Milan K Sinha

In this dynamic world we get to know about record breaking achievements by one or the other person in their respective field. Few months back there was wide media coverage of M.C.Marycom, the woman boxer for winning another big title. It is really heartening that good number of sportspersons have been proving their real talent in international sports events.

It is disturbing to find that a large population of the country is suffering either from one or more communicable or non-communicable diseases. Data, in fact suggest that non-communicable diseases are fast taking greater number of people into its grip. The ever-growing number of patients of Cancer, CVD, Diabetes, Liver and Kidney ailment vindicates this point.

“You give me blood, I will give you freedom”- said Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose during our freedom struggle. He was one of the great leaders of that period whose only aim was to achieve freedom from British rule at the earliest.

"All power is within you. You can do anything and everything. Believe in that" – said Swami Vivekananda, the great spiritual leader and social reformer.

Campaigning by major political parties for Bihar assembly election is gaining momentum and so is the verbal war and accusation, counter-accusation mainly on certain non-core issues including granting special status or special economic package to this third most populous state of Indian union. The core issues like food, clothing, shelter, education, health, roads, electricity, law and order, corruption etc. are made to occupy back seat, more by design by major political parties for known reasons.

Finally, the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015, which enables enhancement of FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) limit from the current level of 26% to 49% in domestic insurance sector, was passed by both houses of parliament. This will pave the way for faster reforms in Indian insurance space as functionaries of both the present and previous central government claim.

Following the arrest of SK Jain, the then CMD of state run Syndicate Bank on alleged bribery charges and his subsequent dismissal, the selection and appointment of CMDs for Public Sector Banks has been kept in abeyance for some time now. It is also reported that CBI didn’t find the appointment process to be transparent and sent a report to that effect to the finance ministry for consideration. Consequent to this development, presently as many as six PSU Banks are functioning without a CMD (Chairman and Managing Director).

As per newspaper reports, TCS (Tata Consultancy Services), India’s well-known exporter of software services is going to support the Prime Minister’s ‘Clean India’ initiative by pledging a sum of 1000 million rupees for construction of separate toilets for girl students across thousands of schools in the country.

The 20th Common Wealth Games at Glasgow, Scotland ended recently where India secured 5th position by winning 64 medals including 15 Gold. England topped the tally followed by Canada, Australia and host Scotland. Both houses of Indian Parliament complemented all the players especially those who made the country proud by winning medals in respective games.

The talk of some consolidation in Indian Banking space, particularly among government-run banks has been taking rounds for the last couple of years. The then Union Finance Minister and our present President in his first meeting with the chief executives of Public Sector Banks (PSB) after taking charge (just after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks) as the finance minister had said, "consolidation of Banks might be needed to improve the global competitiveness of Indian banks and to reduce the risk to financial stability. Any consolidation initiative in the banking sector would be viewed positively and government, as a majority shareholder, would continue to play a supportive role in the process”.