Today's Important NEWS

1)Meiyappan’s role in betting proven, says Mudgal panel

The three-member panel appointed by the Supreme Court to probe the allegation of betting and spot fixing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Monday held that the role of Gurunath Meiyappan, son-in-law of BCCI president N. Srinivasan, in Chennai Super Kings was that of a team official and the charges of betting and passing on information against him stood proven.

The 170-page report, submitted to the court, also said: “The material on record clearly indicates that Mr. Gurunath was the face of Chennai Super Kings.” However, it said, “the allegations of match-fixing require further investigation.”

2)Getting a birth or death certificate made simpler

A child’s birth certificate will now be issued at the hospital itself, and parents can collect it before clearing the hospital bills.

Similarly, death certificates too will reach relatives of the deceased within three days.

While the new system of issuing birth and death certificates has been in force since February 1, the e-transfer of data from the hospitals to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for quick issuance of the certificates was officially launched here on Monday.

BBMP’s Joint Director (Statistics) D. Shankarappa told presspersons here that the civic body had introduced this system in all the 1,480 private medical hospitals and nursing homes, BBMP’s six referral hospitals and 22 maternity homes, and five government hospitals.

“With the new system, the certificates can be issued at the hospital itself. Earlier, it used to take a week and in some cases, even up to a month. With this, the BBMP has become the first corporation in the country to have such a unique system,” he said.

NIC software

Mr. Shankarappa said the software for the system had been developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC).

He explained that all hospitals have been given a unique user identity and password. The authorised hospital officials have to log in and register the event (either birth or death).

Several measures have been put in place to ensure that there is no misuse. He said each certificate would be pre-printed with the emblems of the Union and State governments, as well as the BBMP emblem as watermark. Apart from a serial number, it would also have a 24-digit security code and a three-dimensional high-security hologram.

Corrections

Mr. Shankarappa said the BBMP had set up 27 registration centres across the city. Citizens could approach these centres or the zonal offices for inclusion of name, correction or delayed registration.

Copies of birth and death certificates would also be available at around 90 BangaloreOne centres and BBMP’s citizen service centres.

He clarified that when someone dies at home, the relatives would have to produce a doctor’s certificate and the receipt from the crematorium or burial ground to apply for a death certificate.

BBMP Commissioner M. Lakshminarayana said that with the new system, inconvenience caused to the citizens would be minimised.

3)ATMs run dry on first day of bank strike

The common man and the corporates were equally hit as over eight lakh bank employees began their two-day, nationwide strike on Monday seeking a new wage agreement. Employees of the public sector banks and some private and foreign banks are on strike under the umbrella of the United Forum of Bank Unions. ATMs ran dry in many parts of the country as the strike began the next day of a Sunday. The situation might worsen on Tuesday. Citing increase in workload due to higher business volumes, the striking employees are demanding a wage revision from the Indian Banks’ Association in place of the one that lapsed on Oct. 31, 2012. Earlier, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, speaking at the 78th foundation day of Indian Overseas Bank here, appealed to the strikers to recognise that bank profits could not be used only to enhance salaries as they must be invested in expansions.

4)Kejriwal firm on Lokpal Bill but L-G wants Law Ministry opinion

5)Two more attempts for UPSC exam

5)Sharma to take up pharma issues with U.S.

Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, on Monday, raised concerns over the audit inspections of Indian pharma companies by the U.S Food and Drug Administration (USFDA)  and said that India would soon submit a discussion document on the issues to the U.S.

6)Parliament unlikely to pass SEBI Amendment Bill

Parliament is unlikely to take up the Bill giving search and seizure powers to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in the current session.

 Even though the draft for the legislation is ready with the Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance, it was not included in the agenda of the Committee which met prior to the Parliament session.

The Bill gives powers to SEBI to initiate recovery proceedings against unscrupulous promoters. Since the promulgation of the Ordinance, in July last year to tackle unregistered collective investment schemes (CIS), SEBI has initiated proceedings to recover an amount in excess of Rs.1,700 crore. Even though it lapsed in September last, the government re-promulgated it as the Parliament was not in session. It lapsed again on January 15, this year, as it was not passed in the winter session.

Technically, as the session is on, the Ordinance cannot be re-promulgated. The amendments bring in any investment scheme above Rs.100 crore, other than those exempted under Section 11AA of SEBI Act like Nidhi funds, chit funds and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), under the regulatory purview of SEBI and such schemes would have to get registered with the SEBI.

7)Spectrum auction so far attracts over Rs.58,300 cr

8)IOB to raise Rs. 400 cr by selling shares to LIC

9)New CEO for Reliance Communications

Reliance Communications has appointed Vinod Sawhny as CEO of the company. Prior to joining RCom, he worked with Bharti Group for more than 10 years. Gurdeep Singh, CEO Wireless, has been entrusted with enhanced responsibilities as CEO, Consumer Business. Punit Garg will continue as CEO of Indian Enterprise and IDC business. Bill Barney is the CEO of Reliance Globalcom. An RCom Management Board has been constituted, comprising the senior management of the company, the company said.