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Speeches of Alagappa Chettiar |
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Speech delivered by Dr. Chettiar while opening the Inspectorate Office of the Oriental Government Security life Insurance Company Corporation Ltd., at Karaikudi on 26 October 1955. Mr. Bhat (Branch Secretary, Oriental life Office, Madurai) and Friends, It has been said through the ages by all men that God is great. But there have been occasion when certain remarkable good fortune has occurred either to individual or an institution or to an area when it has been said God is greater that ever before. I feel like being in one of those moments now when one feels like jumping with joy and acclaiming with one voice God is greater that ever before. The fact that the Oriental Government Security Life Assurance Co., that great and mighty free which takes increasing number of people under its foliage gives protection and insurance, has now established itself as a Center in the heart of Chettinad gives the greatest happiness to many. We the citizens of this part of South India, popularly known as Chettinad, have ever reason to be grateful to the power that preside over the destines of this mammoth organisation for having opened this Inspectorate Office at Karaikudi. I am deeply grateful to the Board of Directors of this mighty organisation and its illustrious General Manager and my very good friend, Mr. L.S. Vaidyanathan, and also to Mr.Bhat, Branch Secretary, Oriental Life Office, Madurai for having given me the opportunity to participate in today's function. I am sure I am voicing the feelings of everyone here and many more outside when I say we are deeply grateful to the authorities of the 'Oriental' for this every significant and progressive step that is the establishment of this inspectorate office at Karaikudi. It is too late in the day for anyone to talk about the importance and the need for insurance in every field of human activity. Mystery of life grows deeper and deeper as our understanding of life becomes greater and greater. Even as we grow into the atomic age, an age when one feels that life and human conduct and consequences can be guided and shaped that behind all the plans of man there lies the understandable will of God. I am not saying anything new or revolutionary when I say an element of doubt is what is most apparent after man's conquest over nature. Religious through the ages have often laid the greatest stress on the unseen hand of God as against that deliberated will man. One might call it the will of God but one thing appears crystal clear and that is an element of chance that guides and rules human conduct in every activity. It might be that when the doctor pronounces the heart absolutely sound and when one is looking forward to decades of sound and when one is looking forward to decades of sound and happy life the man gets killed by a motor accident; after the meteorologists have given the all clear signal for the weather, the plane takes off and when every things looks at its best engine trouble develops, plane crashes and valuable lives are lost; An unexpected cyclone overpowers the beautiful floating vessel in the high seas and the ship is wreeked and cargo is lost; when the political climate looks encouraging and all appears quite on the Western front up human emotions at their worst and engulfs the world into conflagration resulting in an untold misery of human Lives, wanton destruction of natural wealth, bringing suffering and famine in its wake. I have referred at such length to the element of chance that at time overwhelm most well planned human conduct. When such cataclysms overtake us should it not appear to us that the only thing left is to try to take away the edge of suffering by insurance. That is what "Oriental' has attempted to do and is continuously doing in ever increasing measure in varying fields of activity to take away the edge of suffering and compensate human beings with the next best substitute and offer protection in the shape of memory. To my mind man must be grateful to this line of thought in the human being throughout the ages to steal some happiness even in the midst of suffering over which we have no control. The husband who has been snatched away from the wife by cruel Fate no doubt brings misery to the family and young growing children. What has been lost can never be recovered. But the agency that earned money though lost can still be made to function in some effective measure to bring about some happiness for the wife and the children if some insurance has been taken by the deceased. Illustrations can be cited adnausem to show as to how loss of one's property is not, loss of one's happiness altogether. Insurance is a beautiful amrit that brings solace to individual and institution and the "Oriental" which has taken upon itself this most human and noble work is trying to take away the edge of human suffering by some scientific means and procedure deserves to be congratulated by the entire society. Here is an organisation the "Oriental" that can rightly be compared to the Everest amongst the summits, in the field of insurance. Here is an organisation that has been built by the integrity, by the devotion and by the humanity of a few successful generation and certain leading men for the past 100 years in this undeveloped country, India. We are living in an age of socialistic pattern, when we are told in no unmistaken terms that mere possession or accumulation of wealth and its mere growth without division and sharing with other fellow men will not be favorably looked upon by Society. But even during these days of socialistic pattern, I wonder, whether there is any individual however leftist he might be who feels that eighty three crores of rupees in the possession of the institution is something to be frowned at. The answer is clear, and that is there is none who share such a view. The wealth in the many branches of the organisation of the "Oriental" is the wealth of millions of peoples and hence devoid of any unhappy elements. The soundness of "Oriental" ensures the strength of society, ensures the beating down of the pangs of sorrow when calamity sets in in the shape of chance. I have said enough about the need of insurance and how it works as a compliment to God's will. Oriental has earned a name for itself and has built up a position of which any country could be proud to have it as one of her major institutions. Long may this prosper, and our happiness lies in the fact that here is prosperity directly coupled with their happiness. Such a prosperity is bound to be preserved and let us all each in our own way add to this great human effort - the great effort of Oriental. I trust the citizens of this area will appreciate the gesture of the authorities of the Oriental by utilizing their service to the maximum extent possible. Here is scientific understanding of the problems of millions of our country is this great business of insurance. Here is a scientific effort to conserve and multiply the reserves that has been built up through the decades. In fact here in this organisation is an effort rarely unequalled and definitely unexcelled by any father in the mater of the benevolent care of wife and children. That can be done only by our taking insurance in the respective field in this great institution - the Oriental Government Security Life Insurance Co. Ltd. By doing so we will be obeying the will of God and yet take away the edge of suffering to some extent. Such conduct is not in conflict with tenets of our religion but definitely in accordance with the needs of man. Let us obey the will of God as we must and by such obedience coupled with some insurance let us ensure our happiness to some extent. I thank the organizers of this function for having given me this opportunity.
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