Central Bank, IOB may be up for sale, BoI a likely candidate

Central Bank, IOB may be up for sale, BoI a likely candidate

Surojit Gupta & Sidhartha TNN

New Delhi:07.06.2021

The Centre may sell its stake in Central Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) as part of its mega privatisation initiative unveiled in the Union Budget in February.

While the two banks have been recommended for disinvestment by government think tank NITI Aayog, Bank of India (BoI) may be a potential candidate for sale, sources familiar with the deliberations told TOI.

The proposal from the government think tank is being vetted by the disinvestment and financial services departments, ministry sources said. The exercise is part of a multistage process for finalising entities that are to be taken up for privatisation. While NITI Aayog has been tasked with recommending the names, it is then reviewed by the interministerial group of officers and subsequently by a group of ministers, before the Union cabinet puts its seal of approval.

Sources in the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), which handles the government’s asset sales programme, said it will examine the proposal with the department of financial services and discuss the legislative changes needed for the privatisation of the state-run banks. “The timeline will depend on the legislative changes required,” the sources added.

Govt hopes to sell IDBI bank this fiscal

Besides, the issue will have to be discussed in detail with RBI as the law and regulations provide a special dispensation for state-run entities in several areas.

The cabinet recently cleared the decks for the sale of government stake in IDBI Bank, but sale of the Centre’s holding in the two state-run entities will break new ground as the Narendra Modi administration has embarked on an ambitious privatisation drive, which for the first time includes the financial services space.

The government is hoping to conclude the sale of IDBI Bank stake during the current financial year. Among the dozen state-run lenders, NITI Aayog had set its eyes on the six entities that were not part of the merger initiative a few years ago and included Bank of Maharashtra, Punjab & Sind Bank and UCO Bank in addition to BoI, IOB and Central Bank.

It, however, was of the view that the better off entities would attract greater interest, resulting in the shortlisting of IOB and Central Bank.

Based on the current share price, the two entities are together valued at around ₹44,000 crore with IOB’s market cap estimated at ₹31,641 crore.

Delhi hospital junks ‘don’t use Malayalam’ note for nurses

Delhi hospital junks ‘don’t use Malayalam’ note for nurses

TNN and Agencies

New Delhi:07.06.2021

Delhi government’s GB Pant Hospital on Sunday withdrew a controversial circular issued a day before asking its nursing staff not to use Malayalam at work and use only Hindi and English.

The circular was issued on Saturday by the nursing superintendent of Govind Ballabh Pant Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education & Research (GIPMER) and strict action is likely after an investigation that is underway.

The hospital’s medical director, Dr Anil Agarwal, issued an order revoking the circular. Saturday’s circular was issued without any instruction or knowledge of the hospital administration and Delhi government and stands withdrawn with immediate effect, the order stated. Dr Agarwal confirmed to TOI that the circular had been revoked.

Stalin: Will make Tamil Centre’s admin language

Chief minister M K Stalin on Sunday vowed to make Tamil the official and administrative language of the Union government. Not only Tamil, the DMK would work to get such a status for all the 22 languages in the eighth schedule, he said. “These languages should be administrative languages too for official communication in their respective states,” said party MP Elangovan.

‘400 Malayali nurses at hosp’

The Saturday circular read, “A complaint has been received regarding Malayalam language being used for communication in working places in GIPMER. Whereas maximum patients and colleagues do not know this language and feel helpless causing a lot of inconvenience. So, it is directed to all nursing personnel to use only Hindi and English for communication. Otherwise, serious action will be taken.”

An official of GB Pant Nurses’ Association said out of around 850 nurses, almost 400 were Malayali. The circular was issued based on a patient’s complaint to a senior officer in the health department regarding the use of Malayalam at the hospital, Liladhar Ramchandani, association president, claimed, adding that “the union disagrees with the wordings”.

LANGUAGE CONTROVERSY: The circular was issued on Saturday by nursing superintendent of GIPMER in Delhi

CBSE class XII results will be a fair evaluation

CBSE class XII results will be a fair evaluation

The Board will give every aspirant a chance to write the exam when situation normalises

Rajlakshmi.Ghosh@timesgroup.com

07.06.2021

The cancellation of the class XII boards brought in its wake a collective sigh of relief among students, parents and teachers, but the debate surrounding the right assessment criteria is far from over. Questions are being raised as to what would constitute a ‘welldefined objective criterion’. Two options emerged – one, on whether the assessment should be based on performances in the final exams of the previous three classes (IX, X, XI), or should a certain weightage be given to class X board results and class XII internal assessments. Speaking to Education Times, Sanyam Bhardwaj, controller of examinations, CBSE, clarifies, “We will prepare the assessment guidelines/Policy and present the same before the Honourable Supreme Court in two weeks’ time. The guidelines, thereafter, will be implemented in all the schools for preparation of the class XII results.”

CBSE is aware of all the intricacies, rules, and regulations, so when the guidelines are prepared, all the students who are entering the board exams will be covered, he adds. “We will look into the interest of all candidates before finalising the assessment modalities. It is hypothetical to discuss any policy without going into the details of the data presented. While the Policy may not be absolute, but we will find a way to prepare results that will be very close to the real assessment of the students if exams could have been held.” He also advises parents and students not to panic or be worried and rely on CBSE’s expertise as “a student-friendly body” to take the right decisions.

Elaborating further on the CBSE’s assessment mode, CB Sharma, professor and former chairman, NIOS, says that the Boards may have been cancelled for the moment, but it would give every aspirant a fair chance to write a full board exam once the situation normalises. “This includes both meritorious students who have been consistently working hard or average students who may not be satisfied with their last three years’ performance and the school’s internal assessments.”

“In the absence of a single statutory body (like the UGC) for school education, decisions that are taken in the interest of school students are not pedagogical in nature but driven more by administrative considerations,” Sharma says. Existing bodies such as the CBSE, NCERT, NIOS, NVs and KVs come under the Education Ministry even though they are autonomous entities. “We do not have research precedence on issues related to school education simply because there is no statutory body to govern its functions. An expert committee set up for working out the assessment modes will best address the crisis,” he adds.

For an objective assessment, Madhav Deo Saraswat, principal, The Scindia School, Gwalior, says, “The method should be congruent with the student’s performance, as well as the school’s performance, for the student and the school are the key stakeholders in the process and mutually calibrate the curve of learning and performance.” To measure the consistency of performance of students and arrive at a figure guided by the students’ results in internal exams in the 2021 session, all exams taken over the year need to be considered, says Saraswat.

How are universities planning admission for the new academic year

How are universities planning admission for the new academic year

Due to the changed assessment this year, they are looking for an alternative method for admission

c-Puniti.Pandey@timesgroup.com

7.6.2021

With the cancellation of class XII exams, universities across the country are now contemplating alternative methods to continue the admission process for the new academic year.

University of Delhi which releases cut off for admission based on class XII results is waiting for CBSE to announce the performance of students on a ‘mature method of evaluation.’ The officials of the university expect the cutoffs to come out by July 15. JK Lakshmipat University, Jaipur is admitting students based on the marks scored by the students in class X.

This year in absence of class XII board examination, we will consider class X score and performance in co-curricular activities ( national level exams, competitions, sports, research, community service etc.) as one of the benchmarks to shortlist students. In addition, for BTech programme, JEE percentile plays an important role. Considering the pandemic, we will also consider students who appeared in JEE 2020 with valid percentile", says Pankaj Sharma, director admissions, JKLU.

“Vijaybhoomi University has taken a decision to support school students and allow them to submit the mark sheet of the XII grade by June 2022. Additionally, in case a student fails to pass the qualifying exam, we shall grant the credits earned by the students which shall be valid for 2 years. A student can then resume his/her university degree again within two years,” says Navneet Sharma, registrar, Vijaybhoomi University. This will allow students to face the exam uncertainty with confidence and ladder up into university seamlessly, he added. This deferred acceptance is being extended to all school boards such as IBDP, IGCSE, CBSE, and State Boards.

Admission to engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu is based on a common competitive Tamil Nadu Engineering Admission (TNEA) exam that is held in the last quarter of the calendar year for the next academic year, explains SRR Senthilkumar, principal, Sona College of Technology. Since CBSE, ICSE and several state boards have cancelled class XII exams, there are similar expectations from the Tamil Nadu State Education Board. “If the class XII exams are cancelled in Tamil Nadu, the TNEA 2021 may be scheduled as early as the end of July 2021; the engineering admissions could be over by end of August 2021,” he adds. At The NorthCap University, Haryana, provisional admissions to various programmes are in progress. Meanwhile, the university administration is also waiting for CBSE to release students’ results.

Woman booked for lockdown violation

Woman booked for lockdown violation

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: 07.06.2021

Police on Sunday morning booked a woman for abusing traffic personnel in Chetpet after her daughter was fined for violating lockdown norms. The action came a couple of hours after a video of the woman, who gave her name as Tanuja Kanthulla and claimed to be an advocate, went viral on social media and a head constable lodged a complaint.

In his petition, Rajith Kumar of the Chetpet traffic police said he was on duty with his colleagues Prabhakaran, Anand and Vimalraj when they intercepted a car around 7.45am for not following the protocol. The driver, who identified herself as Preethi Rajan of Kilpauk, said she was on her way to purchase fish on the beach but did not possess an epass. Police took her licence, registered a case and handed over an e-challan.

The woman then made a call on her mobile phone. Within a couple of minutes, Tanuja Kanthulla arrived in a highend car, hurled abuses at the police personnel and threw away the e-challan, the complaint said.

In the video, which runs for nearly 2.17 minutes, Tanuja, who said she was an advocate, threatened to strip the police personnel of their uniform if they did not mend their ways. “She was not wearing a mask, another violation, and grew furious when we asked her to put it on. We asked her to speak politely to which she refused,” said Rajith Kumar.

The woman was booked under Sections 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant.), 294 B (sings, recites or utters any obscene song, ballad or words, in or near any public place,), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 506 (1) criminal intimidation.

Stating that Sunday’s incident was unpleasant, the city police appealed to the public to cooperate with the law enforcers in implementing lockdown restrictions. Field officers have also been instructed to treat the violators politely.

IN THE NET: The woman and her daughter who were booked

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