Govt, Opposition trade charges on Lokpal Bill fiasco

New Delhi, Dec. 30:

The blame game on who should take responsibility for the Lokpal Bill not being passed by the Rajya Sabha started with both the Government and Opposition accusing one another of sabotaging the Bill's passage.

Addressing a press conference, the Home Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, said that the “real story is that the BJP which opposed the Bill in the Lok Sabha had no intention of passing the Bill in the Rajya Sabha. They hit upon this ingenious device of moving 187 amendments…not only they (but) all together.”

The Home Minister said that on occasions it is possible that one or two amendments are moved in the Rajya Sabha as the Bill has been debated extensively and amendments have been considered (by the Lok Sabha).

“But what happened yesterday….187 amendments were moved the last of which was received at 6 p.m. it was pretty clear that those who moved the amendments had no intention of passing the Bill before the day came to an end. Can anyone make sense of 187 amendments,” the Home Minister said.

He maintained that the Government had discharged its obligation.

“We have done everything possible to get it passed. At least it has not been defeated. We will take it up in the Budget session and pass it,” he stressed.

‘hold fresh elections'

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Ms Sushma Swaraj, demanded that the Government should quit and hold fresh elections as it had lost the majority in both Houses.

“A Government which runs away from voting, has no political or moral right to stay in power. It should do some introspection,” Ms Swaraj said.

Mr Arun Jaitley added that the BJP will expose the Government and make the public aware of yesterday's development.

The CPI (M) also blamed the Government accusing it of “subterfuge and sabotage” in not allowing voting on the Bill in the Rajya Sabha.

“The UPA Government is squarely responsible for this. It is most unfortunate that this sort of subterfuge and sabotage has been carried out when the people are looking up to Parliament for an effective anti-graft Bill,” the CPI (M) Leader, Mr Sitaram Yechury, said.

Taking on the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr P.K. Bansal, for refusing to extend the House, Mr Yechury, said there were instances in the past when this had been done.

SBI approves revision in pension schemes

Thiruvananthapuram, Dec. 30:

The Central Board of SBI has accorded approval for revision of family pension and minimum pension with retrospective effect from November 1, 2007.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the board held last week, according to banking sources.
BASIC PENSION

For those in the scale of pay up to Rs 7,090, 30 per cent of the pay shall constitute the basic family pension. Thirty per cent of allowances which are counted for making contributions to Provident Fund but not for dearness allowance shall be the additional family pension.

The aggregate of basic and additional family pension shall not be less than Rs1,779 a month.

For those in the Rs 7,091- 14,180 scale, 20 per cent of pay shall be the basic family pension. Twenty per cent of allowances which are counted for making contributions to Provident Fund but not for dearness allowance shall be the additional family pension.

The aggregate of basic and additional family pension shall not be less than Rs 2,186 a month.

For those with a pay of Rs 14,181 and above, 15 per cent of the pay shall be the basic family pension.

Fifteen per cent of allowance which are counted for making contributions to Provident Fund but not for dearness allowance shall be the additional family pension.

The aggregate of basic and additional family pension shall not be less than Rs 2,841 a month and more than Rs 5,930 a month.

In the case of part-time employees, the minimum amount of family pension and the maximum amount of family pension shall be in proportion to the rate of scale wages drawn by the employee.

In respect of employees other than part-time employees who retired on or after November 1, 2007, the amount of minimum pension shall be Rs 1,779 a month.

In respect of part-time employees who retired on or after that date, the minimum pension payable shall be Rs 595 a month in respect of part-time employees drawing 1/3rd scale wages; Rs 892 a month in respect of part-time employees drawing 1/2 scale wages; and Rs 1,330 a month in respect of part-time employees drawing 3/4th scale wages.

Facebook becoming factor in divorce cases

London, Dec 31:

Popular social networking site - Facebook - is becoming a major factor in marriage breakdowns and is increasingly being used as a source of evidence in divorce cases.

Facebook was cited as a reason for a third of divorces last year in which unreasonable behaviour was a factor, according to law firm Divorce-Online.

The firm said it had seen a 50 per cent jump in the number of behaviour-based divorce petitions that contained the word ’Facebook’ in the past two years, The Daily Mail reported today.

Mark Keenan, managing director of Divorce-Online, said: “Facebook has become the primary method for communicating with friends for many people.

“People contact ex-partners and the messages start as innocent, but lead to trouble. If someone wants to have an affair or flirt with the opposite sex then it’s the easiest place to do it“.

Thirty-three per cent of the 5,000 behaviour petitions filed with the firm in the past year mentioned the site.

The most common reasons for Facebook causing problems in relationships were a spouse finding flirty messages, photos of their partner at a party they did not know about or with someone they should not have been with, the report said.

IOB gets new ED

 

Chennai, Dec. 31:

Mr A. D. M. Chavali, 57, has joined the Indian Overseas Bank as its Executive Director. He assumed office on Wednesday. Prior to his appointment, he was working as General Manager in Bank of Baroda, in charge of Treasury & Resource Management. During his 34 years of service in Bank of Baroda, he has served in various parts of India in various capacities, heading the corporate finance branch in Mumbai, as regional head of Kolkata and Deputy General Manager in Risk Management, says a press release from IOB.

Meanwhile, IOB has also announced that it has signed a MoU with Mahindra & Mahindra under which the bank would be a “preferred financier' for the Indian automotive major. The MoU will enable M&M customers to avail themselves of vehicle finance services from any of the over 2,000 branches of IOB.

The MOU was signed by Shri M.S. Raghavan, General Manager, Shri K. Subrahmanyam, General Manager of Indian Overseas Bank and Mr Arun Malhotra, Senior Vice-President, Sales & Customer Care, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. 

India Yamaha Motor sales up 29% in December

 

New Delhi, Dec 31:

Two wheeler maker, India Yamaha Motor, on Saturday reported a 29.10 per cent rise in its total sales in December at 44,976 units.

The company had sold 34,839 units in the same month the previous year, India Yamaha Motor said in a statement.

In the domestic market, the company’s sales stood at 33,290 units as against 26,567 units in the same month in 2010, up 25.33 per cent.

Exports of India Yamaha rose by 41.27 per cent to 11,686 units from 8,272 units in the year—ago period, it added.

For the entire 2011, the company’s sales increased by 31.56 per cent to 4,60,815 units from 3,50,274 units in 2010.

“The year 2011 has indeed been an exceptional year for us as we were able to maintain consistency in our overall growth and the results speak for themselves,” India Yamaha Motor CEO and Managing Director, Mr Hiroyuki Suzuki, said.

The company is buoyant about the future and is looking forward to replicate and further improve upon its achievement in 2012 as well, he added.

As part of expansion plans, the company plans to expand production capacity to one million units in 2012. Besides, it also plans to invest in product development and network expansion, the statement added.

India Yamaha currently has two manufacturing units at Surajpur in Uttar Pradesh and Faridabad in Haryana and produces motorcycles both for domestic and export markets. It has over 400 dealers across India.