Quicktakes

Cong list for UP

NEW DELHI: Still hopeful of a nod from Sonia Gandhi, the Congress screening committee for Uttar Pradesh today quot;kept asidequot; Amethi, Rae Bareli and Sultanpur even as it cleared candidates for at least 50 other constituencies in the State.

AP farmers

HYDERABAD: In a bid to tackle the grave crisis faced by the farming community in Andhra Pradesh, where 52 farmers committed suicide during the last fortnight due to indebtedness, nationalised banks today agreed to reschedule crop loans, consider requests for reduction of interestrates and provide fresh loans.

Petro-bonds

NEW DELHI: The Cabinet today approved the issue of petro-bonds to meet the Rs 18,200 crore oil pool deficit and the Rs 2,700 crore recapitalisation of public sector banks. This follows the Cabinet clearance for promulgation of the second ordinance to raise the corpus of the Contingency Fund.