Shameful! SBI branch names and shames students, farmers who took loans

Agencies
December 14, 2020

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Chennai, Dec 14: The State Bank of India (SBI) in Tamil Nadu is at it again in naming and shaming of students who have taken education loans.

This time around, the Arakkonam branch of SBI has named and shamed the students who have taken education loans and the farmer borrowers.

"It is shocking to see the Arakkonam branch of SBI displaying the photos of students who have taken education loans and farmers who have taken farm loans outside the branch premises and also with a question 'do you want to figure here'," said T. Velmurugan, President, Tamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi (TVK).

"Has SBI kept the photo of Vijay Mallya outside its premises as a defaulter," he wondered.

He said many corporate loan defaulters like Mallya and Nirav Modi have escaped from India and some are living a luxurious life overseas and the Indian government and the banks have not taken any steps.

Velmurugan said the education loan borrowers may not be employed to repay the loan.

When IANS contacted the SBI's Arakkonam branch, a person who said he was the Branch Manager without disclosing his name said: "We can't share the information with the media. We have to get the permission from the law officer."

"The bankers are insensitive and if any student takes some drastic action after being shamed, will SBI take responsibility?" Education Loan Task Force (ELTF) Convenor K. Srinivasan told IANS.

ELTF guides students on rules and regulations governing the education loans offered by nationalised banks and it also insists students repay their dues.

Srinivasan said the education loan scheme has the facility of telescopic repayment facility over 15 year period. The first loan due falls one year after a student completes the course.

"The banks can give moratorium for three times during the currency of the loan if the borrower ends up in difficulties," Srinivasan said.

"Is the SBI willing to display the pictures of its corporate defaulters? Does it have the guts to publish the names of its top 100 defaulters? SBI shamelessly quote the Banking Regulation Act for not disclosing the big corporate defaulters.

"But in the case of poor students, it feels the banking law does not apply," Srinivasan a former banker posed.

According to him, bank officials try to create a wrong picture that education loan portfolio is default-prone. They are reluctant to handle this portfolio. It is really not so since the ticket size is very small compared with the loans and defaults of big industries.

This is not the first time that a SBI branch has named and shamed education loan borrowers.

In 2013, the Bodinayakanur branch of SBI in Theni district, around 515 km from here, displayed photos of students and their parents for defaulting on their educational loans.

At that time, the late President of DMK M.Karunanidhi had slammed SBI.

"When several money sharks are cheating banks of thousands of crores of rupees by not repaying loans, it is defamatory to display photos of students from poor and middle-class families for defaulting on education loans," Karunanidhi had said.

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News Network
November 12,2024

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The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement says its fighters have killed at least 20 Israeli soldiers in northern parts of the besieged Gaza Strip in just two days, in retaliation for the occupying regime’s genocidal war on the Palestinian territory.

In a statement on Monday evening, Hamas said that fighters of its military wing, al-Qassam Brigades, “killed at least five occupation soldiers” in northern parts of the coastal territory earlier in the day.

It added that Hamas fighters also killed 15 Israeli soldiers in the war-ravaged region on Sunday.

The resistance movement’s “qualitative operation … confirms once again the failure of the criminal Zionist entity to suppress and eradicate the Palestinian resistance, which continues to direct qualitative strikes against its terrorist soldiers,” Hamas further said on its Telegram channel.

Palestinians have increased their resistance operations in the face of intensified Israeli aggression in northern Gaza that has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 over the past weeks.

“Our valiant resistance is waging a war of attrition with the criminal enemy, inflicting daily losses on its soldiers and vehicles, and all of [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s bets and dreams of achieving any of his goals are failing,” the Gaza-based resistance movement added.

Hamas also vowed that Israel’s ongoing crimes and aggression against Gaza would be met with increased resistance and painful strikes, which will continue until the aggression against Palestinians ends and the regime fully withdraws from the blockaded territory.

As the war in Gaza enters its 14th month, the Health Ministry reports that Israeli attacks have killed at least 43,603 Palestinians and wounded 102,929 others.

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News Network
November 25,2024

Udupi: Six junior artists from the prequel of Kannada blockbuster film ‘Kantara’ were injured, when the bus they were travelling in overturned in the district, police said on Monday.

According to police, the accident occurred near Jadkal on Sunday night when the mini-bus carrying the crew of the film overturned.

“The incident happened while they were returning to Kollur after completing the shoot at Mudoor in Jadkal. The mini-bus was carrying 20 junior artistes when it met with the accident,” a police officer said.

The injured were rushed to hospitals in Jadkal and Kundapur for treatment, they said.

The Kollur police are investigating the matter.

"The news making rounds is completely false. The Kantara: Chapter 1 team began shooting at 06:00 AM today, and everything is proceeding as normal. A minor accident occurred 20 kilometres away from the shooting location, involving a local bus carrying some members of the Kantara team. However, no injuries were reported," a source close to the production said.

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News Network
November 12,2024

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The UN humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon has warned that the “picture of life in Lebanon remains grim,” highlighting an "alarming" level of human suffering and significant humanitarian consequences due to the ongoing Israeli carnage.

Imran Riza, the UN Deputy Special Coordinator and Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL), provided a stark overview of the Arab country's dire circumstances in a statement released on Monday.

“The current picture of life in Lebanon remains grim. Yesterday, airstrikes reportedly killed 23 people, including seven children, in the village of Aalmat in Mount Lebanon,” Riza said on X.

An airstrike in the city of Tyre on the same day resulted in the tragic deaths of five siblings from a single family, all of whom had special needs, according to his statement.

He added that in the last week, Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 241 individuals and left 642 others injured in Lebanon, as reported by the Ministry of Health.

“In the past month, more than 185,000 people have fled their homes in their search for safety within the country, bringing the total to over 870,000 people internally displaced,” Riza said

The UN official highlighted that numerous individuals, including the elderly and those with health issues, are staying behind while witnessing the ruins of their ancestral homes.

He urged for the swift safeguarding of civilian people and infrastructure, emphasizing the necessity to uphold international humanitarian law and end the ongoing violence.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that Israeli forces bombed a house in the town of Maydoun in Bekaa on Monday night, killing three people and destroying the house.

Earlier, Israel bombed the northern town of Ain Yaaqoub, killing at least 14 people.

The killings came as Israeli military continued to pound Lebanon, bombing shops selling electrical appliances in the southern city of Tyre and carrying out air raids on the towns of Shamshtar in eastern Baalbek and Roumine in southern Nabatieh.

Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said Israeli attacks killed at least 54 people across the country on Monday.

Israel’s merciless attacks continue despite calls from the UN Security Council for an immediate ceasefire and directives from the International Court of Justice urging measures to prevent genocide and alleviate the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and Lebanon.

In Lebanon, at least 3,243 people have been killed and 14,134 others wounded in Israeli attacks since the war on Gaza began on October 7, 2023.

The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah opened a support front for Palestinians in Gaza only a day after the Israeli regime unleashed its genocidal war on the besieged territory.

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