Sridharan named interim chairman of SBI

NEW DELHI: The government's inaction has meant that State Bank of India, the country's largest lender with 25% market share, will not just remain without a full-time chairman but also have four of the five executive positions on the board going vacant.

Even the fifth slot could meet the same fate as managing director R Sridharan, who has been named as the officiating chairman on O P Bhatt's retirement on Thursday, is due to superannuate in three months.

Apart from independent directors and government nominees, the SBI board had an executive chairman and two managing directors. With legal amendments, it is now possible for the government to appoint two more MDs.

But forget filling up the two new slots, the government has failed to appoint a replacement for S K Bhattacharya, who retired as MD in October. Similarly, despite knowing nearly five years ago that Bhatt would retire at the end of March 2011, the finance ministry chose to initiate the appointment process late.

As a result when queries were raised by the cabinet secretary and the Prime Minister's Office, the ministry did not have time to address them in time for Bhatt's retirement.

What's more, even after receiving a go ahead from the appointments committee of cabinet, the department of financial services has asked the Establishment Officer to put on hold the appointment of one Managing Director.

For the moment, there is no clarity on who would move to the corner office at SBI's Nariman Point headquarters. While deputy managing director Pratip Chaudhury was the top choice of the selection panel, chief financial officer Hemant Contractor was the second most preferred option.

When it comes to filling up Bhattacharya's vacancy - Contractor is option 1 followed by Chaudhury. As for the two new slots, deputy managing director Diwakar Gupta's notification has been put on hold till the government can decide on who the chairman (and consequently the MD) would be. For the fourth slot, the appointments committee of cabinet is yet to clear A Krishna Kumar, another SBI DMD.

Officials, however, said that too much should not be read into State Bank appointments as not finalizing top-level appointments in public sector companies seems to be the norm. After all, ONGC and BSNL are still without a full-time CMDs, while IndianOil remained headless for several months.

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India, Pak come closer in terror co-operation

Pakistan has agreed to allow an Indian team to question the 2008 Mumbai terror attack suspects being prosecuted there as the home secretaries of the two countries Tuesday concluded their two-day talks on a positive note. They have also agreed to set up a "hotline" to share information about militants.

According to a joint statement issued at the end of the two-day talks, Pakistan has agreed to allow a team of Indian investigators to question some Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists who are presently lodged in a jail in that country.

The modalities and dates of the team's visit would be decided later, an official told IANS.

"Both sides agreed to set up a hotline between the home secretary of India and the interior secretary of Pakistan to facilitate real-time information sharing with respect to terrorist threats," said the statement.

Pakistan has agreed in principle to entertain commission from India on guidelines to be followed by both countries regarding their investigation into the Mumbai terror attack investigations.

Home Secretary G.K. Pillai and his Pakistani counterpart Qamar Zaman met in what is seen as a first step towards advancing the re-initiated peace process stalled after 10 Pakistani terrorists slaughtered 166 people in Mumbai in 2008, almost triggering an India-Pakistan war.

Among the issues the two sides discussed during the talks were the trial of the Mumbai terror suspects in Pakistan, the Samjhauta Express blasts probe, easing of visa norms, narcotics control and smuggling of fake Indian currency notes.

India provided details of the probe into the Samjhauta Express blasts to a team of Pakistani interior ministry officials.

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Agency to ensure smooth fund flow in MGNREGA

Meghalaya will set up an agency to ensure there is no delay in payment of wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). "The State Rural Agency of Meghalaya (SRAM) would be responsible in ensuring there is smooth flow of fund in the implementation of the MGNREGA in the state. We have approved the proposal submitted by the Community and Rural Development (C&RD) development for constituting of the SRAM in the state," Chief Minister Mukul Sangma told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

"This is basically to ensure that under the MGNREGA, there is no delay in release of the funds by the respective deputy commissioners and subsequently to the respective blocks for payment of wages to the beneficiaries," he said.

Agreeing that there has been delay in the payment of wages to the beneficiaries under MGNREGA, the chief minister said, "the agency will try to address other loopholes dogging the implementation of the scheme".

The SRAM would also look into the overall aspects of the MNREGA, including examining the various allegations on misappropriation of funds while implementing this scheme.

Cong-DMK combine will win TN Assembly elections: Chidambaram

Union home minister P Chidambaram expressed hope that the Congress-DMK combine would win the April 13 Tamil Nadu Assembly polls owing to the developmental works undertaken by both the state and central governments. Addressing a campaign meeting in Pudukottai district on Monday, he said, "a maya (fake appearance) has been created as if the forthcoming assembly elections will be very tough. But that is not the truth. We are facing the people in the same way as we met them in the last elections. The results will depend on people's state of mind".

"It is difficult to predict the election results as the alliance is different. The Centre had allocated a lot of funds for Tamil Nadu. This enabled the poor people develop. (Gestures such as) the farm loan waiver and loans to SHGs have improved the status of poor. There is no doubt that the Congress and DMK combine, responsible for it, will win."

Chidambaram said that both the central and the state governments had implemented a series of schemes for the benefit of the people during the past years respectively.

"People know whom to believe and whom not to believe. They know who will do what they promise, and who will not do what they say," he said.

He also said that if the state and the central governments worked in harmony many projects and programmes could be implemented.

The home minister also claimed that AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa had "copied" the manifesto of the DMK, comparing it to a student copying another in a school exam.

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