L A T E S T      N E W S

BJP sticks to ‘PM must go’ demand 

NEW DELHI: The BJP today remained firm on its demand for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation on the coal allocation issue and insisted that the only way to end the present impasse in Parliament is for him take responsibility for the Rs 1.86 lakh crore loss suggested by CAG.

Drawing a comparison between the 2G spectrum allocation scam and the Coal allocation controversy, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley told reporters that while in the former, Singh was politically and "vicariously" responsible, in the latter he is directly involved.

"The only way to break the deadlock in Parliament is if the Prime Minister takes responsibility (for the coal scam) and acts accordingly," Jaitley said.

The BJP leader maintained that Singh was directly complicit in the coal allocation case- in which the CAG has said there was an estimated loss of Rs 1.86 Lakh crore- as he held the Coal Ministry portfolio for five of the last eight years of UPA rule.

"There is no way that he can escape responsibility for this monumental loss," Jaitley said.

BJP contended that the decision to go for auction of coal blocks was taken in 2004 but it has not been implemented till now though eight years have passed.

It has refuted the Centre's contention that this delay was caused as some of the states were opposed to auction, saying Coal comes under the Centre List and states have no say.

The main Opposition has alleged this delay has helped some companies make "windfall gains" in these years. — PTI

PSU bank strike cripples services across the country

NEW DELHI: Employees of public sector banks have begun a two-day nationwide strike on Wednesday opposing banking sector reforms and outsourcing of non-core activities, affecting operations. 

Several private sector banks, foreign banks and ATMs, however, continued to operate normally. 

The strike call was given by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella organisation of nine unions of employees and officers of PSU banks, protesting banking sector reforms and unilateral implementation of the Khandelwal committee report on human resources management in PSU banks. The strike has been called against government’s policies of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation. 

Bank unions are demanding stringent and effective measures to recover bad loans 

“The strike is on since this morning. Nearly 10 lakh employees are participating in it. This includes 24 public- sector banks, 12 private banks and 6 foreign banks,” All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) General Secretary C H Venkatachalam told PTI. 

He also said that ATM machines will work until they have the cash and thereafter those services will also be impacted. 

“The strike is going on normally, demonstration will start by 10—10.30 AM. All the nine unions are participating in the strike,” said Rakesh Agarwal, General Secretary, SBI Officers Association. 

Bank unions have been demanding pension revision, housing loan revision, a five-day working week and human resource related issues, Mr Agarwal said. 

There are about 87,000 branches of public sector banks, employing over 10 lakh people. The PSU banks, which operate 63,000 ATMs, control about 75 per cent banking business in the country. According to reports, operations like deposit, withdrawal as well as clearing were affected in public sector banks, including the largest lender State Bank of India, due to the strike. 

Among other things, the trade unions are protesting against Banking Laws Amendment Bill which is pending in Parliament and implementation of the Khandelwal committee report. 

The Amendment Bill, 2011 contains provisions such as raising of shareholders’ voting rights from 10 per cent to 26 per cent in private banks and supersession of bank boards. 

The Centre-appointed Khandelwal panel had suggested a slew of measures, including more outsourcing of non-core activities in a time-bound manner. 

Also, the standard of recruitment, including methodology and content for testing, has to be raised. Testing of computer skills will be mandatory for both officers and clerks, the panel had recommended. 

The Khandelwal committee had also suggested that the minimum qualification for clerks and sub—staff should be graduation and class 10, respectively. 

The unions which had given the strike call include All India Bank Employees Association, All India Bank Officers Confederation, National Confederation of Bank Employees, All India Bank Officers Officers Association, Bank Employees Federation of India, India National Bank Employees Federation, Indian National Bank Officers Congress, National Organisation of Bank Workers and National Organisation of Bank Officers are part of the United Forum of Bank Union. 

In Mumbai, there was marginal impact of the strike. 

SBI said it is too early to assess the impact on operations as the headquarters has not received any feedback from the branches. 

An official of the Corporation Bank said employees belonging to the striking unions are absent from work, impacting the operations. 

Union Bank, Central Bank and Bank of India said their branches have recorded thin attendance so far. 

Old private sector banks like Federal and Dhanalaxmi Bank also said that their branches, being run by managers of Grade IV and below, are impacted due to the strike. 

These banks typically have around half of their branches run by lower grade officers, who are part of the National Federation which is striking. 

Meanwhile, banking transactions came to a halt in public sector banks in Punjab and Haryana, although private banks like HDFC, ICICI continued to operate. 

The impact of the strike was visible on the industrial sectors of both Punjab and Haryana as industry representatives fumed over hampering of their business activities due to the two—day long strike by bank employees. 

Industry representatives, particularly of the MSME sector, said they could not arrange funds for working capital requirements. 

“The slowdown in the economy coupled with sluggish demand has already hit the industrial sector. Now, the strike will add to our woes. It is unthinkable to carry out any financial transaction without banks,” a Ludhiana based industrialist N.Bhamra said. 

Due to the strike, cheques worth several crores of rupees remained uncleared in the public sector banks. Several banks’ asset recovery branches have even postponed the auction of loan defaulters’ properties. 

Although customers who were aware of the strike call have managed transactions accordingly, many others visited banks only to find the branches closed. 

According to reports, striking bank employees are carrying out protest rallies and holding demonstrations at several places in Punjab and Haryana. 

“We will not allow the Centre to carry out the proposed banking reforms and implement Khandelwal committee report which recommended for outsourcing of non-core activities,” Punjab Bank Employees’ Federation, Secretary, Naresh Gaur said. 

He said bank branches had been locked from outside to prevent the entry of any bank officer. 

“Our intention is not to harass our customers by observing the strike. But the Union government does not listen to our demands which is why we resort to go on strike,” Gaur said. 

“Banking Laws Amendment Bill is being brought in the Lok Sabha despite our protest”, he said. 

The unions are also seeking settlement of their pending demands and an end to “arbitrary guidelines” of human resource issues, freeze on outsourcing of bank jobs, a hold over banking sector reforms and non-closure of rural branches. 

Congratulating the striking bank employees, AITUC and CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta said all central trade unions were planning to take their agitation on various issues afflicting the workers to “a much higher level” in the near future. 

He said the major issues being raised by the bank staffers, who were being led by a united forum of all bank unions, included their opposition to the proposed banking bill, outsourcing, allowing FDI in the sector and giving foreign investors proportional voting rights and to seek filling up of vacancies. 

In spite of the employees raising these demands at various fora and with the government, there has been no official response, he said. — PTI

Facebook to remove content inciting violence

Washington: In the backdrop of appeals by India to remove hate posts, world’s largest social networking website Facebook on Wednesday said it would remove content, block pages or even disable accounts of those users who upload content that incite violence or perpetuate hate speech. 

Comprehending the gravity, Facebook’s stern warning to its users comes in the wake of the Indian government bringing to its notice the posting of contents, including inflammatory matters and doctored pictures and videos to create social unrest in the country. 

“Facebook will remove content which breaches our terms as set out in our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.Content or individuals can be removed from Facebook for a variety of reasons including issuing direct calls for violence or perpetuating hate speech,” a Facebook spokesperson told PTI. 

“We have received requests from Indian authorities and agencies and are working through those requests and responding to the agencies. We encourage people to continue to use our tools to report content they are concerned about so that we can investigate and take action fast,” the spokesperson said when asked about the actions being taken by the company. 

Given the gravity of the situation, which the social networking site officials term “an emergency situation” a large number of Facebook employees are working round the clock in both India and the US to review and monitor the content and take necessary action, which the company says is part of its social responsibilities. 

In fact, Facebook has already removed quite a significant number of such “inflammatory” and “hate” contents from its website and in some cases blocked pages. 

However, because of the company policy and privacy reasons, its official would not quantify the number of such actions. 

If any user repeatedly tries to upload such hateful content, Facebook can even disable the account, said an official requesting anonymity as he was not allowed to speak to the press on this issue. 

Expressing serious concern over the current situation in India wherein people have tried to use Facebook as a tool to incite violence or spread hate, the official said Facebook has taken a number of measures to prevent this. 

The company is taking a cue from its 2010 experience of riots in London wherein it closely worked with local police to prevent its website being used by hatemongers for either gathering purposes or spread rumors. 

The Facebook, the official said, is “pretty aligned” with the views of the Indian government on this and have “not run into any issues” with the government. 

“We understand the gravity of the situation,” the official said, adding that the company has intensified the monitoring of such content related to India. 

Facebook has some 50 million users in India. Company officials urged users to remain alert on any such inflammatory or objectionable posting and keep it informed. — PTI

Dhoni not invited to Laxman’s party

Hyderabad: Indian captain MS Dhoni on Wednesday added more fuel to the intense speculation about his strained relationship with VVS Laxman, saying he was not invited for a late night party thrown by the retired cricketer at his residence.

Laxman threw a party on Tuesday for Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Zaheer Khan at his residence in Manikonda, Hyderabad. He, however, chose to ignore Dhoni for the bash.

When Dhoni was asked at the pre-match press conference if he was invited by Laxman, he replied in a clear no.

The skipper also chose to pay little attention to the fact that Laxman could not get through to him to inform him about his immediate retirement plans ahead of the series.

“You think it’s a controversy but people who know me always complained that I’m someone who is quite difficult to get hold of. That was one of the reasons why Laxmanbhai could not get hold of me,” Dhoni told reporters.

“That’s not something new. I have tried to improve but it seems I have not really improved,” he said.

Asked about Laxman’s sudden retirement, pat came Dhoni’s reply: “You need to ask Laxman about it.” 

Dhoni said the team would miss Laxman and Dravid but felt that their absence would provide opportunity to youngsters to prove their mettle.

“Definitely these are our two great players and we will miss them on the field. But that’s how it is,” he said.

“It’s an opportunity for the youngsters to take up the responsibility in the longer format. We are hoping that the youngsters would grab the opportunity and do well,” he added.

The duo’s absence would mean that India would have to fill in the void at the slip cordon, of which Laxman and Dravid were integral part. But Dhoni hoped that Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli would take up the responsibility.

“We are hoping that we won’t miss them in the slip cordon. When it comes to scoring runs and the experience they had, it would be quite difficult. That’s one area where we will definitely miss them,” the skipper said.

“But we don’t think we will be short of fielders. We have players like Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Virender Sehwag who are already fielding at the slips. We have seen the youngsters catch the ball really well. Sehwag most likely will stand at the first slip.

“With the spinners, there might be a bit of issue. It’s challenging when there’s bounce. We will miss Rahul over there. But let’s look ahead and hope one of the youngsters take this opportunity and take a few good catches there,” he added. — PTI