New Delhi: The government has decided to raise the legal age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years, bringing it at par with that of men.

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday had cleared a proposal to bring in uniformity in the marriageable age of men and women, sources said on Thursday.

The government is likely to bring a bill in the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament to amend the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, they said.

The proposed bill may also seek to make consequential changes to various personal laws relating to marriage of various communities to ensure a uniform marriage age, the sources said.

As of now, the legal age of women to get married is 18 while that for men is 21 years.

The decision came a year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the government was deliberating on what should be the minimum age for marriage of women.

The decision is based on the recommendation of a four-member task force led by former Samata Party chief Jaya Jaitly.

Speaking about the recommendation, Jaitly said there were two main reasons that were focussed on.

“If we talk about gender equity and gender empowerment in every field, then we can’t leave marriage out because this is a very odd message that girl can be fit to be married at 18 that cuts away her opportunity to go to college and the man has the opportunity to prepare himself for life and earning up to 21. But these days when girls are capable of doing so much and the main reason why they are married off is because they are not an income earning member of the family but why do we allow them that feeling,” she told PTI.

“We should give them an opportunity to earn and be equal to a man and she can’t become equal at 18 when man has 21 years to do that. Secondly, we took opinions from lots of people but the main people who were most attentive were stakeholders themselves. We conducted assessment calls with young people – universities, colleges and in rural areas where they are still at school or getting out of school and the unanimous opinion of stakeholders was the marriageable age to be 22 or 23. Across all religions everyone had the same opinion which was a very heartening thing,” she said.

Jaitly said the task force submitted its recommendations to the PMO, Women and Child Development Ministry and NITI Aayog last December.

The other members in the panel include Dr V K Paul, member (health) Niti Aayog, secretaries of higher education, school education, health, women and child development, legislative department apart from academicians Najma Akhtar, Vasudha Kamat and Dipti Shah.

New Delhi(PTI): Army Chief Gen M M Naravane has assumed the charge as the chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee that comprises the three service chiefs, people familiar with the development said on Wednesday.

The post fell vacant following the death of Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat in the IAF helicopter crash on December 8.

Gen Naravane has been given the charge as the chairman of the committee as he is the senior-most among the three service chiefs, the people cited above said.

IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari and Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar had taken over their respective positions on September 30 and November 30.

Before the creation of the post of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), the senior-most among the three service chiefs used to be the chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee.

The Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC) met on Tuesday and condoled the death of Gen Rawat, his wife Madhulika and 11 armed forces personnel.

Group Captain Varun Singh, the lone survivor of the crash, succumbed to injuries on Wednesday at a military hospital in Bengaluru.

Meanwhile, Gen Naravane held a telephonic conversation with Lt Gen Fahd bin Abdullah Al-Mutair, the Commander of Royal Saudi Armed Forces.

The Army said they discussed issues of bilateral defence cooperation.

New Delhi: Employees of public sector banks (PSBs) on Thursday went on two-day strike against the move to privatise public sector banks impacting normal banking operation across the country.

Many branches across different parts of the country were shut as the United Forum of Bank Union (UFBU), an umbrella body of nine bank unions including All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC), All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) and National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW) had given two day strike call.

As a result, services such as deposits and withdrawal at branches, cheque clearance and loan approvals might be affected due to the strike. But ATMs are expected to function as usual.

Public sector lenders, including State Bank of India, had informed customers that services in their branches might be affected due to the strike.

However, the private sector, especially new generation private sector lenders, like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank, are working as usual.

The strike is against the government’s decision to privatise public sector banks which have been playing a vital role in nation building, (AIBEA) general secretary C H Venkatachalam told PTI.

AIBOC General Secretary Soumya Dutta said that about 7 lakh across the country are participating in the two-day strike.

It is unfortunate that the working in over 1 lakh branches of the banks and regional rural banks has been impacted due to the strike due to the government’s attitude, Dutta said.

“All banking services are impacted from cash withdrawals to deposits, business transactions, loan process, cheque clearing, account opening and business transactions, he said.

In the Union Budget presented in February, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced the privatisation of two public sector banks (PSBs) as part of its disinvestment plan.

To facilitate privatisation, the government has listed the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, for introduction and passage during the current session of Parliament.

The government has already privatised IDBI Bank by selling its majority stake in the lender to LIC in 2019 and merged 14 public sector banks in the past four years.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday asserted that the BJP will be defeated across the country in the next Lok Sabha polls due in 2024, and claimed that the saffron party would face similar drubbing that it had tasted in the last assembly polls in the state.

While addressing a rally for the December 19 Kolkata Municipal election (KMC) at Phoolbagan area in the city, Banerjee said her sole aim after returning to power for the third consecutive term in the state is to bring industry and generate jobs.

“During the assembly polls, we have seen the campaign that the BJP had unleashed in the state. Everybody was afraid of it. But the people of the state defeated them. Bengal is a place of communal harmony. What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow. We will defeat the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. It will meet the same fate as it had faced in the last assembly polls,” she said.

The rally is Banerjee’s first public function after her return from Goa on Tuesday, where she had gone on a two-day political visit.

“I want to see the BJP lose across the country in the 2024 elections. It will be Khela Hobey (there will be a game) again,” she said.

The “Khela Hobe” slogan of the TMC had become immensely popular during the high-octane campaigning of the assembly election held earlier this year.

“We have opened a new unit in Goa. In Tripura too, we have expanded. In Tripura, we have faced a lot of atrocities,” she said

The ruling camp of West Bengal is trying to expand its footprint nationally. The TMC, in its bid to enter Tripura’s political arena, recently engaged in a bitter battle with the BJP during the municipal elections there. It is also gearing up to contest the assembly elections in Goa to pitch Banerjee firmly as the foremost anti-BJP opposition voice.

Assembly elections in Goa and Tripura are due in 2022 and 2023 respectively.

Reacting to Banerjee’s claim that BJP will be defeated in the next Lok Sabha poll, BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said the TMC supremo should stop daydreaming about becoming the next prime minister.

She had said similar things in 2014 and in 2019 and all of us have seen the results, he said.

The CM, while speaking on her government’s vision in her third tenure, said, “I am working towards bringing industry in the state so that jobs can be generated. That’s my aim, and I will achieve it,” she said.

She said her government is mulling to set up a one-stop online mechanism for clearing industries and building approvals easier and make the system corruption-free.

Giving a call for a corruption-free civic body, the TMC boss asked the party candidates in the KMC polls to work for the people and ensure that their grievances related to civic issues are addressed at the earliest.

Banerjee said several sitting councillors were dropped this time for “non-performance”.

“The MPs and MLAs cannot do everything. People’s representatives mainly do the work of an area. The councillor has to fulfil his responsibilities. If you don’t work, you have to step down. If people come to you with a problem and you sit over it or seek money, it is unacceptable,” she said.

No one can make money from people or monopolise the supply of building materials, she added.

In the last KMC polls held in 2015, the TMC had won 126 out of the 144 seats. It had retained 87 sitting councillors and had dropped 39.

Listing out the “good work” done by the KMC in the last two tenures since 2010, Banerjee said the TMC-led civic body has done a lot of developmental work for the city.

The heritage Nellikatte Government School building demolished in Puttur.

Puttur: The demolition of a 156-year-old heritage school building at Nellikatte in Puttur taluk of Dakshina Kannada district has kicked up a controversy, after which the DK deputy commissioner K V Rajendra has sought a report from the education department.

The heritage structure was built by the British East India Company in 1865 to cater to the schooling needs of the region. Jnanpith awardee Dr K Shivaram Karanth had also used the building to direct plays and the villagers had wanted the building to be restored as a memorial museum after the litterateur.

The building was razed overnight three days back by the school development and monitoring committee (SDMC) which claimed that the building was beyond repair.

According to SDMC president Panchakshari, a part of the dilapidated building collapsed when they tried to carry out some repair work on the building. The building was then razed as it posed threat to students as the school ground is located nearby.

Classes were not being held in the building for long and a proposal to restore the building was pending before the authorities.

Following an uproar from literary enthusiasts and villagers over the demolition, DK district deputy commissioner K V Rajendra has directed the deputy director of public instruction (DDPI) and zilla panchayat chief executive officer to submit a report on the incident.

People claimed that the SDMC did not have the authority to take a decision on demolition. They also did not inform the departments concerned before razing the structure.

The DDPI has now sought a report from the block education officer who has served a notice to SDMC and the school headmaster seeking an explanation on the circumstances that led to the demolition.

Parmesh S jain

Central Crime Branch (CCB) officials on wednesday arrested a conman who was impersonating as a special officer of the Department of Personnel & Administrative Reforms (DPAR) in the government of Karnataka to cheat people.

The accused has been identified as,Uday Prabhu, 34,a resident of BEML Layout 7th Stage,is the accused.

Bengaluru City Police Commissioner,Kamal Pant, said a complaint was registered by CCB police in Kengeri police station in which they stated that they got information that some person is moving around in a Innova car with state emblem on his car and has fake ID card of DPAR special officer to cheat people and government.

Based on the information,the CCB police team went to his house on Tuesday to inquire him.

our officers visited him house when the officials caught Prabhu he even argued with the police claiming that he was a government official when but failed to substantiate it on suspect the team checked his house and found fake ID card of DPAR special officer in his possession.

Later his car was searched and cash of Rs.1.20 lakh,three mobile phones,and a laptop were found in it.The car and the articles were seized.

Investigations revealed that he was running a Banana shop in Cottonpet and was using fake credentials to cheat people,the police added.

We are investigating further his possible criminal anticidents and we appeal to come forward and register complaint if they have been cheated by this person they can approach CCB police officials and register complaint.

A case is registered against Prabhu under the provisions of the IPC,The State Emblem of India (Prohibition of Improper Use) Act 2005, and the IMV Act in the Kengeri police station and further investigation is on.

Finally Bengaluru Police Commissioner,Kamal Pant has appreciated Joint CP Crime,Sandeep Patil,DCPs,as,Dr Sanjeev M Patil,BS Angadi,ACP HN Dharmendra,and his whole staff who has done a exemplary and meticulous investigation in nabbing the fake DPAR special officer and a suitable reward will be given to the team he added.