Cong puts off party polls by 1 year; Sonia to carry on at helm

September 8, 2015

New Delhi, Sep 8: Sonia Gandhi will continue as the Congress president for up to one year after the party today resolved to push back its internal polls by a year, signalling that Rahul Gandhi is unlikely to take over at its helm in the immediate future.

soni

With a view to bringing in massive changes in the wake of its worst showing in the Lok Sabha polls last year, the resolution passed the Congress Working Committee puts to rest for the moment the speculation that had begun after the Congress Vice President's return from a sabbatical earlier this year that he could be elevated any time this year.

Congress sources said that since the party was required to complete its organisational elections by this year-end, it now has to seek Election Commission's permission for postponing the exercise on the grounds that it needs additional time to bring in key amendments in the party Constitution.

The party will soon be informing the poll body about the decision of the CWC, Congress's apex policy-making body.

Sonia Gandhi has the record of holding the longest tenure as Congress chief. She took over the party in early 1998. Her current term is expiring in December this year.

Upping the reservation for weaker sections -- SC, ST, OBC, minorities and women -- in party posts from 20 to 50 per cent is a key proposal accepted by the CWC with Sonia Gandhi insisting that it was "only through affirmative action that we will guarantee greater say in the working of our party to these sections of society".

Through another amendment, the party has reduced the term of membership from five years to three years. This will necessitate organisational polls every three years and not five as was decided by the party in December, 2010, at their Burari session. The term of all party office-bearers, including that of the Congress President, now stands restored to three years instead of five.

Upon conclusion of the organisational polls, a resolution of the CWC will be adopted at a Congress Plenary after which the changes will be included in the party constitution.

With the Congress vote-share plummeting in the Lok Sabha polls and a number of state elections, Sonia Gandhi told the CWC, "Our priority must be to strengthen our existing support base and actively reach out and win the confidence of new constituents."

Congress also decided to bring in a one-membership system for those joining Congress or its front wings like Youth Congress, NSUI, Seva Dal or Mahila Congress.

It further decided to also revive the concept of active member. A member enrolling at least 25 members will be regarded as an active member and will have a say in inner body polls.

With the party expecting to would have a fresh schedule for organisational polls in the new year, Sonia Gandhi said that as new members are registered "we have to ensure that our internal processes and systems are sufficiently robust to recognise, reward and nurture talent".

A transparent mechanism to recognise and reward hard- working party workers should be institutionalised, she said amidst calls for the infusion of fresh blood into the organisation.

The Congress President said that the amendments passed today will require some time to be implemented but, once done, shall "go a long way towards making our party institutions truly responsive and equip it to face the challenges that lie ahead".

She said that to successfully implement these initiatives, Congress needs to bolster organisational institutions right from the grassroots up.

During the three-hour-long meeting of the party's apex body, former Union ministers P Chidambaram and Anand Sharma made a detailed briefing on the GST Bill amidst renewed efforts by the government to take Congress on board for passing the key reform measure.

NDA plans to roll out the GST from April next year.

Congress, which had earlier decided to press for at least five changes in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, today said that there were three such issues that were non- negotiable.

There was an indication that the party could soften its stance on GST if the government agreed to some of its proposals and may not refrain from discussions on the measure.

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Mega merger of PSU banks comes into force from April 1: RBI

News Network

March 29,2020

New Delhi, Mar 29 : Notwithstanding the 21-day coronavirus lockdown, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to go ahead with the merger plan of ten state-run banks into four larger bank from April 1. The apex bank has issued four separate releases announcing that the branches of merging banks will operate as of the banks in which these have been amalgamated from next month.

RBI's statement comes after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's clarification on Thursday that the mega bank consolidation plan was very much on track and would take effect from April 1.

The government on March 4 had notified the amalgamation schemes for 10 state owned banks into four as part of its consolidation plan to create bigger size stronger banks in the public sector.

Bank officers' unions, however, earlier this week wrote to the prime minister seeking to defer the merger schemes of lenders due to the lockdown triggered by coronavirus outbreak.

As per the scheme, Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India will be merged into Punjab National Bank; Syndicate Bank into Canara Bank; Allahabad Bank into Indian Bank; and Andhra and Corporation banks into Union Bank of India.

Under this, the branches of Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India will operate as branches of Punjab National Bank from April 1, 2020, and branches of Syndicate Bank as that of Canara Bank, the RBI said in a separate releases.

Allahabad Bank branches will operate as those of Indian Bank while the branches of Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank will function as the branches of Union Bank of India from the beginning of next fiscal year 2020-21, the RBI said.

"The Amalgamation of Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India into Punjab National Bank Scheme, 2020 dated March 4, 2020, issued by the Government of India... The scheme comes into force on the 1st day of April 2020," RBI said.

Customers, including depositors of merging banks will be treated as customers of the banks in which these banks have been merged with effect from April 1, 2020, the RBI noted.

Banking services across the country are impacted due to the effect of COVID-19 as a near shut down is being observed across the country.

In a letter written to the Prime Minister on March 25, the All India Bank Officers'' Confederation (AIBOC) said, "The finance minister yesterday announced a slew of measures in view of the deleterious effect of the contagion. We are also expecting an extension of closing related activities and the revision of the closing date itself from March 31 to June 30, which is the need of the hour."

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Congress 'abusing' Hindus by protesting against CAA, should be called 'Muslim League Congress': BJP

News Network

January 22,2020

New Delhi, Jan 22: The BJP on Wednesday cited statements of several opposition leaders to accuse them of "abusing" Hindus for their appeasement politics and referred to the Congress as "Muslim League Congress".

Seeking apologies from Congress president Sonia Gandhi and NCP chief Sharad Pawar, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said leaders of these parties have used the ongoing protests against the amended citizenship law to "abuse" Hindus.

Chavan has said in a public meeting that the Congress decided to join hands with the Shiv Sena to form government in Maharashtra as Muslims wanted the party to stop the BJP, Patra stated, claiming that it shows the opposition party has nothing to do with people belonging to other religions, including Hindus.

Patra also referred to a statement from an NCP leader to attack the opposition.

Asked about Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge's reported jibe at the RSS for its "non-participation" in the freedom movement, the BJP leader shot back, asking if parents of Sonia Gandhi, who is of Italian origin, had fought in India's independence struggle.

The Indian National Congress, he said referring to the opposition party's full name, should be called "Muslim League Congress".

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LOL...this is a waste body

This guy cannot even debate with Kanaiah kumar.

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India’s COVID-19 tally crosses 7 lakh-mark with 22,252 fresh cases, toll rises to 20,160

Agencies

July 7,2020

India's COVID-19 tally raced past the seven lakh-mark with 22,252 fresh infections on Tuesday, five days after crossing the six lakh post, while the death toll climbed to 20,160 as 467 more people succumbed to the disease, according to the Union health ministry.

With this, the country has recorded over 20,000 cases of the infection for the fifth consecutive day.

India's coronavirus infection caseload stands at 7,19,665, the ministry's data updated at 8 am showed.

With a steady rise, the number of recoveries stands at 4,39,947, while there are 2,59,557 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country.

"Thus, around 61.13 % of patients have recovered so far," an official said.

The total number of confirmed cases also includes foreigners.

Of the 467 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, 204 are from Maharashtra, 61 from Tamil Nadu, 48 from Delhi, 29 from Karnataka, 24 from Uttar Pradesh, 22 from West Bengal, 17 from Gujarat.

Telangana and Haryana reported 11 deaths each; Madhya Pradesh nine; Andhra Pradesh seven; Jammu and Kashmir six; Rajasthan and Punjab five each; Bihar, Kerala and Odisha two each; and Arunachal Pradesh and Jharkhand one each.

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