1. Janata Party merged with the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)
i. Janata Party was merged with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on 11 August 2013 following a meeting of Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy and BJP President Rajnath Singh.
ii. Subramanian Swamy had served as member of the Planning Commission of India. He was also former Cabinet Minister at the Centre and has been a five-time MP.
iii. He has been an ardent proponent of Hindutva philosophy outside and was active in exposing the 2G Spectrum scam. He was a former member of the Janshangha.
History of Janta Party:
i. The Janata Party was an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the State of Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by the government of India under the Prime Ministership of late Indira Gandhi and her party, the Indian National Congress. In the general election held after the state of emergency ended in 1977, the Janata party defeated Congress to form the first non-Congress government in the history of the Republic of India.
ii. The Janata party was officially launched on 23 January 1977 when the Janata Morcha, Charan Singh's Bharatiya Lok Dal, Swatantra Party, the Socialist Party of India of Raj Narain and George Fernandes, and the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) came together, merging their separate identities.
iii. Morarji Desai was elected the first party chairman. Ramakrishna Hegde was appointed the party general secretary, and Jana Sangh politician Lal Krishna Advani became the party spokesperson.
iv. Janta party won the 1977 parliamentary elections but started disintegrating after coming to power and lost the 1980 mid-term election. Slowly and gradually it faded away from the limelight and continued its small existence in the politics of the state of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Chandigarh, Delhi and at the national stage under the chairmanship of Subramanian Swamy.
2. Ganguly quits Bengal human rights panel
i. Former Supreme Court judge, Justice (Retd) A.K. Ganguly has stepped down from his post as West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC), sources said.
ii. Ganguly reportedly tendered his resignation during a meeting with West Bengal Governor M.K. Narayanan on Monday evening at the Raj Bhavan.
iii. Accused of harassing a law intern, Ganguly has been in the eye of a storm with pressure mounting on him to step down from the post of a WBHRC Chairman.
iv. The intern’s allegations created a media furore; with a section of lawyers, politicians and activists calling for the country’s top court to investigate the incident and for the accused judge to be named publicly.
Note: Three days ago, Ganguly stepped down from the post of honorary professor of the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS). He quit the post after some members expressed their reservation over his continuation.
3. Disapprove of ATM charges: RBI Dty Governor
i. RBI Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty has said that he disapproves the demand made by banks to charge their customers for using ATM services.
Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, Mr. Chakrabarty said it is a little bit ridiculous that bank will charge customers for using an ATM.
ii. He said that instead banks must compare the charges of serving a customer at a branch as against at the ATM.
iii. He further informed that RBI does not decide on service charges, and it was up to the banks to decide their charges.
iv. After a near-fatal attack on a Corporation Bank employee at an ATM in Bangalore last November, many states have made it mandatory to have round-the-clock security at ATMs, pushing up banks' costs. Banks' umbrella body IBA has requested RBI to cap the number of free transactions to five per month across any ATM network.
4. 5th phase of Lok Sabha elections tomorrow; 12 states go to polls
i. The fifth phase of Lok Sabha polls will witness 121 constituencies spread over 12 states going to polls on April 17.
ii. Top leaders of political parties made their last ditch effort to woo the voters as the deadline to wind up the campaign ended at 5 PM.
iii. Campaigning for 77 Odisha Assembly seats also ended Tuesday evening and voting will be held on 17th April along with the Lok Sabha polls.
iv. This phase of polling will witness votes being cast for the maximum number of seats in the ongoing general elections.
v. While, seven seats of Bihar is going to polls on Thursday, 3 constituencies of Chhattisgarh will exercise their franchise.
vi. Whole Karnataka state will cast their votes on this day. 20 seats of Rajasthan, 19 of Maharashtra, 11 each of Uttar Pradesh and Odisha, 10 of Madhya Pradesh, six of Jharkhand, four of West Bengal will also witness polling on this day.
vii. Udhampur constituency of Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur's lone parliamentary constituency will also exercise their franchise on 17th April.
i. Janata Party was merged with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on 11 August 2013 following a meeting of Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy and BJP President Rajnath Singh.
ii. Subramanian Swamy had served as member of the Planning Commission of India. He was also former Cabinet Minister at the Centre and has been a five-time MP.
iii. He has been an ardent proponent of Hindutva philosophy outside and was active in exposing the 2G Spectrum scam. He was a former member of the Janshangha.
History of Janta Party:
i. The Janata Party was an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the State of Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by the government of India under the Prime Ministership of late Indira Gandhi and her party, the Indian National Congress. In the general election held after the state of emergency ended in 1977, the Janata party defeated Congress to form the first non-Congress government in the history of the Republic of India.
ii. The Janata party was officially launched on 23 January 1977 when the Janata Morcha, Charan Singh's Bharatiya Lok Dal, Swatantra Party, the Socialist Party of India of Raj Narain and George Fernandes, and the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) came together, merging their separate identities.
iii. Morarji Desai was elected the first party chairman. Ramakrishna Hegde was appointed the party general secretary, and Jana Sangh politician Lal Krishna Advani became the party spokesperson.
iv. Janta party won the 1977 parliamentary elections but started disintegrating after coming to power and lost the 1980 mid-term election. Slowly and gradually it faded away from the limelight and continued its small existence in the politics of the state of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Chandigarh, Delhi and at the national stage under the chairmanship of Subramanian Swamy.
2. Ganguly quits Bengal human rights panel
i. Former Supreme Court judge, Justice (Retd) A.K. Ganguly has stepped down from his post as West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC), sources said.
ii. Ganguly reportedly tendered his resignation during a meeting with West Bengal Governor M.K. Narayanan on Monday evening at the Raj Bhavan.
iii. Accused of harassing a law intern, Ganguly has been in the eye of a storm with pressure mounting on him to step down from the post of a WBHRC Chairman.
iv. The intern’s allegations created a media furore; with a section of lawyers, politicians and activists calling for the country’s top court to investigate the incident and for the accused judge to be named publicly.
Note: Three days ago, Ganguly stepped down from the post of honorary professor of the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS). He quit the post after some members expressed their reservation over his continuation.
3. Disapprove of ATM charges: RBI Dty Governor
i. RBI Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty has said that he disapproves the demand made by banks to charge their customers for using ATM services.
Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, Mr. Chakrabarty said it is a little bit ridiculous that bank will charge customers for using an ATM.
ii. He said that instead banks must compare the charges of serving a customer at a branch as against at the ATM.
iii. He further informed that RBI does not decide on service charges, and it was up to the banks to decide their charges.
iv. After a near-fatal attack on a Corporation Bank employee at an ATM in Bangalore last November, many states have made it mandatory to have round-the-clock security at ATMs, pushing up banks' costs. Banks' umbrella body IBA has requested RBI to cap the number of free transactions to five per month across any ATM network.
4. 5th phase of Lok Sabha elections tomorrow; 12 states go to polls
i. The fifth phase of Lok Sabha polls will witness 121 constituencies spread over 12 states going to polls on April 17.
ii. Top leaders of political parties made their last ditch effort to woo the voters as the deadline to wind up the campaign ended at 5 PM.
iii. Campaigning for 77 Odisha Assembly seats also ended Tuesday evening and voting will be held on 17th April along with the Lok Sabha polls.
iv. This phase of polling will witness votes being cast for the maximum number of seats in the ongoing general elections.
v. While, seven seats of Bihar is going to polls on Thursday, 3 constituencies of Chhattisgarh will exercise their franchise.
vi. Whole Karnataka state will cast their votes on this day. 20 seats of Rajasthan, 19 of Maharashtra, 11 each of Uttar Pradesh and Odisha, 10 of Madhya Pradesh, six of Jharkhand, four of West Bengal will also witness polling on this day.
vii. Udhampur constituency of Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur's lone parliamentary constituency will also exercise their franchise on 17th April.
