Notice of strike by UFBU on 10th & 11th February, 2014
State Bank of India has informed BSE that United Forum of Banks Unions (UFBU) has given a notice to Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) calling for nationwide Bank strike, on the 10th & 11th February 2014. All India State Bank Officers’ Federation and All India State Bank of India Staff Federation, being part of UFBU will, also participate in the said strike. Since the call is for nationwide all bank strike, the Bank will not be separately impacted, if the strike materialise.
Vote-on-account to be presented in AP Assembly on Monday
1.A vote-on-account budget for 2014-15 will be presented in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Monday.
2.With the State headed for Assembly elections in April-May when its five-year-term ends, the vote-on-account budget will be for a period of six months.
3.State Finance Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy will present the budget on Monday after securing approval from the Council of Ministers slated to meet at 9 am on Monday.
4.The full-fledged budget will be placed by the new Government after the Assembly polls later during the year after a new Government comes to power.
5.The decision to convene a brief four-day session during February 10-13 was taken during a meeting with State Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy late on Saturday.
Ramachandran is new president of IOA
1.The suspended Indian Olympic Association (IOA) amended its constitution and successfully held its elections here on Sunday, taking the first steps to returning to the international fold.
2.World Squash Federation president N. Ramachandran was unanimously named as the new president of the IOA in the elections held in the presence of three observers from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) — Pere Miró, IOC Director of NOC Relations, Jérôme Poivey, Head of Institutional Relations in the NOC Relations Department, and Robin Mitchell, head of the IOC delegation.
3.“The IOC delegation is satisfied with this meeting here today. We will be in Sochi by tomorrow evening and are hopeful of a favourable report to the IOC Executive Board. A final decision on reinstating India will be taken soon, most likely on February 23,” Mitchell said.
4.Indian athletes at the ongoing Winter Olympics in Sochi are participating under the Olympic flag. However, it is unlikely that the Indians will be able to march under the tricolour during the closing of the Games.
Nabard sanctions Rs 348.63 crore to state under RIDF
1.The loan would be utilised for construction of 174 road projects and 33 bridge projects by the Public Works Department (Rs 152.60 crore), 24 rural road and three bridge projects by Tourism Department (Rs 65.68 crore), 127 Veterinary Institution projects by Animal Husbandry Department (Rs 30.32 crore), 60 Raitha Sampark Kendras by Agriculture Department (Rs 23.37 crore) and nine maternal and child hospital projects by Health Department (Rs 76.66 crore) among others across the state.
2.With these sanctions, the cumulative sanction to the state under the RIDF XIX has reached Rs 597.37 crore.
3.The assistance extended for construction of the 1,684.21 km of roads and 521.61 metres of rural bridge projects which will connect 1,302 villages with 414 marketing centres. The sanction of 127 veterinary institution buildings will help in improved milk production, improvement in animal health, reduction in mortality, breed improvement, increased income to farmers and availability of milk among others, Nabard said in a statement.
Sikkim becomes only Indian state to achieve 100% sanitation
Sikkim has become the only state in the country to achieve 100 percent sanitation in rural and urban households, schools, sanitary complexes and Aanganwadi centres. All 6,10,577 inhabitants in Sikkim have latrines with high sanitation and hygiene standards. The Himalayan state has constructed 98,043 individual household latrines against the target of 87,014 till January, thus achieving 112.67 percent of its target under the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan scheme implemented by the Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, an official release said.
RBI removes 26% interest rate cap on MFI loans
1.The Reserve Bank of India has removed the 26% interest rate cap on loans given by microfinance companies regulated by it and linked the interest rate to the cost of funds, providing a greater leeway to the lenders from April 1.
2.As a result, such lenders will be able to charge more than 26% if their cost of borrowing from banks is higher. On the other hand, the lending rate will fall if the cost of borrowing goes down. RBI said the microfinance institutions (MFIs) should arrive at the lending rate by calculating their cost of funds plus a maximum 10% margin or the average base rate of the five largest commercial banks by assets multiplied by 2.75 times, whichever is lower.
3."It is good news for the MFI sector. The RBI's decision will particularly help those with higher cost of borrowing," said Bandhan Financial Services chairman and managing director Chandra Shekhar Ghosh. MFIs and their association have welcomed the decision, for which they had lobbied hard.
4."There was some degree of inconsistency in the earlier RBI circulars on this matter. Now, the pricing has been made dynamic by linking it to the actual cost of funds," said Alok Prasad, chief executive of Micro Finance Institutions Network, or MFIN. "The RBI's directive will ensure that end borrowers will pay a moderate interest rate."
Now, automatic SMS after confirmation of waitlisted train tickets
1.Waitlisted passengers will soon get status messages in their mobile phones if their tickets get confirmed before journey.
2.A senior Railway Ministry official said the waitlisted passenger will get an SMS about the status of the ticket on the mobile phone number given at the time of ticket booking before the journey.
3.Currently, one has to either dial the enquiry number 139 or use the Internet to know the waitlisted ticket status.
4.Others get to know the status of their tickets only after reaching stations.
5.“Once the SMS-based service is operational, passengers will get the updated status of their waitlisted tickets automatically,” the official said, adding “only those passengers will get the message whose tickets get confirmed.”
Posts
Comment Policy : We invite you to comment on our posts, as long as they are respectful, to the point and approving. We do not perform pre-moderation of comments. However, in order to keep this site clean and useful, we reserve the right to remove any comment that is not in accordance with our Comment Policy.