Punjab chief minister bereaved as wife passes away

CHANDIGARH : The wife of Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal passed in Chandigarh today in a hospital after a prolonged illness. Surinder Kaur Badal, 75, died at PGIMER where she was battling for life from cancer since long, officials said. She is survived by Badal, son and deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and daughter Preneet Kaur.
S. Surinder Kaur Badal was the pillar of strength behind the more than 50 year long political career of S. Parkash Singh Badal. The senior Badal patriarch of 90 year old Shiromani Akali Dal, a party known for Morchas, Struggles and Jail Bharo Andolans for protecting the territorial and water rights of Punjab, had left the
responsibility of nurturing the family nest to Bibi Surinder Kaur Badal. S. Badal who out of his 50 year political career, spent 17 years in the jails, the longest stint spent by any political leader in India, was carefree from family front just because of stability offered by Bibi Surinder Kaur Badal to the family. If S. Parkash Singh Badal could touch the pinnacle of glory in his political career, it
was just because he was free from any tension of family responsibility.
Bibi Badal born in the family of S. Harjoginder Singh (Father) and Bibi Umrao Kaur (Mother) on 26th June 1938 in Village Chak Fateh Singh Wala in District Bathinda. Bibi Surinder Kaur Badal was second of their four siblings. She had an elder sister Savinder Kaur and two younger brothers Inderjit Singh and Late Gurpreet Singh. Mrs. Surinder Kaur Badal got her schooling in Victoria School Patiala.
She got her education from Pre University to MA in Kanya Maha Vidyalaya College Jalandhar. She was married to S. Parkash Singh Badal in the year 1959 and she gave birth to Parneet Kaur in the year 1960. Mr. Sukhbir Singh was born on 9th July 1962.
She was the direct descendent of legendry Sikh General Baba Fateh Singh who killed Wazid Khan, Governor of Sirhind, facilitating the recapture of Sirhind from Mughals.
Bibi Surinder Kaur Badal spent initial years of marriage in looking after her kids Biba Parneet Kaur her elder daughter and Kaka Sukhbir Singh and ensured that their education was not disturbed by the hectic political life of their father. She also ensured their proper up bringing and inculcated the values the Badal clan inherited since generations. She ensured to keep them away from hustle and
bustle of politics till Sukhbir completed his management graduation from US University.
The last Five Years of Bibi Surinder Kaur Badal were most satisfying for her as she embarked upon the campaign of involving lacs of devotees in "Langar Sewa" of Sri Harimandir Sahib. She mobilized lacs of devotees and collected their offerings from door to door in the villages for the Langar of Golden Temple and conducted the visit of thousands of poor persons to Darbar Sahib fulfilling their life time desire. She breathed her last in PGI today at 2PM.

Canara HSBC OBC launches Life Insurance Simulator

CHANDIGARH : Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company Limited today announced the launch of Life Insurance Simulator (LIS), aimed to make the customer aware of importance of financial planning.
LIS is an interactive financial need assessment software that takes the customer through a series of simple steps to assess the amount he requires for each of his needs and if his current savings and investments are adequate to fulfil them. LIS is available in English, Hindi, Punjabi and Kannada.
LIS has been designed with an objective to educate the customers about the importance of financial planning, the company's Senior VP (Products and Marketing) Rishi Mathur told reporters here today. It will also help them in making their financial planning more effective as it focuses on four essential life stages family protection, child's future requirements, wealth creation and retirement, he said.
Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company Limited was launched in June, 2008 and is jointly owned by Canara Bank (holding 51%), Oriental Bank of Commerce (23%) and HSBC Insurance (Asia Pacific) Holdings Limited (26%).The company has a capital base of Rs825 crore with assets under management of Rs2,820 crore.

All 5 BJP ministers in Punjab resign

CHANDIGARH : After a corruption scandal, all five BJP ministers in the Punjab govt have resigned on the orders of the party's senior-most leaders including LK Advani and Nitin Gadkari.The BJP wants to prove it's serious about a zero-tolerance policy for corruption especially since it's been taking on the UPA govt at the Centre for permitting scams within its ranks. The CBI recently arrested a MLA from the party Raj Khurana who was chief parliamentary secretary for allegedly demanding a bribe of 1.5 crores to help resolve a land dispute. Two ministers Swarn Ram and Manranjan Kalia were interrogated by the CBI for possible links to the bribe.The BJP has 19 MLAs in Punjab. All the five BJP ministers and two chief parliamentary secretaries resgined on Thursday evening in a fall out of the corruption case registered by the CBI against one BJP MLA, last week. senior BJP leader and incharge of Punjab affairs, Shanta Kumar handed over the resignations to the CM, P S Badal.

Remand extended of Punjab BJP legislator

CHANDIGARH : The special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court here today extended the remand of Punjab’s chief parliamentary secretary (CPS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Raj Khurana and a former state employee till Monday.
Khurana and Devinder Singh Bittu, who are accused in a Rs.1.5 crore graft case, were arrested by the CBI from the former’s residence in the high-security ministerial bungalow complex in Sector 39 here Thursday. The CBI had demanded a 12-day remand but Special Court Judge Ritu Tagore extended the remand by only three days. Both will be presented before the court Tuesday.
CBI counsel P.C. Dogra told the court that the agency has summoned Punjab’s Industries and Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia and Technical Education and Industrial Training Minister Swarna Ram for questioning Monday. We have recovered a file from the possession of Devinder Singh, which has a noting from minister Swarna Ram dated April 7, 2011. Our case is very strong and we are trying to establish the link between Khurana and other two ministers,’ Dogra later told reporters.
The Punjab Automobile Mechanics Association had complained to the CBI that Bittu, a former official of the Registrar of Firms and Societies department, had asked for a bribe of Rs.1.5 crore for settling a case pending against them. Bittu had allegedly told the association that he would get the work done through Khurana, who had already talked to Punjab ministers regarding the matter. According to the complaint, he threatened that in case the bribe was not paid, the control of the association would be taken over by the government and a criminal case registered against its office-bearers.
Dogra said that the ex-official, who left the government job around five months back, follows a lavish lifestyle and is fond of expensive cars. An expensive Porsche car, owned by Bittu, was found from Khurana’s house and nearly Rs.15 lakh in cash and cheques were found from the vehicle, the counsel said.