Minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar said that :
- The entire 12% contribution to the EPF for new employees in the informal sector will be given by the government.
- The move will benefit 1 crore employees.
- It will cost the exchequer around Rs.6,500 crore to Rs.10,000 crore.
Jitendra Singh, who is the Minister of State for the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region said an important decision to do with the North-East was taken by the cabinet.
The focus on the North-East was showing transformation results.
“The decision was that so far the 90:10 funding programme for the North-East and hill states has now been made 100% funding by the Centre.”
The ongoing projects will be as per the older formula, and the new projects will be completely funded by the Centre.
A North-East Road Development Scheme for the ‘orphan’ roads announced.
The 100% funding will have a greater focus on certain sectors such as bamboo, regional tourism, higher education.
Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar revealed that two important decision regarding education.
“The issue is that in public institutions, fee is less or free. But in private intitutions, the fees is very high. So, the decision is that Rs.6,600 crore has been set aside for the interest on education loans. This was started in 2009, but between 2009-14, only Rs.800 crore was spent a year. From 2014, it became Rs.1,800 crore a year.
From 2017-20, the sum will be Rs.2,200 crore a year. This will benefit 10 lakh students over three years for those students whose family incomes are less than Rs.4.5 lakh a year. The scheme was reviewed by the Ministry with inputs from IIM Bangalore.
It was decided to merge the three existing schemes on improving public education - Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE).
“Instead of blackboard, there will be a digital board so that quality education can be provided. We have created a committee for this, which will give their report in a month.
From next year, textbooks published by the NCERT will have QR codes through which additional content can be shown on the laptops.
The Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya is being extended from 8th to 12th for Beti padhao, beti bachao.
Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that:
An MoU was signed with Zambia whereby India would become a centre for legal training for Zambian nationals.
“First, European countries were centres of training, now India is becoming the centre for developing countries.”
Permanent Indus Commission meet begins in Delhi
Sources in the Ministry of External Affairs sources said, “According to the treaty provisions, the 114th meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) will take place in India on March 29-30, 2018 in New Delhi to hold technical deliberations on various issues.”
India’s Indus water commissioner P.K. Saxena, technical experts and a representative of the Ministry of External Affairs are meeting a six-member delegation from Pakistan, led by Syed Muhammad Mehar Ali Shah.
The last PIC meeting was held in Islamabad in March 2017, a significant move at the time as it came after the “surgical strikes” by India across the Line of Control, and the government’s announcement that it would reconsider its position on the 1960 treaty with Pakistan after terrorist attacks in Uri. While the government kept its treaty commitments to meet, it has been exploring ways to utilise its share of the Indus waters more efficiently and to the maximum permissible.
Minister for Water resources Nitin Gadkari announced that three dams would be built in Uttarakhand to further that effort. “Water from our [share of] rivers was going into Pakistan. We are making detailed project reports to stop that from happening and water will be given to Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi and Haryana.
NOTE:-The last such meeting was held in Islamabad in March 2017, a significant move at the time as it came after the “surgical strikes” by India across LoC
The 37th Indian scientific expedition to Antarctica
The 37th Indian scientific expedition to Antarctica
The nodal agency for the annual expedition:- The National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research(NCAOR),GOA
Ministry:- Ministry of Earth Sciences
Subhajit Sen,an IIT bhubaneshwar student died in a Convoy operation of this expedition.
Headquarter:- Ghaziabad
Parent Company:-Cambridge Analytica,a British political consulgting firm which combines data mining, data brokerage, and data analysis with strategic communication for the electoral process. It was started in 2013 as an offshoot of the SCL Group.
Ministry:- Ministry of Earth Sciences
Subhajit Sen,an IIT bhubaneshwar student died in a Convoy operation of this expedition.
STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS LABORATORY (SCL)
Parent Company:-Cambridge Analytica,a British political consulgting firm which combines data mining, data brokerage, and data analysis with strategic communication for the electoral process. It was started in 2013 as an offshoot of the SCL Group.
