In a tragic incident, a man opened fire at Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal this morning while he was serving his penance at the entrance of Golden Temple in Amritsar. Reportedly, the shooter was overpowered by people present on the spot.

Sukhbir Singh Badal, a former Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab, is performing sewadar duties after the Akal Takht pronounced the religious punishment for him and several other Akali leaders for mistakes committed during the party’s rule in Punjab from 2007 to 2017. The SAD chief has been asked to serve as a sewadar, wash dishes and clean shoes at Golden Temple and several other gurdwaras.

In the past two days, Sukhbir Singh Badal has been sitting at the gate of Golden Temple with a spear in one hand and dressed in blue sewadar uniform. The Akali Dal leader’s leg is in a cast and he is in a wheelchair.

Reportedly, the incident occurred around 9 am on Wednesday, shortly after SAD leader Badal had taken the sewadar’s place at the Golden Temple gate. The man has been identified as Narain Singh from Gurdaspur district, about 75 km from Amritsar. Several visuals from the spot show him slowly approaching the gate, and then quickly brings out a gun. 

Another man standing near Sukhbir Singh Badal spots him in time and holds his hand. The gun goes off but misses the SAD Chief and others near him and hits the wall. The shooter has been arrested and police are investigating the motive behind the shocking attack.

Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has said the promptness of the state police foiled a conspiracy to defame Punjab and Punjabis. Taking to X, the Chief MInister said that the police achieved great success by arresting the assailant on the spot with their promptness. He appreciated the promptness of the police, and strongly condemned the attack on Sukhbir Badal. He added that he has issued strict instructions to the police to immediately investigate the incident and submit a report.

Furthermore, Amritsar Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said alert police officers Rishpal Singh, Jasbir and Parminder Singh managed to foil the attack. He added that Narain Singh has a criminal record, and they have registered a case and the incident is probed from all angles. He also appealed to people to maintain peace.

Putting an end to the suspense over the top post, a crucial BJP meeting on Wednesday decided Devendra Fadnavis to be the next Maharashtra Chief Minister. Reportedly, Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde will be the Deputy Chief Minister along with NCP’s Ajit Pawar. 

BJP Maharashtra President Chandrashekhar Bawankule said that Devendra Fadnavis, Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar will take oath on Thursday at 5 pm at Azad Maidan in Mumbai. Also, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the swearing-in ceremony. After being named as the chief ministerial pick, Devendra Fadnavis addressed a party event, where he reiterated PM Modi’s ek hai to safe hai slogan. 

Reportedly, at the BJP meeting, Fadnavis’s name for the top post was proposed by former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, who was sent as the central observer to Mumbai. The proposal was unanimously seconded by senior BJP leaders like Sudhir Mungantiwar and Pankaja Munde.

This development follows nearly two weeks after the Mahayuti received a massive mandate securing 230 out of 288 seats in the Assembly elections. Nonetheless, the coalition had not been able to decide the contours of the new government after Shinde Sena’s initial insistence on being made the Chief Minister again.

Earlier, discussions moved forward after Eknath Shinde publicly said that he wouldn’t be a hurdle to government formation and declared that he would abide by the decision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

Devendra Fadnavis was majorly seen as the chief architect of the BJP’s biggest ever victory in Maharashtra, winning 132 of the 149 seats it contested. Additionally, the RSS has also been rooting strongly for Fadnavis for the top post in Maharashtra.

Devendra Fadnavis became the Chief Minister for the first time at 44 in 2014, making him the second-youngest after Sharad Pawar. During that time, the BJP was in coalition with the then undivided Shiv Sena.

Following the 2019 Assembly election, as the Shiv Sena walked out of the alliance amid a tussle over rotational chief ministership, the Fadnavis-led BJP joined hands with Ajit Pawar. Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the Chief Minister and Ajit Pawar as the Deputy Chief Minister. Nonetheless, the government lasted for around 80 hours as Ajit Pawar returned to the NCP fold.

After Eknath Shinde’s rebellion led to the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in 2022, he agreed to be the Deputy Chief Minister under Shinde. 

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today said that the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill will strengthen governance in the Indian banking sector besides enhancing consumer’s and customer’s convenience with respect to nominations and protection of investors.

The Finance Minister moved the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, for consideration and passing in Lok Sabha. The aforesaid bill seeks to improve governance standards and provide consistency in reporting by banks to the Reserve Bank of India. Furthermore, the amendments will also ensure better protection for depositors and investors and will also improve the quality of services in the public sector banks.

After the bill is passed, the Banking Regulation Act will allow up to four nominees for depositors. This will include provisions for simultaneous and successive nominations, offering greater flexibility and convenience for depositors and their legal heirs, especially concerning deposits, articles, safe custody and safety lockers.

Reports stated that the proposed amendments seek to increase the tenure of directors other than the chairperson and full-time directors in cooperative banks from eight years to ten years. Altogether 19 amendments are proposed in the Banking Laws Amendment Bill 2024. In order to ensure consistency in reporting by banks, the bill provides for reporting to RBI on the last day of every fortnight instead of Fridays.

Under the aegis RBI Act, scheduled banks must maintain a certain level of average daily balance with the RBI as cash reserves. This average daily balance is based on the average of the balances held by banks at the closing of business of each day of a fortnight.

Notably, a fortnight is defined as the period from Saturday to the second following Friday (including both days). The said Bill changes the definition of a fortnight to the period from the first day to the fifteenth day of each month or the sixteenth day to the last day of each month. Additionally, the bill also changes this definition under the Banking Regulation Act where non-scheduled banks are required to maintain cash reserves.

The bill further redefines substantial interest in a company, currently it refers to holding shares of over Rs 5 lakh rupees or 10 per cent of the paid up capital whichever is less, this has been proposed to be hiked to Rs 2 crore. The Centre is also empowered to alter the amount through a notification.

The proposed bill also allows a director of a central cooperative bank to serve on the board of a state cooperative bank. At present, directors can hold positions in only one institution and not more.

The structure of the cooperative bank necessitates this as unless a person is elected to one layer of the cooperative, they can’t get into the next layer and as a result, they will necessarily have to hold a position at more than one place.

The said bill also provides that any person whose shares or unclaimed/unpaid money is transferred to the Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF), he can claim the transfer or refund. At present, if money in any account remains unpaid or unclaimed for seven years, it is transferred to the IEPF.