Unions demand time for lunch break as bank list rules for business hours

Banking unions are upset at public-sector banks for bringing out advertisements announcing the implementation of uniform business hours in all PSBs in the National Capital Territory of Delhi from October 1, but not including lunch hours. According to the advertisements, uniform business hours in all PSBs will be from 10 am to 4 pm. These were adopted after an advisory from the Indian Banks' Association, and the decision was the outcome of discussions the Department of Financial Services had with heads of PSBs on "banking for customer convenience". The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh-affiliated Delhi Pradesh Bank Workers' Organisation has termed it a matter of great concern that while setting uniform business hours, there was no mention of a lunch break for the staff. It has said that in the absence of specific instructions about lunch hours, there is possibility of customer complaints if the staff takes a break. It has demanded at least half an hour of lunch break and fresh advertisements be issued with specific lunch time.

Many names of loan mela 

Days after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman (pictured) announced loan camps in 400 districts of the country, finance ministry officials sought to play it down as a simple customer outreach programme. While Sitharaman refused to term them "loan melas" during her press conference where she announced the move, an internal document circulated by the finance ministry to banks, which listed the districts to be covered beginning October 3, has branded the campaign "Grahak mela camps”.

A damp squib

The Opposition in the Uttar Pradesh legislature has decided to boycott the two-day, non-stop assembly session convened by the Adityanath government to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The three big Opposition outfits, namely, the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Samajwadi Party, and the Congress, have not only decided to skip the assembly session convened to discuss the UN General Assembly’s Sustainable Development Goals, the Congress has gone ahead and announced statewide protests at all district headquarters against the Shahjahanpur rape case at the time of the session. In the absence of Opposition members, the much-hyped event risks being reduced to merely a ruling party programme, bereft of debates and alternative voices.