From the Newsroom: SBI reports 80% surge in standalone net profit

In your evening news brief, SBI reports 80 per cent surge in standalone net profit; Sunderlal Bahuguna succumbs to Covid-19 and Goa government to challenge in the high court Tarun Tejpal's acquittal in a 2013 rape case.

Hi, this is Ahmed Shariff and you are listening to, From The Newsroom — your daily evening news catch up show from Deccan Herald.

Here is the top news of May 21, 2021:

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday said the state government will challenge in the high court journalist Tarun Tejpal's acquittal in a 2013 rape case by a district court. A sessions court at Mapusa on Friday acquitted Tejpal of sexually assaulting his former female colleague in an elevator of a five star resort in Goa.

Talking to reporters, Sawant said, “We will not tolerate any injustice to be meted out to the women in Goa. We will challenge the district court's order before the high court soon in this case."

The country's largest lender SBI on Friday reported an 80 per cent surge in standalone net profit at Rs 6.450.75 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2021, aided by decline in bad loans.

State Bank of India (SBI) had registered a profit of Rs 3,580.81 crore during January-March period of 2019-20, the lender said in a regulatory filing. Total income of the bank during the March quarter of the last financial year rose to Rs 81,326.96 crore, from Rs 76,027.51 crore in the same period of 2019-20.

Sunderlal Bahuguna, veteran environmentalist and pioneer of the Chipko movement, breathed his last on Friday at the AIIMS in Rishikesh after battling Covid-19.

He was 94. Bahuguna, who led protests against the felling of trees in the Garhwal Himalayas and opposed the construction of the Tehri Dam, was admitted to AIIMS in Rishikesh on May 8 for treatment of Covid-19. His condition deteriorated on Thursday night and he succumbed to the deadly virus at 12:05 pm on Friday.

President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh among others condoled the death of Bahuguna.

Source: DHNS/ PTI