20th Feb : Today's Important NEWS !!!!!!!

1)Kiran Reddy bows out

To announce future course of action after consulting his supporters

Ending his 39-month reign, Mr. Reddy announced that he was quitting the Congress and the membership of the Assembly. He assumed office on November 25, 2010.Before proceeding to Raj Bhavan to hand over his resignation, Mr. Reddy accused the Congress leadership of colluding with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to ensure passage of the Bill.He evaded a reply when asked if he was floating a party, and said he would announce his future course of action in a few days after consulting supporters.Since the passage of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2013, in the Lok Sabha, the support base of Mr. Reddy had seen an erosion.Raj Bhavan sources said Mr. Reddy’s resignation was accepted. The Governor reportedly asked him to continue in office till alternative arrangements were made.Mr. Reddy proceeded to the camp office amid reports over the possibility of clamping President’s rule in the State as the political atmosphere was not fully conducive to elect a new leader of the Congress Legislature Party.There was mixed reactions to the resignation with Seemandhra leaders saying it was the right decision while their Telangana counterparts claiming it was inconsequential at this juncture.But amid simmering discontent over the leadership’s decision, several Ministers and elected representatives began putting in their papers. This could trigger a large-scale exodus to the TDP and the YSR Congress. A bandh was observed in 13 districts of the Seemandhra region in response to a call given by the YSR Congress Party.

Declaring his innings as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh over, N. Kiran Kumar Reddy submitted his resignation to Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan on Wednesday in protest against the Union government’s decision to “divide Telugus for the sake of votes and seats.”

2)Former health official’s transfer regrettable: Amartya Sen

 Nobel laureate Amartya Sen said here on Wednesday that the decision to transfer former Union Health Secretary Keshav Desiraju was “regrettable” even as he admitted that he does not have a greater knowledge on the issue than the public may have.

“Whatever the reason, it is regrettable,” he said, adding that he is “surprised” at the developments.Prof. Sen was responding to questions from journalists at the conclusion of the Eleventh Kolkata Group Workshop Curing India’s Health System: Learning from Asian Experiences held in the city from February 17 to 19. “I don’t know what led to the decision to move him to some other sector and I am not able to comment on the alternative hypothesis that is presented… though some of that was discussed also in the meeting,” Prof. Sen said.

3)Centre moves SC for Muslim quota

The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear the Centre’s application providing for a 4.5 per cent quota for Muslims within the OBC quota in education and employment. The application, significantly, comes just months ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.A Bench comprising Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan and Justice Vikaramajit Sen, however, was not satisfied with the manner in which the application was drafted, and asked Solicitor-General Mohan Parasaran to file a proper petition to modify the earlier order refusing to stay the judgment of the AP High Court quashing quota for Muslims. Mr. Parasaran submitted that in a similar case, the Supreme Court in March 2010 had permitted the Andhra Pradesh government to implement reservation for backward Muslims within the State till the matter was decided by a Constitution Bench.In 2011, the Centre announced a sub-quota of 4.5 per cent for socially and educationally backward people of minority communities.

4)Anna to campaign for Trinamool Congress

Social activist Anna Hazare on Wednesday announced he would help Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress put up 100 candidates to fight the Lok Sabha election.

5)Night trial of Agni-1 put off again

The first ever night user trial of the nuclear-weapons capable Agni-1 surface-to-surface ballistic missile on Wheeler island, off the Odisha coast, was postponed for a second time on Wednesday due to a “technical glitch.”

6)IBA talks with unions on March 3

The next round of talks on bipartite settlement for wage revision for bank employees and officers will be held between the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) in Mumbai on March 3.This was stated by UFBU convenor M.V. Murali after the conclusion of the Unions meeting in Hyderabad on Wednesday.The meeting was held to take stock of the situation arising after the conclusion of 48-hour all-India bank strike and to chalk out further course of action.

7)Coin on Vivekananda

ANOTHER FEATHER IN NUMISMATIST’S CAP
City numismatist D. Satyabuddu has acquired commemorative coins of Rs.150 and Rs.5 issued by the Indian Government last January marking the 150{+t}{+h}birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.The coin, a collector’s item made at the Kolkata mint, was received by Mr. Satyabuddu eight months after placing the order.The Rs.150 coin weighs 35 gm and the Rs.5 coin 6 gm.

8)Proposal for raising retirement age unjustified

The proposal to raise the retirement age of government employees from the existing 58 years to 60 years, supported by both the State government and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), is an unwelcome step.This is at a time when thousands of qualified persons are jobless.The Union government, with a view to attract voters, has given the false hope that one of the committees appointed by it has recommended raising of retirement age to 65.This is not only vague but also unjustified.In the larger interests of unemployed persons across the country, both the State and Central government should drop this idea.

9)IGNOU entrance test

Indira Gandhi National Open University will conduct entrance test for Management Programmes (Openmat-XXXV), M.Phil, PhD. Programmes for sessions starting from July, on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

10)Non-performers may have to leave Infosys: Murthy

Infosys, which employs 1.50 lakh people, may hand over pink slips to those who ‘did not add value’ despite ‘high salaries’ as it looks to cut costs and increase operational efficiency.Infosys Executive Chairman N. R. Narayana Murthy, who returned last June from retirement to head the company and put it back on high growth trajectory, said employees hired at huge salaries, but not performing, could be asked to leave.“One of my tasks is to ensure that the identified people who are receiving very high salaries but are not contributing as much as we want, are either given opportunities where they can add value to the company or they could seek opportunities elsewhere,” he told analysts on Wednesday.Speaking at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch India Investor Conference, the Infosys co-founder said he was working on bringing a “certain level of cost optimisation” in the company. “Our costs have ballooned very rapidly in the last 2-3 years. For example, on-site compensation was 36 per cent of the overall revenue in 2010-11, and it went up to 46.3 per cent in 2012-13... A part of it was because we hired people at high salaries outside India and these people did not add value to the company,” he said. Mr. Murthy assured analysts that the company was undertaking various initiatives to increase employee productivity, and would continue to focus on reducing on-site costs by shifting more work offshore.

11)Save and strengthen United Bank, AIBEA tells Centre

Concerned over the deteriorating performance of United Bank of India (UBI) for the last two quarters, All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA) has sought the help of Union Finance Ministry to remove the present deficiencies and strengthen the bank.In a letter written to the Union Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, recently, AIBEA general secretary C. H. Venkatachalam said that the main woes of the bank were on account of increasing bad loans and its inability to recover the same.Quoting statistics, he said the gross non-performing assets of the bank had risen from Rs.2,415 crore in September 2012 to Rs.8,545 crore in December 2013. UBI also has restructured loans of Rs.5,524 crore, of which Rs.4,815 crore are on account of the large corporate accounts. It had reported a net loss of Rs.489 crore and Rs.1,238 for the second and third quarters of the current fiscal. According to Mr. Venkatachalam, more than 50 per cent of UBI’s loans and advances were extended to the large and mid-corporates, while the priority sector loan was less than the statuary obligations and the retail sector loans were hardly 14 per cent of the total advances.“If certain corrective steps are taken to recover the bad loans, the bank will definitely improve in its profitability. If any top officials are involved in mismanagement, stern action should be taken against them,” he said.While urging the Centre to remove the restrictions imposed on UBI’s business operations due to its fragile capital base, he said the government should consider extending necessary capital to the bank at this juncture and the bank’s Employees Association was willing to help the bank to come out of the rut.Pointing out that the top management was trying to create panic among the workforce by hinting about a merger with some other bank, he said the Centre should come forward and give an assurance that there was no plan for merger.UBI has more than 2,000 branches with a clientele of more than 20 million customers and with a total business of about Rs.2,00,000 crore.

12)United Bank plans to rasie Rs.1,000 cr

United Bank of India is planning to raise around Rs.1,000 crore as Tier-1 capital. It also said that it would launch a recovery drive to reduce its non-performing assets. The fund-raising is proposed to be done through either the issuance of unsecured perpetual Basel-III compliant additional Tier-I bonds in the form of promissory notes on private placement basis or perpetual non-cumulative preference shares to the Central Government or other institutional borrowers or raise preference capital.

13)Govt holding in Vijaya Bank rises to 74 %

An extraordinary general meeting of shareholders of Vijaya Bank, on Wednesday, approved the increase in the government’s holding in the bank to 74.06 per cent, from 59.80 per cent. This was done by their approval of the conversion of existing perpetual non-cumulative preference shares of Rs.1,200 crore into 30.46 crore equity shares in favour of the Union Government. The conversion rate was Rs.,39.39 a share.

14)ICC confirms T20 World Cup squads

International Cricket Council (ICC) ton Wednesday confirmed 15 of the 16 men’s squads for next month’s ICC World Twenty20 to be held in Bangladesh.The cut-off date for the submission of 15-player squads was February 16 and all but Zimbabwe submitted their squads to the ICC before the deadline. Zimbabwe requested an extension, which was accepted by the ICC.Bangladesh will square off against Afghanistan in the tournament opener in Mirpur on March 16, while former champions India and Pakistan will go head to head in the first match of the Super 10 stage at the same venue on March 21.The final will be played in Mirpur on April 6, while Chittagong and Sylhet are the other two venues that will be used for the tournament.