THE Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which allows bank account holders to have up to four nominees in their accounts. Another proposed change relates to redefining ‘substantial interest’ for directorships, which could increase to Rs 2 crore instead of the current limit of Rs 5 lakh, which was fixed almost six decades ago. The Bill piloted by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was approved by a voice vote. Replying to the debate on the Bill, Sitharaman said depositors will have the option of successive or simultaneous nomination facility, while locker holders will have only successive nomination. She also said that since 2014, the Government and the RBI have been extremely cautious, so that banks remain stable.

 

“The intention is to keep our banks safe, stable, healthy, and after 10 years you are seeing the outcome,” Sitharaman said. The Bill proposes to increase the tenure of directors (excluding the chairman and whole-time director) in cooperative banks from 8 years to 10 years, so as to align with the Constitution (Ninety-Seventh Amendment) Act, 2011. Once passed, the Bill would allow a director of a Central Cooperative Bank to serve on the board of a State Cooperative Bank. The Bill also seeks to give greater freedom to banks in deciding the remuneration to be paid to statutory auditors. It also seeks to redefine the reporting dates for banks for regulatory compliance to the 15th and last day of every month instead of the second and fourth Fridays. “The proposed amendments will strengthen governance in the banking sector and enhance customer convenience with respect to nomination and protection of investors,” Sitharaman said while moving the Bill for consideration and passing.

 

 

SIXTY lakh new job cards are issued under the MGNREGS on average every year and the Government has no role in the deletion of the job cards which is done based on various parameters, the Centre said on Tuesday. Minister of State for Rural Development Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani told the Lok Sabha that 57 per cent of the rural development budget is allocated for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and asserted that Aadhaar-seeding of the cards enhances transparency. 

 

 

THE Centre has released Rs 50,571.42 crore to states as part of its ‘special assistance for capital investment’ scheme to step up expenditure in various development projects during the first eight months of the current financial year, Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary has informed the Lok Sabha. The Minister stated in a written reply that as many as 23 of the 28 States, excluding Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Kerala, Punjab and Telangana, availed of the interest-free facility provided by the Union Government during the current financial year. 

 

 

INDIA on Tuesday said it is committed to remaining engaged with China to find a fair and mutually acceptable settlement of the boundary issue but the relations will be contingent upon strictly respecting the sanctity of the LAC and following pacts on border management with no attempt to unilaterally alter the status quo. In a statement in the Lok Sabha, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the disengagement of troops has been achieved in “full” in eastern Ladakh through a step-by-step process, culminating in Depsang and Demchok, and India now expects the commencement of talks on remaining issues that it had placed on the agenda. India was and it remained very clear that the three key principles must be observed in all circumstances, he said explaining: “one: both sides should strictly respect and observe the Line of Actual Control (LAC), two: neither side should attempt to unilaterally alter the status quo, and three: agreements and understandings reached in the past must be fully abided by in their entirety”.

 

Jaishankar’s detailed statement came weeks after Indian and Chinese militaries completed the disengagement of troops from two last face-off points in eastern Ladakh, effectively ending the over four-year military face-off along the LAC in eastern Ladakh. “The next priority will be to consider de-escalation, that would address the massing of troops along the LAC with associated accompaniments,” he said. “It is also evident that the management of the border areas will require further attention in the light of our recent experiences.”