus song presented by a group of 7 students just set the mood of the programme. Our Council Member Smt. M. Basu Paul acknowledged the effort of Sri K. Bhattacharya in arranging the programme and giving us a chance to be a part of it. She then requested our General Secretary Sri Prodip Dutta to say few words about our programme. Sri Dutta said that Shantiniketan was the workplace of Gurudev Rabindra Nath Tagore and a place of worship for all of us. We are fortunate to start our IAP for the year from such a sacred place. He said that Sri M. Nahata would give a comprehensive Power Point presentation regarding basic level insurance education, to be followed by a brief profile of I.I.I.- Kolkata and career options in insurance available with our Institute. He then requested to welcome and honour Guests of the programme. On behalf of our Institute, Smt. Rakhi Bhowani welcomed Dr. Arindam Chatterjee and Smt. Mousumi Basu Paul welcomed Smt. Bodhirupa Sinha, Principal- Patha Bhawan and honoured them with ‘uttariya’. Dr. Chatterjee, a very soft spoken person, advised students to be healthy & well. But to be healthy doesn’t only mean being physically strong or remain disease free; a person cannot be termed as healthy unless he/she is mentally fit also. If a person, otherwise of sound health, remains stressed, depressed or often gets annoyed or suicidal, he/she cannot be said to be in good health. From the cases he dealt in hospital, it seemed, students get very stressed and tensed before examinations. He advised them to study uniformly throughout the year to get rid of such unnecessary stress. Also, they should accept that everyone cannot be no.1 and being on top cannot be the only motto of life. He said that nowadays, youngsters & students are addicted to mobile devices and through it, to games & social media. According to WHO, if a person use mobile more than an hour at a stretch, it is termed as ‘addiction’. Persons like doctors have to use mobiles for long to keep in touch with patients and serve the community. But students should never do that. During Covid period, online classes & other activities have increased. But on that pretext, students should not spare more time with mobiles. At this stage, we’ve understood that Corona will not be removed completely. It will stay and we’ll have to go with it. At some intervals, cases will shoot up which are waves; then it will come to normal. Keeping in view the damages pandemic has done to the economy and society, the Government will not impose total lock-down any more. Some local containments may come. To keep minds fresh & stress free, students may watch good movies, do pranayama. Jogging in the morning helps keep both body and mind healthy and fit. Ups & downs are part of life. There are many good things to do in life & good things to enjoy. Small failures should not lead to drastic steps like suicide.
Whenever youngsters, especially students feel something unbearable leading to depression or confusion, they should discuss the matter with their parents, teachers or even come to him. They are capable of handling it and provide solutions from the experience of their life. After Dr. Chatterjee, Smt. Bodhirupa Sinha, Principal- Patha Bhawan in her address appreciated the idea of holding such programmes for school students. She said, knowing insurance is as much necessary as buying insurance. “Now I direly need health insurance, but face difficulties as at this advance age, premium is too high with too many restrictions. I hope, this generation of students won’t face this difficulty”, she said. Thereafter, Sri Manish Nahata took up. He started the programme with small question- answers, picked up 10 students and with them, tried to impart the concept of insurance in a very lucid way. This was followed by a power point presentation on entire domain of insurance - starting from brewing up of idea of insurance at Lloyd’s Coffee Shop in London to different types of insurance, sub-types within them, insurance, products available vis-a- vis their utility etc. In his speech he covered every bit & piece of insurance that school students should know to open their minds towards insurance & to grow further interest in the subject matters. Some of the concepts & information was quite advanced & complex. But with the imitating style of presentation of Sri Nahata, students never seemed bored or out of attention. Rather they remained attentive throughout the class & grasped as much as could be given to them. A good no. of participants was quite intelligent to instantly answer & explain questions & concepts put to them by the speaker. Most of the students also noted down the information & contents of slides. A very lively & amusing part of the session was the Quiz set on Gurudev Rabindra Nath Tagore, his concept of education in non-conventional way, foundation of Shantiniketan & evolution of Visva Bharati into a World renowned education hub. Every correct answer brought the respondents a chocolate & the participants were too jubilant & thrilled over the whole exercise. The show was so nicely conceived & beautifully presented that even teachers present were engrossed into it and got enriched. Unfortunately Sri Nahata had to cut it short due to paucity of time. However, a few small video clippings in Bengali, Hindi & English on nature, need & importance of insurance were very apt and well positioned. They bridged the gap between theory & practice of insurance in real life in young minds. In valedictory, Council Member Sri Sudipto Sarkar appreciated the interest & attentiveness of students in the entire session. He said that purpose of the programme was not only to spread awareness about insurance but also to grow interest among students to choose insurance as career.
Whenever youngsters, especially students feel something unbearable leading to depression or confusion, they should discuss the matter with their parents, teachers or even come to him. They are capable of handling it and provide solutions from the experience of their life. After Dr. Chatterjee, Smt. Bodhirupa Sinha, Principal- Patha Bhawan in her address appreciated the idea of holding such programmes for school students. She said, knowing insurance is as much necessary as buying insurance. “Now I direly need health insurance, but face difficulties as at this advance age, premium is too high with too many restrictions. I hope, this generation of students won’t face this difficulty”, she said. Thereafter, Sri Manish Nahata took up. He started the programme with small question- answers, picked up 10 students and with them, tried to impart the concept of insurance in a very lucid way. This was followed by a power point presentation on entire domain of insurance - starting from brewing up of idea of insurance at Lloyd’s Coffee Shop in London to different types of insurance, sub-types within them, insurance, products available vis-a- vis their utility etc. In his speech he covered every bit & piece of insurance that school students should know to open their minds towards insurance & to grow further interest in the subject matters. Some of the concepts & information was quite advanced & complex. But with the imitating style of presentation of Sri Nahata, students never seemed bored or out of attention. Rather they remained attentive throughout the class & grasped as much as could be given to them. A good no. of participants was quite intelligent to instantly answer & explain questions & concepts put to them by the speaker. Most of the students also noted down the information & contents of slides. A very lively & amusing part of the session was the Quiz set on Gurudev Rabindra Nath Tagore, his concept of education in non-conventional way, foundation of Shantiniketan & evolution of Visva Bharati into a World renowned education hub. Every correct answer brought the respondents a chocolate & the participants were too jubilant & thrilled over the whole exercise. The show was so nicely conceived & beautifully presented that even teachers present were engrossed into it and got enriched. Unfortunately Sri Nahata had to cut it short due to paucity of time. However, a few small video clippings in Bengali, Hindi & English on nature, need & importance of insurance were very apt and well positioned. They bridged the gap between theory & practice of insurance in real life in young minds. In valedictory, Council Member Sri Sudipto Sarkar appreciated the interest & attentiveness of students in the entire session. He said that purpose of the programme was not only to spread awareness about insurance but also to grow interest among students to choose insurance as career.
That is why, high school students have been selected, and who are at crucial juncture of choosing their career path & field of study. Insurance nowadays offer a very promising career & scope for higher studies. Actuarial Science needs study & understanding core mathematics & statistics which is quite tough. There are other avenues like doing Diploma viz., Associate & Fellowship of Insurance Institute of India- Mumbai. They also offer good job opportunities in Insurance sales, marketing & administration. Indian Insurance Institute can be of great help to students in this regard who like to take up insurance as further course of study or career. ‘If a few students choose it and can take informed decisions in future, today’s session will be considered successful & justified’, he added. He placed on record, heart-felt gratitude to Prof. Bidyut Chakraborty, Vice Chancellor, Visva Bharati University without whose wishes & support, the programme could not be held. On behalf of the Council of I.I.I.- Kolkata Sri Sarkar acknowledged with great gratitude, the silent but steady efforts of Prof. Kishore Bhattacharya in consultation with Council Member Smt. M.Basu Paul from day one in removing various hurdles & giving the programme a truly flawless shape. In this connection he named & thanked Smt. Sadhana Barua who was instrumental in introducing Smt. Basu Paul to Prof. K. Bhattacharya. He thanked Principal Smt. B. Sinha & student co-ordinator Smt. Lopamudra Sen for arranging the gathering & guiding the students so nicely. Sincere thanks on behalf of I.I.I.- Kolkata to all staff of Visva Bharati including Bangladesh Bhawan staff Sri Anupam who arranged & supervised the sound & projection system. The programme concluded with a chorus song presented by group of students. All the participants were given a small writing pad & pen and greeted with a chocolate at the beginning. A small refreshment packet was also arranged for all from our Institute after the programme. A unique experience that touched our minds were the chanting of ‘sadhu sadhu’ instead of clapping as each speaker ended his/her speech. This somehow connected us to the age- old oriental tradition, custom & culture that Gurudev had dreamt of. The hospitality extended by Visva Bharati, ambience of Bangladesh Bhawan and the warmth of courtesy expressed by Professor, Principal & others concerned left us overwhelmed. The touring team members returned with an experience for the lifetime
That is why, high school students have been selected, and who are at crucial juncture of choosing their career path & field of study. Insurance nowadays offer a very promising career & scope for higher studies. Actuarial Science needs study & understanding core mathematics & statistics which is quite tough. There are other avenues like doing Diploma viz., Associate & Fellowship of Insurance Institute of India- Mumbai. They also offer good job opportunities in Insurance sales, marketing & administration. Indian Insurance Institute can be of great help to students in this regard who like to take up insurance as further course of study or career. ‘If a few students choose it and can take informed decisions in future, today’s session will be considered successful & justified’, he added. He placed on record, heart-felt gratitude to Prof. Bidyut Chakraborty, Vice Chancellor, Visva Bharati University without whose wishes & support, the programme could not be held. On behalf of the Council of I.I.I.- Kolkata Sri Sarkar acknowledged with great gratitude, the silent but steady efforts of Prof. Kishore Bhattacharya in consultation with Council Member Smt. M.Basu Paul from day one in removing various hurdles & giving the programme a truly flawless shape. In this connection he named & thanked Smt. Sadhana Barua who was instrumental in introducing Smt. Basu Paul to Prof. K. Bhattacharya. He thanked Principal Smt. B. Sinha & student co-ordinator Smt. Lopamudra Sen for arranging the gathering & guiding the students so nicely. Sincere thanks on behalf of I.I.I.- Kolkata to all staff of Visva Bharati including Bangladesh Bhawan staff Sri Anupam who arranged & supervised the sound & projection system. The programme concluded with a chorus song presented by group of students. All the participants were given a small writing pad & pen and greeted with a chocolate at the beginning. A small refreshment packet was also arranged for all from our Institute after the programme. A unique experience that touched our minds were the chanting of ‘sadhu sadhu’ instead of clapping as each speaker ended his/her speech. This somehow connected us to the age- old oriental tradition, custom & culture that Gurudev had dreamt of. The hospitality extended by Visva Bharati, ambience of Bangladesh Bhawan and the warmth of courtesy expressed by Professor, Principal & others concerned left us overwhelmed. The touring team members returned with an experience for the lifetime