NIIT IFBI’s Certificate Programme to Build Pool of Bank PO 

NIIT Institute for Finance, Banking and Insurance (IFBI) announced the launch of its first batch for Certificate Programme in Banking Sales and Marketing (CPBSM) in association with Catholic Syrian Bank (CSB). CPBSM is an exclusive programme that aims to build a pool of probationary officers (PO) with marketing skills.

The one-month certificate programme is designed for training and recruitment of PO to be posted in sales and marketing of various deposit, loan, insurance products of the Bank under various functional verticals. This programme is a blend of core domain knowledge and usable skill-set requirements like sales and marketing, technology familiarity and customer handling. To start with, the programme will be available in select locations including Thrissur, Trivandrum and Coimbatore, as per immediate requirements.

Speaking on this significant partnership, Bimal Jain, President NIIT IFBI said, “As pioneers in the BFSI industry in India, NIIT IFBI has been working towards creating professionally trained workforce for the BFSI industry. This strategic partnership with the Catholic Syrian Bank has been tailor-made to create a large pool of industry-ready talent who would be offered challenging career opportunities with the Bank.”

According to a press release, this programme has been specifically designed to develop and empower graduates with robust skill sets and vital insights needed to undertake marketing banking business as a PO in banks. Graduates/post graduates with minimum of 60 per cent marks in their graduation and less than 28 years of age can apply for this course. On successful completion of the programme, students will be placed with CSB.

The selection to the programme will be through in-house screening process with final interview by CSB officials. After successful completion of the probation period of two years, the PO will be absorbed as Assistant Manager (Grade-1) and will be awarded with the programme certificate.

Sense on Financial Inclusion from RBI





The Mohanty committee offers good advice

The RBI committee on financial inclusion headed by Deepak Mohanty has done well to take a systemic approach, instead of confining itself to banking channels.This, of course, runs the risk of converting the report into a broad narrative of needed reform across the real economy , and being added, with nods of weighty approv al, to the shelf of expert reports that need to be acted on sometime this century . But it has the benefit of bringing out the interconnectedness of popular access to formal finance with institutions and practices relating to the real economy , whether land records and agricultural subsidy or the tax treatment of securitisation vehicles. The Supreme Court stands to gain much clarity on the utility of Aadhaar as it ponders the legitimacy of its use in assorted government schemes, if it were to glance through just the summary recommendations of the panel.While the report deserves broad endorsement, some specific recommendations stand out. The panel wants to remove the eight-percentage-point maximum mark-up on the interest rate charged to the end-borrower by financial intermediaries over their cost of borrowing from a bank. This would encourage inclusion of remote areas and communities. The recom mendation to liberalise the norms for banking correspondents, while streamlining their regulation, and use mobile technology to cover the last mile, instead of asking banks to open yet more unviable rural branches, is hugely welcome. The focus should be on smartphones and their applications, as these will replace feature phones even in rural areas with remarkable speed not anticipated by the committee.
The committee does well to endorse direct cash transfers to administer subsidies. The use of Aadhaar to tag bank accounts of the beneficiaries will help reform the country's subsidy administration and cut graft. The panel's recommendation to link Aadhaar to each individual credit account and share the information with credit rating agencies makes sense. However, India must enact a robust privacy law to prevent any abuse of Aadhaar.

Source: Economic Times, 31-12-2015

Hope Is For Tomorrow, Not Today

Interaction: U G Krishnamurti





I would like to have peace of mind.

UG: When do you expect to have it? It is always tomorrow, next year. Why? Why does tranquility, or quietness of the mind, or whatever you choose to call it, only happen tomorrow; why not now? Perhaps this disturbance ­ this absence of tranquility is caused by the very sadhana (practice) itself.
Q: Whatever i do seems meaningless. There is no sense of satisfaction. I feel that there must be something higher than this.
UG: Suppose I say that this meaninglessness is all there is for you, all there can ever be for you. What will you do? The false and absurd goal you have before you is responsible for hat dissatisfaction and meaninglessness in you. Do you think life has any meaning? Obviously you don't. You have been told that there is meaning, hat there must be a meaning to life. Your notion of the “meaningful“ keeps you from facing this issue, and makes you feel that life has no meaning. If the idea of the meaningful is dropped, then you will see meaning in whatever you are doing in daily life.
Q: But we all have to have an idea of a better, more spiritual life.
UG: Whatever you want, even the so-called spiritual goals, is materialistic in value. What, if I may ask, is so spiritual about it? If you want to achieve a spiritual goal, the instrument you use will be the same which you use to achieve materialistic goals, namely thought. You don't actually do anything about it; you just think. So you are just thinking that there must be some purpose to life. And because thought is matter, its object ­ the spiritual or meaningful life ­ is also matter. Spirituality is materialism. In any event you do not act, you just think, which is to postpone. There is simply nothing else thought can do.
That instrument called thought, which you are employing to achieve your so-called spiritual goals, is the result of the past. Thought is born in time, it functions in time, and any results it seeks are bound to be in and of time also. And time is postponement, the tomorrow. Take, for example, the fact of selfish ness. It is condemned, while selflessness, a pure creation of thinking, is to be sought after.
Its realisation, however, lies always just ahead, tomorrow.
You will be selfless tomorrow, or the next day , or, if there is one, in the next life.
Why is it not possible for you to be totally free from selfishness now, today? And do you really want to be free from selfishness?
You do not, and that is why you have invented what you call selflessness, in the meantime remaining selfish. So, you are not going to be selfless at all, ever, because the instrument which you use to achieve that state of selflessness or peace of mind is materialistic in value.Whatever you do to be free from selfishness will only strengthen and fortify it. I am not saying that you should therefore be selfish, only that thinking about its abstract opposite, which you have called “selflessness“, is useless.
You have also been told that through meditation you can bring selfishness to an end. Actually , you are not meditating at all, just thinking about selflessness, and doing nothing to be selfless. I have taken that as an example, but all other examples are variations of the same thing. All activity along these lines is exactly the same. You must accept the simple fact that you do not want to be free from selfishness.

Sex ratio dips, Jains & Sikhs buck trend

Subodh Varma





Two religious communi ties of India, Sikhs and Jains, have turned the corner on child sex ratio while all others showed further dips, as did the national average, according to fresh Census 2011 data released on Wednesday .Child sex ratio is the number of girls aged 0-6 years for every 1,000 boys in the same age group. It is a crucial measure for India where preference for sons and smaller families has driven the number of girls ­ and women ­ to unnaturally low levels in the past several decades. The child sex ratio for the whole country now stands at 918, dipping further from 927 in 2001, and reaching the lowest level since 1961.
Among Hindus, who make up nearly 80% of India's population, the child sex ratio declined from 925 in 2001 to 913 in the latest Census data. This is the biggest decline -of 12 points -among all religious communities and a chilling reminder for the continuing need for much more robust action to save the girl child.
The child sex ratio among Christians declined from 964 to 958 while among Muslims it declined from 950 to 943. The turnaround among Sikhs and Jains is a silver lining in this rather bleak scenario because these communities had the worst sex ratios despite being generally better off and better educated.
It reflects a growing consciousness about the issue created in part by considerable public campaigns in Punjab where most Sikhs live.However, the ratio is still dangerously low in both communities.
As reported by TOI earli er, Christians have the best population sex ratio, with 1,023 females for every 1,000 males, way ahead of all other communities and the national average of 943. Hindus and Sikhs have the worst sex ratios, at 939 and 903 respective ly. At 951, Muslims have a better sex ratio than Hindus and Sikhs but lagging behind Buddhists (965) and Jains (951). The latest Census data also sheds light on the growth of literacy among various religious communities. Muslims, who showed the lowest literacy rate of 59% in 2001, recorded the biggest increase and reached 69% in 2011.
Although still short of the national average of 73%, and still the lowest among all religious communities, the gap is rapidly closing. Jains continue to have the highest literacy rate, at 95%, followed by the Christians who are now at 85%. All communities are showing a much higher rate of growth of female literacy than male literacy . Overall, across India, female literacy jumped from 54% to 65% while male literacy rose from 75% to 81%.
Times View
The data shows that for all the efforts thus far, the child sex ratio continues to fall for most communities except those in which it was already at abysmally low levels. This must be reversed. Strict enforcement of government controls on sex selection tests is one part of what needs to be done, but cannot be the sole answer. That must be combined with more vigorous campaigns for awareness about discrimination against the girl child being a social evil and with incentives for people to have daughters. Some tax breaks already exist, but there needs to be more thought given to devicing more such incentives.

Source: Times of India, 31-12-2015

Recommendations of Deepak Mohanty Committee on Medium-term Path on Financial Inclusion

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released the Report on Medium-term Path on Financial Inclusion submitted by 14-member committee headed by RBI Executive Director Deepak Mohanty. RBI had constituted the committee in July 2015 to examine the existing policy regarding financial inclusion and the form a five-year (medium term) action plan. It was tasked to suggest plan on several components with regard to payments, deposits, credit, social security transfers, pension and insurance. Key recommendations Augment the government social cash transfer in order to increase the personal disposable income of the poor. It would put the economy on a medium-term sustainable inclusion path. Sukanya Shiksha Scheme: Banks should make special efforts to step up account opening for females belonging to lower income group under this scheme for social cash transfer as a welfare measure. Aadhaar linked credit account: Aadhaar should be linked to each individual credit account as a unique biometric identifier which can be shared with Credit information bureau to enhance the stability of the credit system and improve access. Mobile Technology: Bank’s traditional business model should be changed with greater reliance on mobile technology to improve ‘last mile’ service delivery. Digitisation of land records: It should be implemented in order to increase formal credit supply to all agrarian segments through Aadhaar-linked mechanism for Credit Eligibility Certificates (CEC). Nurturing self-help groups (SHGs): Corporates should be encouraged to nurture SHGs as part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative. Subsidies: Government should replace current agricultural input subsidies on fertilizers, irrigation and power by a direct income transfer scheme as a part of second generation reforms. Agricultural interest subvention Scheme: It should be phased out. Crop Insurance: Government should introduce universal crop insurance scheme covering all crops starting with small and marginal farmers with monetary ceiling of Rs. 2 lakhs. Multiple Guarantee Agencies: Should be encouraged to provide credit guarantees in niche areas for micro and small enterprises (MSEs). It would also explore possibilities for counter guarantee and re-insurance. Unique identification of MSME: It should be introduced for all MSME borrowers and information from it should be shared with credit bureaus.

Gujarati litterateur Raghuveer Chaudhary selected for 2015 Jnanpith Award

Eminent Gujarati litterateur Raghuveer Chaudhary has been selected for the 51st Jnanpith award. Mr. Chaudhary is the fourth Gujarati litterateur to bag this prestigious award after Uma Shankar Joshi (1967), Pannalal Patel (1985) and Rajendra Shah (2001). About Raghuveer Chaudhary Born: 5 December 1938 in Bapupura near Gandhinagar, Gujarat. He is novelist, poet, critic and a Gandhian and his talent has been influenced by works of Gowardhan Ram Tripathi , Kaka Kalelkar and Suresh Joshi.

His work: He has authored more than 80 books and some of his notable novels include Amrita, Venu Vatsala, Purvarang and Laagni Samjyaa Vinaa Chuuta Padvanu. He also had worked as a columnist for numerous newspapers such as Sandesh, Janmabhumi, Nirikshaka and Divya Bhaskar. He was a teacher at the Gujarat University until his retirement in 1998. Awards and Honours: He has received numerous accolades including Sahitya Acadmi Award for his novel Trilogy Uparvaas in 1977. About Jnanpith Award Jnanpith Award is one of the prestigious literary awards in country and its name has been taken from Sanskrit words Jnana and Pitha which means knowledge-seat. It was instituted in 1961 and is presented annually by Bharatiya Jnanpith trust founded by the Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain family that owns the Times of India newspaper group. It is bestowed upon any Indian citizen who writes in any 22 official languages of India mentioned in VIII Schedule of Constitution of India. Prior to 1982, the award was only given for a single work by a writer. But after 1982, the award is given for lifetime contribution to Indian literature. Award Carries: Includes cash prize of 11 lakh rupees, a citation plaque and a bronze replica of Saraswati.

Research Institute of Homoeopathy and Unani at Navi Mumbai -

Shripad Yesso Naik, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for AYUSH, laid the foundation stone for the construction of Research Institute of Homoeopathy and Unani under the Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRH) and Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM) respectively at Kharghar, Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra. These organisations are apex bodies for research under the Ministry of AYUSH. This Institute will be a premier institute in the state of Maharashtra engaged in research activities in Homoeopathy and Unani medicine.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said that high quality research in Homoeopathy and Unani medicine is essential for the growth, further development and their scientific usage in health care systems. He emphasised that the Ministry of AYUSH is committed for the strengthening of all existing research institutes. This upcoming institute is a significant step of the Government for inculcating research aptitude in students of various colleges already functional in Maharashtra.

The Minister assured full cooperation of the Central government in the development of AYUSH systems in Maharashtra. He emphasised that Government of Maharashtra should utilize provisions of centrally sponsored schemes and establish Homoeopathic and Unani colleges in the Government sector. There is need to give employment to Homoeopathic and Unani doctors at primary health care, the Minister added.

These regional institutes of Homoeopathy and Unani Medicine will be completed within 18 months. When these institutes will be fully operational, there shall be provision of world class Homoeopathy and Unani treatment, apart from undertaking research in incurable diseases like HIV/AIDS, Cancer, chronic skin diseases like psoriasis, vitiligo etc. These institutes shall have state of the art laboratories and investigation facilities where patients can be given treatment with modern outlook.