The Hindu : New Delhi News : Briefly

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 25, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Briefly

Anniversary of Great Patriotic War

NEW DELHI MARCH 24. A lecture-cum-presentation on "Partisan Movement During the Great Patriotic War" was organised jointly by the Russian Centre of Science and Culture and the Centre of Russian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, in the Capital on Wednesday. The function marked the 60th Anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War which underscored the crucial role played by the partisan groups in putting up remarkable resistance against the invading Nazi forces in the war which heralded the victory of the erstwhile Soviet Union.

The presentation highlighted the heroic operations of partisan and resistance groups, which started appearing immediately after the Nazi forces invaded the Soviet Union. These groups comprised servicemen, who were encircled by the German forces, who lost their units or fled from captivity and patriots who failed to join the army but desired to fight the enemy.

PNB branch inaugurated

NEW DELHI MARCH 24. The Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, inaugurated the 1,000th Centralised Banking Branch (CBS) of Punjab National Bank (PNB) at Vasant Kunj in South Delhi today. The Bank's Chairman-cum-managing Director, S.S.Kohli, besides senior officers of the Ministry of Finance were present on the occasion.

Complimenting PNB on its achievement, Mr. Chidambaram said the actual measure for success of an institution was how the customer perceived the institution in a competitive economy.

The market can indicate very accurate parameters but it was the response from the people which really matters and this was the reason why the public sector banks have been asked to go to the market.

With the opening of Banking sector, the Banks are already facing a lot of competition. Even weak banks have been able to withstand the competition and have become stronger, he added.

He emphasized upon three C's namely competition, consolidation and convergence which will provide the requisite financial strength to the banks to try out new items and take risks.

Japanese aid for water projects

NEW DELHI MARCH 24. The Japanese Embassy here today extended grant assistance totalling 78, 936 dollars to two non-government organisations to support safe water projects undertaken by them. The Allahabad Agricultural Institute and the Centre for Rural Development and Consultants Society (CRD) are the two NGOs to get financial assistance for supporting safe water projects in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan through the "Grant Assistance for Grassroots Projects" scheme of the Japanese Embassy.

To overcome severe water shortage, especially potable water, in some parts of Uttar Pradesh, the Allahabad Agricultural Institute plans to install 80 hand pumps there while the CRD intends to install 75 hand pumps in 25 villages of Tonk and Jaipur districts of Rajasthan to eradicate the grim situation of safe drinking water there.

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