Top stories on 21st August in a capsule

AIADMK warring factions merge, O Panneerselvam sworn in as Deputy CM

Six months after their bitter split, AIADMK (Amma) headed by former Chief Minister O. Paneerselvam and AIADMK (PTA) headed by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, and merged on Monday. Hours after the the two warring factions within the party joined hands, former CM Panneerselvam was sworn in as the Deputy CM in the cabinet headed by Mr. Palaniswami at a ceremony held at Raj Bhavan. OPS who has held the post of CM thrice will also hold the plum portfolios of Finance, Housing, Rural Housing, Housing Development etc. Party MP D. Jayakumar is likely to hold the Finance Ministry and will remain the Fisheries Minister of the State too. Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated OPS and others who took oath and hoped that "Tamil Nadu scales to newer heights of progress in the years to come." However, there is no word on the future of former general secretary VK Sasikala, who is lodged in Bengaluru jail after conviction in a disproportionate assets case.
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SC grants bail to Lt Colonel Purohit in 2008 Malegaon blast

The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit in the 2008 Malegaon blast case. Purohit had challenged the Bombay High Court’s dismissal of his bail plea and had spent close to 9 years in jail after being arrested in 2008. SC noted Purohit’s statement which said that he was acting as an army mole and was not involved in any terrorist activity. The plea order was passed by Justices R K Agrawal and A M Sapre. Purohit was linked to the bomb blast on September 2008 in Malegaon, Nashik, which killed around 7 people.
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McDonald's to shut 169 outlets across North India, thousands to lose jobs 

All 169 outlets of McDonald’s across the North and East India face threat of a shutdown with the termination of franchise between McDonald’s India Private Limited (MIPL) and Vikram Bakshi headed Connaught Plaza Restaurants Ltd (CPRL), media reports said. This could directly put thousands of jobs and contracts of suppliers dealing in crores in a soup. The statement issued by McDonald’s said, CPRL will not be allowed use of any intellectual properties of McDonald’s at the 169 outlets across North and East India within 15 days of the termination notice.
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Bihar Floods: Death toll rises to 253

The number of deaths in the Bihar floods have now risen to 253, affecting around 1.26 crore people across 18 districts of the state, media reports said on Monday. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for providing teams of the National Disaster Response Force, armies and supplies to the flood affected areas. Around 4.21 lakh people have been shifted to 1,358 relief camps of the state, Disaster Management Department said. Araria remains the worst affected area with 57 deaths. Bihar Chief minister Nitish Kumar's government has began airdropping of food packets in worst hit areas of the state and evacuation of the people in inundated areas is already in progress.
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Markets face losses, Infosys tanks indices with another fall 

Indian Indices were dragged further down for the second day as Infosys suffered more losses post Vishal Sikka’s sudden exit as the MD and CEO. Both the Nifty and Sensex hit their one-week low today. Infosys lost more than 5% today despite their buyback announcement of 13.000 crores. The Sensex closed 266 points down and the Nifty was below 9,800. The IT company lost market cap of over rupees 34,000 crore in the last two sessions.
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Essar Oil Closes $13-Billion Deal with Rosneft-Led Consortium

 A consortium led by Russian oil major Rosneft announced the acquisition of India’s assets in a massive $ 12.9 billion deal. Essar’s promoters will retain a 2% stake in the company, whereas Rosneft will get 49% stake in the company. The total debt of Essar had been estimated at close to Rs1.3 trillion by at the time of signing the deal in October. With this deal, Essar’s debt will be reduced by 70,000 crores out of the $1.3 trillion. The deal would give Rosneft and its partners control of 20 million tonnes a year in Vadinar oil refinery in Gujarat and also over 3,500 petrol pumps.
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Bank Unions to go on strike on 22nd August for two days

Bank Unions across India have called for a strike on August 22 against banking reforms and merger, media reports said on Monday. The Unions are protesting against privatization and merger of public sector banks. The chief labour commissioner had convened a reconciliation meeting, but it did not yield any positive results.  Nearly 10 lakh bank employees are said to go on strike for two days and a massive rally will be conducted on 15th September. Their demands also include declaring wilful default of bank loans as criminal offence, not to write-off non-performing assets (NPAs) in banks etc.
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SBI waives processing fees for car and gold loans in festive offer 

As a part of their festive season offerings, the State Bank of India waived off the processing fees on most of its retail and personal loans. The Bank announced 100% waiver on fees for processing car loans till 31st December and a 50% waiver of gold loans till the end of October. Also, they can avail a 50% waiver on Xpress credit, a loan product till 30th September. The festive season they are targeting will start with Ganesh Chaturthi and end with Christmas.
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