Customer Care in a Train

There is a new facility which is now available in Indian Trains. There is a customer care number on which you can call for assistance under following conditions-

a) If you need security in your bogi
b) If you need water in your bogi
c) If someone is too ill in your bogi
d) Any fault in your bogi
e) Any problem which can be registered

You just need to sms on this number- 8121281212. Assistance will surely be provided at next station/stop.

Term Life Insurance

Many people get confused with normal life insurance policy, endowment (money back policy) or term life insurance policy. Term life insurance is the purest form of life insurance. Generally, people want to save tax and the easiest way they have in mind is to take a LIC policy. They contact agents. Agents love to sell you normal life insurance or money back policy because they get more commission from it. Under 80C section you can have rebate upto 1 lacs and people pay premium upto 1 lac to save tax.

First thing to keep in mind that you only need life insurance if you have liabilities. The amount of insurance also depends on type and number of liabilities. Suppose you have a loan, your parents depend on you, your wife, your children etc. What will happen if you die today ? You need enough cover of your life so that your liabilities will complete/survive in your absence.

People mix investment with life insurance with each other. But always keep in mind that in spite of taking a Normal Life Insurance or Endowment policy, you can take PPF and term insurance policy. Endowment policy will give you 5-6% return and by paying high premium you get low sum assured. PPF will give you 8.8% return and term insurance gives you high sum assured at a low premium.

Let us take a example that two persons A and B of same age 30 years choose two different paths.

a) Person A takes a normal life insurance like Jeevan Anand for a period of 25 years with a premium of 60,000 per year. Sum assured is 15 lacs. He will get around 35 lacs at maturity.

b) Person B opens a PPF and take a term insurance for a period of 25 years with a premium of 7,000 per year. Sum assured is 50 lacs. He invest remaining 53,000 every year in PPF for 15 years. After that he invest matured amount of around 16 lacs to 10 years FD at 9% and continue investing 4,417 (53000/12) in a RD for 10 years. He will finally get around 48 lacs.

Now you can decide which one is beneficial.

Fact about PPF Account

Public Provident Fund (PPF) is a good choice for long term investment. It is opened for 15 years and after that extended to 5 years any number of times. Maximum Limit to get Income Tax Rebate is 1 Lac rupees per year and minimum amount should be 500 for each year.

You can get PPF account details at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Provident_Fund_India. There is an interesting calculator about PPF is at http://www.ratekhoj.com/ppf-calculator.php. If we plan to invest 12000 a year and we have it in a lumpsum, we should invest it between 1 to 10 April of each year to earn more interest. But if you don't have lumpsum amount then there is another idea. Open a RD of 1000 such that it will mature in the last week of March. Then you can invest the lumsum amount in April to gain more interest. Lets take this scenario and see the difference-



You can see the difference. The difference is of 5808 rupees.

Experience at Passport Seva Kendra

Passport Office has now started Passport Seva Kendra which gives you a changed experience in applying for a fresh or reissue passport. It is opening in different cities of India. I live in Lucknow. I went to Passport Seva Kendra Lucknow to update my passport.

First of all I need to get an appointment from passport website http://www.passportindia.gov.in/AppOnlineProject/welcomeLink. Create a login there and then download passport application. After filling the application you can upload it or you can online fill application. Once application is filled offline or online, you can get a Application Reference Number (ARN). Then you need to take an appointment which is a very difficult task in itself. When appointment link is open (it is closed sometimes), you can try to take an appointment after 4pm everyday. The trick is that only first 700 users get an appointment and time frame is only 0-2 minutes. You have to take the appointment between 4.00 pm and 4.02 pm. First you need to match your computer clock to be accurate. Then start trying after 3.50 pm and hopefully you get an appointment.

If you got an appointment you have a appointment number. Then you will take a print out of receipt and go to passport seva kendra with all relevant documents. They were asking for one year address proof in most cases so don't forget it.

In Passport Seva Kendra, firstly you have to enter into office on your appointment time. Then all your documents were checked and a token number is allotted after waiting in the queue. If you have less documents then you will be sent back from here and you have to take next appointment. You have to pass three types of counters A, B and C before getting the acknowledgement of your application. Fee is submitted and documents were scanned at counter A. Documents checking at all counters. It will take around 2 to 3 hours for the whole process to complete. Passports were delivered after 10-15 days after this process. So, only taking appointment is a pain area. Also you can walk in without appointment but it is applied only in some cases and the walk in time is 9 to 11 am.