Morning Brief: Armed Forces Equipped To Defend Country, Says Jaitley; Banks Present Turnaround Plan

Good morning, dear reader! Here’s your morning news and views brief for today.

Armed Forces Equipped To Defend Country: Jaitley: Defence Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday told the Rajya Sabha that the Armed Forces were reasonably and sufficiently equipped to defend the sovereignty of the country, amid concerns raised by parliamentarians regarding a report by Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) that the Army had critical shortage of ammunition. A report of the CAG last week pointed out that the Indian Army is battling critical shortage of ammunition. Jaitley said the CAG report has reference to the shortage of ammunition in relation to a point of time. “Subsequently thereafter, significant progress has been made. Procedures (for procurement of arms and ammunition) have been simplified, powers decentralised and the Armed Forces are reasonably and sufficiently equipped," he said.

Mega Drive To link NREGS Accounts With Aadhaar: The Rural Development Ministry has roped in Indian Banks’ Association and 13 private sector banks to launch a drive to bring all active workers of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) under the Aadhaar framework to bring down duplication under the scheme and prevent leakage of funds. The ministry will organise camps in villages to seek consent of the beneficiaries for seeding their bank accounts to their Aadhaar numbers. “Linking with Aadhaar will help us reduce leakages in the transfer of funds to the beneficiary’s account... The biometric verification ensures that money is reaching the right person,” a senior official said.

Banks Present Turnaround Plan: Bank of India, IDBI Bank and Union Bank are among 10 state-owned financial institutions to have submitted their turnaround plans to the government, which is a pre-requisite for getting fund infusion. Allahabad Bank, Andhra Bank, Central Bank of India, Dena Bank, UCO Bank, United Bank of India and Bank of Maharashtra are the other public sector lenders who have submitted their plans. Indian Overseas Bank is currently in the process of preparing its turnaround plan, said Minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar in a written reply in Rajya Sabha. "It has been decided that any future capital infusion in these banks shall be subject to achievement of select agreed upon milestones as per turnaround plan on quarterly basis," the minister said.

Terror Financing: Shabir Shah Arrested: The Enforcement Directorate arrested Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Shah on Tuesday night in connection with over a decade-old money laundering case against him for alleged terror financing. Officials said Shah was arrested in Srinagar and is expected to be brought to Delhi today (Wednesday). He would be produced in a court in Delhi. Shah's arrest comes a day after the National Investigation Agency held seven Hurriyat activists, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani's son-in law, for allegedly bankrolling stone-pelting and other subversive activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

SC Green Signal For Aamby Valley Auction: Former real estate and media tycoon Subrata Roy was on Tuesday directed by the Supreme Court to pay Rs 1,500 crore by 7 September and ordered that a process be started to sell his company Sahara’s Aamby Valley project. The top court rejected Sahara’s plea for more time to repay the money to Securities and Exchange Board of India. A bench of Justices Dipak Misra, Ranjan Gogoi and A K Sikri said: “Indulgence cannot be granted to Subrata Roy as indulgence leads to procrastination and it is the murderer of justice”. Aamby Valley is one of Sahara’s flagship projects and the process to auction it increases the pressure on Roy, who has failed to comply with a court order to return Rs 24,000 crore to investors.

Gujarat Floods: Modi Announces Rs 500 Crore Relief: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who surveyed the flood-hit northern region of Gujarat on Tuesday, has announced immediate relief of Rs 500 crore from the Centre. He also announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for the families of those killed in the floods, and Rs 50,000 for the injured. The central government will provide an immediate assistance of Rs 500 crore to the state, and after a detailed survey has been conducted, it will give whatever is additionally required, he said. The announcements came as rescuers from disaster response teams and the Indian military raced to reach marooned villagers, some of whom were airlifted by military choppers. Heavy to very heavy rains are likely to lash the state in the next 48 hours, according to the Met department.

Vande Mataram A Must In Tamil Nadu Schools: Singing of Vande Mataram has been made mandatory by the Madras High Court in schools, government offices, private entities and industries in Tamil Nadu. While schools must sing it at least once a week, the national song must be sung in offices once a month, said Justice M V Muralidharan on Tuesday. He added that Vande Mataram shall be played and sung in all government offices and institutions, private companies, factories and industries at least once a month. “If people feel it is difficult to sing the song in Bengali or in Sanskrit, steps can be taken to translate the song in Tamil,” said the court.

Sri Lanka Clears Revised Hambantota Deal: After addressing India’s concerns, the Sri Lankan cabinet cleared a revised agreement for its Chinese-built southern port of Hambantota on Tuesday, after terms of the first pact sparked widespread public anger in the island nation. Under the new deal, the Sri Lankan government has sought to limit China's role to running commercial operations at the port while it has oversight of broader security. The port, close to the world's busiest shipping lanes, has been mired in controversy ever since state-run China Merchants Port Holdings signed an agreement taking an 80 per cent stake. The new terms will help allay concerns of India as also in Japan and the United States, that the port won't be used for military purposes.

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SWARAJYA SPECIAL

With NIA Arrests And Free Hand To Army, J&K Strategy Is Falling Into Place, But...: One hopes strategy in future is decided by the head rather than a compromising heart. Any weakening of our resolve once a degree of normality is restored will be fatal. This time we cannot be foolish like we were in the past.

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