Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015

• increased the permitted limit for foreign holdings in Insurance company from 26% to 49%.
• allows entry of foreign re-insurers (companies that insure insurance companies).
• provides for permanent registration of insurance companies.
• permits the holder of a life insurance policy to name the beneficiary.
• allows for nationalised general insurance companies to raise funds from the capital markets.
• Minimum capital = 100 Cr. for Life/ General Insurance Companies/ Co-operatives. Minimum Capital = 50 Cr. for Health Insurance. 
• Life insurance policy can not be challenged by insurer after a period of 5 year for any reason. 
• Fine = 25 Cr. for Insurers who fail to meet obligations in third party motor insurance, or policies for rural, social or vulnerable section of society. 
• provides for appeal against decisions of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) to liw with the Securities Appellate  Tribunal set up under the SEBI Act, 1992.

Issues

• Lloyd's of London to be included in the definition of foreign company. Unclear whether it will be able to operate in India. 
• IRDA Act of 1999, required Indian promoters in insurance company to reduce their holding to 26% over a period of ten years. This requirement is not required now. 
• Law commission had suggested the merger of key provisions of the IRDA act with the Insurance Act. This is not implemented.  

The Second Front

• Destruction of Fascist army in North Africa. 
• Many section in Italy turned against Mussolini.
• Mussolini arrested. Later escaped with the help of Germans. 
• British and American troops entered Italy to throw out Germans from Italy.
• Soviet Union attaining significant victories against Germany.
• June 1944, 100,000 British and American troops landed on the coast of Normady, France. By September 200,000 troops. 
• Opening of this front played a very crucial role in defeat of Germany.

Battle of Stalingrad

• Nov-Dec 1941, German advance on Moscow met with stubborn resistance and the invasion was repulsed. 
• Then Germany launched an offensive in Southern Russia. 
• German troops reached outskirts of Stalingrad in August 1942, battle for 5 months. 
• February 1943, 90,000 German officers and soldiers surrendered. Germany lost 300,000 men in this battle. Turned the tide of war. 

Blitzkrieg

During WWII, War conducted by Germany with great speed and force is known as blitzkrieg - lightning war.

• Invasion of Poland, 1939, in 3 weeks.
• April 1940, Norway and Denmark, in 3 weeks.
• May 1940, Belgium, in 4 weeks. 
• June 1940, France in 1 week.

Phoney War

• 1st September 1939, Germany invaded Poland.
• 3rd September 1939, Britain and France declared war on Germany. Start of WWII.
• Later Germany invaded Norway and Denmark too.
• Little actual fighting for many months even after declaration of war. 
• Therefore called phoney war. September 1939 - April 1940.

Beginning of Fascist Aggression 1919 - 1939

• Italy, Germany and Japan started  series of aggressions in Europe, Asia and Africa. 
• Claimed to fighting against communism - united under Anti-Comintern Pact, 1937

Germany

• ambitions of conquering the vast resources and territory of the Soviet Union. 
• Western countries followed policy of appeasement. 
• Policy of appeasement = policy of conciliating an aggressive power at the expense of some other country. 
• Western countries hoped that Germany will get rid of Communism danger. 
• Re-militarization of German forces. 
• Germany remilitarized Rhineland in violation of Treaty of Versailles. 
• Built an army of 800,000 against the limit of 100,000 according to Treaty of Versailles. 

Japan

• Japan invaded China in 1931.
• China appealed in League of Nations against Japan to stop aggression. 
• Britain, France and US indifferent to the appeal. 
• Appeasement of Japan continued as the Western countries thought that the Japnese could be used to weaken China as well as Soviet Union. 
• Britain did not wanted to alienate Japan and thus endanger her possessions in Asia. 

Italy

• Italy invaded Ethopia in 1935.
• League of Nations condemned, but no action taken.

Spanish Civil War

• 1931, Spain become a republic. 
• 1935, Popular Front - Socialist, Communist and other democratic and anti-fascist parties came to power. 
• Section of army under General Franco revolted. 
• supported by Germany and Italy. 
• Italy and Germany openly supported and provided military help. 
• succeeded in destroying the Republic in 1939. 

Munich Pact

• Germany occupied Austria in 1938.
• Germany wanted Czechoslovakia because of her industry.
• strategic importance for expansion of Germany toward Soviet Union. 
• British and France PM met Hitler and Mussolini and agreed to Germany terms without consent of Czechoslovakia.
• Last major act of appeasement by the Western powers. 

Soviet Union and Germany Non-Aggression Pact, 1939

• Western policies of appeasement convinced Soviet Union that their main interest was to divert German expansion toward Soviet Union. 
• Munich Pact was additional proof. 
• Soviet Union signed a Non-Aggression Pact with Germany in 1939. 
• Shocked anti-fascists world over. 
• Britain and France promised to come to aid of Poland, Greece, Romania and Turkey in case their independence was endangered. 

New Deal

• Franklin D. Roosevelt started this programme to counter Economic crisis of 1929-33/ Great Depression.
• Programme for economic reconstruction and social welfare. 
• Steps to improve workers condition and create employment.
• focused on what historians call the "3 Rs": Relief, Recovery, and Reform. 
• US recovered from crisis and industrial production picked up again. 

New Deal

• Fiscal Reform
•  balance the "regular" (non-emergency) federal budget by cutting the salaries of government employees and cutting pensions to veterans by fifteen percent..
• Banking Reform
•  Emergency Banking Act, . It provided for a system of reopening sound banks under Treasury supervision, with federal loans available if needed. Three-quarters of the banks in the Federal Reserve System reopened within the next three days. Billions of dollars in hoarded currency and gold flowed back into them within a month, thus stabilizing the banking system.
• The Glass–Steagall Act limited commercial bank securities activities and affiliations between commercial banks and securities firms to regulate speculations.
• Monetary Reform
• suspended the gold standard. 
• stopped the outflow of gold by forbidding the export of gold except under license from the Treasury.
• The dollar was allowed to float freely on foreign exchange markets with no guaranteed price in gold.
• Gold Reserve Act, 1934. These measures enabled the Fed to increase the amount of money in circulation to the level the economy needed.
• Securities Regulation
•  Securities Act of 1933 was enacted. It required the disclosure of the balance sheet, profit and loss statement, the names and compensations of corporate officers, about firms whose securities were traded. 
•  In 1934 the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was established to regulate the stock market and prevent corporate abuses relating to the sale of securities and corporate reporting.
• Government funded public works project e.g. Schools, Dams, Bridges etc. provided employment to large number of people.