Daily Bulletin: Narendra Modi to launch KMDY scheme; Sonia Gandhi to chair crucial Congress meeting; day's top stories

Narendra Modi to launch Kisan Man Dhan Yojana scheme in Ranchi today Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch Kisan Man Dhan Yojana (KMDY) scheme and 400 Ekalvya Model Residential Schools during his visit to Jharkhand on Thursday. “The PM will launch the scheme, Prime Minister Kisan Man Dhan Yojana and will also inaugurate 400 Ekalvya Model Residential schools to provide quality upper primary, secondary, and senior secondary level education to ST students in tribal-dominated areas,” an official statement said. [caption id=“attachment_7313101” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Narendra Modi. Reuters[/caption] The KMDY will secure the lives of five crore small and marginal farmers by providing a minimum pension of Rs 3,000 per month to those who have attained the age of 60. The scheme has an outlay of Rs 10,774 crore for the next three years. All the small and marginal farmers who are currently between the ages of 18 to 40 years are eligible to avail the benefits. The Eklavya Model Residential Schools are aimed at providing quality education to the students of Scheduled Tribes. This scheme will be implemented in blocks with a tribal population of at least 20,000. Modi will also inaugurate the New Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha Building and lay the foundation stone for the New Secretariat building at Ranchi. The prime minister will also inaugurate the multi-model vessel terminal built on the banks of river Ganga in Sahebganj. Sonia Gandhi to chair crucial meeting of Congress leaders today Interim Congress president Sonia Gandhi will chair a meeting of senior party leaders in New Delhi on Thursday. Congress general secretaries, in-charges of the States, Congress Legislative Party leaders and Pradesh Congress Committee presidents of all the states have been called for meeting at the party headquarters in the national capital. It will be a first meeting which will be chaired by Sonia Gandhi after she took over as interim president of Congress. Top sources of the Congress told ANI that the meeting has been called to discuss and finalise the preparations of 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Membership and Training Program is also an agenda of this crucial meeting. The Congress is focusing on a membership drive and to make it successful each state unit has been given targets. A training programme will also be discussed in which the party has decided to appoint ‘Preraks’ or ‘motivators’ at the district level across the country to scale-up its mass contact programme. Congress state units have been asked to identify leaders from the party who will be given training for several days. INX Media Case: Delhi HC to hear P Chidambaram’s plea seeking regular bail today Former finance minister P Chidambaram, lodged in Tihar jail in the INX Media corruption case, moved the Delhi High Court Wednesday seeking bail claiming that the criminal proceedings against him were “mala fide” and borne out of “political vendetta”. Chidambaram has also filed another plea in the high court challenging the trial court’s 5 September order remanding him to 14-day judicial custody in the case till 19 September, saying it was a “completely unreasoned and non-speaking” order. Both the petitions of the senior Congress leader have been listed for hearing on Thursday before Justice Suresh Kait. Chidambaram, 73, who was arrested on 21 August by the CBI, did not approach the trial court and directly filed the regular bail plea in the high court. He has sought bail saying that he is a law-abiding citizen having deep roots in the society and is not a flight risk and is willing to abide by all conditions as may be imposed by the high court while granting him the relief. TMC to hold mass rally against NRC and ‘divisive politics of BJP’ in West Bengal Trinamool Congress leaders are expected to hold a protest rally in Kolkata opposing the NRC in neighbouring Assam. The decision was taken at an emergency meeting at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s residence. Banerjee, who is also the TMC supremo, is likely to be present in it, a senior party leader said. “During the meeting, Banerjee expressed concern over the future of 19 lakh plus people who have been left out of the final NRC list in Assam. She has asked party leaders to reach out to the people and explain to them about the sinister designs of BJP, such as the implementation of NRC if it ever comes to power in Bengal,” a TMC leader said. Banerjee had expressed concern over the exclusion of a large number of Bengalis from the register. Dubbing the updated final NRC as a “fiasco”, she had said it exposed those who are trying to gain “political mileage” out of the exercise. NASA to share before and after images of Vikram lander’s landing site: Report A report by The New York Times says that NASA will actually share before and after images, if any, of the area where Vikram lander was supposed to land. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, a spacecraft currently orbiting the moon, will soon be flying over the lander’s landing site on 17 September, and it could help ISRO with images of the area to help with its analysis. India squad for Test series against South Africa to be picked today India selectors will meet today to pick the Test squad for the upcoming two-match series against South Africa next month. Rohit Sharma, who failed to get into the playing XI against the West Indies, could be picked as an opener considering the poor form of KL Rahul. Meanwhile, reports also suggest that Bengal opener Abhimanyu Easwaran may be included in place of Rahul in the squad. The other openers in the fray are Priyank Panchal of Gujarat and Shubman Gill of Punjab. Hardik Pandya, who was missing from the squad for West Indies tour, could also make a return in place of injured Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Besides these, selection will remain pretty straightforward. Andhra Bank board to meet tomorrow to approve merger with Corporation Bank, Union Bank of India The board of Andhra Bank will meet on 13 September (tomorrow) to consider and approve amalgamation of it along with Corporation Bank into Union Bank of India. “A meeting of the board of directors of the bank is scheduled to be held on Monday, 16th September, 2019, to consider amalgamation of Allahabad Bank with Indian Bank,” the Kolkata-headquartered bank said in a regulatory filing. Meanwhile, Allahabad Bank on Wednesday said its board of directors will meet next week to consider its amalgamation with Indian Bank. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last week had announced to merge 10 public sector banks (PSBs) into four lenders aimed at creating stronger and bigger banks. With inputs from agencies