General Awareness

GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND SCHEMES - January 2019

Jan 2019

Sep 24, 2020

Approval to Labour Reform Bills by Parliament to Help Create Job Opportunities

According to industry body CII, the passage of three key labour reform bills in Parliament would facilitate expansion of establishments to create employment opportunities and help India become a preferred investment destination. Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed by voice vote the three labour codes on industrial relations, social security and occupational safety.
The move truly represents the big bang structural reforms which will go a long way towards improving the climate for both workers and industry.
The reforms, it said, promise to reset the entire regulatory framework to benefit millions of workers and provide enterprises with flexibility, transparency and clarity.

Government Proposes to Formulate Retail Trade Policy: Piyush Goyal

The government has proposed to formulate a National Retail Trade Policy and stakeholder consultations are being held for the same, Parliament was informed. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that the government has set up a National Traders' Welfare Board with the objectives of welfare of traders and their employees, simplification of the Acts and rules applicable to traders, reduction of compliance burden and improvement in acces to fubds.
he said the government is in the process of finalising a National Logistics Policy which will help bring down logistics cost significantly.
He also said 24 sub-sectors (such as agro-food processing, steel, agro chemicals, electronics products, furniture, leather, auto parts and textiles) in manufacturing have been identified in consultation with industry based on export potential, import substitution and employment generation capacity, where attention would be given to make India a self-reliant country and a global supplier.

Sep 23, 2020

Lok Sabha Passes Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill, 2020

The Lok Sabha passed a bill under which Kashmiri, Dogri and Hindi, apart from the existing Urdu and English, will be the official languages in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Introducing the Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill, 2020, Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy said that it was a demand of the people of Jammu and Kashmir that the language they speak should be the official language.
The minister pointed out that 53.26 per cent of the population of Jammu and Kashmir speaks Kashmiri language.
Reddy said that 26.64 per cent of the population of the UT speaks Dogri while Urdu, which is currently its official language, is spoken only by 0.16 per cent population there. Still for the last 70 years, Urdu continues to be the official language of Jammu and Kashmir, he said, adding that 2.36 per cent population in the UT speaks Hindi.

Parliament Passes Bilateral Netting of Qualified Financial Contracts Bill

The parliament passed a Bill that seeks to provide a legal framework for bilateral netting of qualified financial contracts.
Lok Sabha had passed the bill earlier.
The legislation allows for enforcement of netting for qualified financial contracts.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman termed the Bill as critical for financial stability in the country, and said that it brings in a firm legal basis for bilateral netting for two counter parties.
Bilateral contracts constitute 40 per cent of total financial contracts while multilateral contracts constitute 60 per cent.

Lok Sabha Clears 3 Labour Codes, Rajya Sabha 7 Bills

The Lok Sabha passed three labour codes to amalgamate 29 central laws into one to widen social security net for workers and make it easy for companies to do business.
Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar said that the new framework would prove a game-changer for workers' welfare. The government has drafted four labour codes of which one — Code on Wages — has already become a law. There were 44 central labour laws in all, of which the government has repealed some.
The codes propose minimum wages, social security and pay parity. A concern around the codes is these allow employers of units with less than 300 workers to terminate employment without prior notice. The threshold limit earlier was 100 workers.
The RS, meanwhile, passed seven key Bills, including one that removes cereals, pulses and onion from the essential commodities' list.

Sep 22, 2020

Parliament Nod to Two Bills

The parliament approved two bills replacing ordinances related to the Central Council of Homoeopathy and the Indian Medicine Central Council. The Homoeopathy Central Council (Amendment) Bill, 2020 seeks to further extend the time to form the Central Council of Homeopathy by a year, after exhausting two years for the purpose.
The Indian Medicine Central Council (Amendment) Bill, 2020 seeks a year's time to reconstitute the central council and provides for a board of directors to exercise its powers in the interim period.
Lok Sabha passed the two bills by voice vote. Rajya Sabha had passed the two measures earlier this month.
The Homoeopathy Central Council (Amendment) Bill seeks to amend the Homoeopathy Central Council Act, 1973 and replaces the Homoeopathy Central Council (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020, promulgated on April 24.
The 1973 Act was amended in 2018 to provide for the supersession of the Central Council of Homoeopathy. The council was required to be reconstituted within a year from the date of its supersession. This provision was amended in 2019 to require the reconstitution of the council in two years.
The bill seeks to amend the Act to increase the period for the supersession of the council from two to three years.

Foreign Contribution Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2020 Introduced in Lok Sabha

Foreign Contribution Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2020 was introduced in Lok Sabha to amend the FCRA Act, 2010.
The bill proposes to include those public corporations owned and controlled by the Government of India under the list of entities that are not eligible to receive foreign funding.
It proposes to include public servants under the list.
The bill makes Aadhar mandatory for all the non-government organisations and other organisations that seeks foreign contributions.
It also proposes to limit the foreign funds received under the act from 50% to 20%.
Government would now be empowered to question a violator using the funds received from a foreign organisation.
As per the new provisions, Persons who have been granted certificate for the foreign funding will receive funding only through accounts that are designated as FCRA account.
The bill is aimed at amending the provisions of the FCRA Act to streamline the funding procedure.
The bill aims to increase transparency and accountability.
It also aims to strengthen the compliance mechanism in the utilisation of foreign contribution.

Sep 21, 2020

Labour Sector Reforms: Three Bills Introduced in Lok Sabha

The government introduced three Bills in the Lok Sabha to bring reforms in the labour sector. The bill includes laws on social security, occupational safety and health and industrial relations. These bills are the part of government's labour reform agenda under which, government plans to amalgamated all the existing labour laws into four labour codes that are- on wages, industrial relations, social security and safety, health and working conditions. This is being done to improve ease of compliance and bring uniformity in labour laws.
The Industrial Relations Code, 2020
The bill subsumes- the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947; the Trade Unions Act, 1926; and the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946.
It recognises the trade unions.
The code contains provision for "notice periods" for strikes and lock-outs, standing orders, and resolution for industrial disputes.
The bill also include the mandatory provision for companies, having 300 or more workers, to prepare orders regarding the conditions of service, including shift timings and termination of employment.
The code is aimed at promoting the ease of doing business and increasing investment by encouraging the labour flexibility.
The Social Security Code Bill
The Bill replaces nine social security laws.
It subsumes the Employees' Provident Fund Act, 1952, the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, and the Unorganised Workers' Social Security Act, 2008.
The bill seeks to bring unorganised sector, gig workers and platform workers under the umbrella of social security schemes by providing them life and disability insurance, health benefits, maternity benefits, provident funds and skill upgradation.
The Occupational Safety Code
It replaces 13 labour laws on safety, health and working conditions.
The laws include: Factories Act, 1948; Mines Act, 1952; Dock Workers Act, 1986; Contract Labour Act, 1970; and Inter-State Migrant Workers Act, 1979.
The bill seeks to regulate health and safety conditions of workers in establishments with 10 or more workers.

Lok Sabha Passes Taxation Bill

Lok Sabha passed a Taxation Bill that seeks to provide various reliefs in terms of compliance requirements for taxpayers amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The reliefs include extending deadlines for filing returns and for linking PAN and Aadhaar.
The Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Bill, 2020, will replace the Taxation and other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020, promulgated in March.
Among others, the Bill seeks to give tax exemption for contributions made to PM-CARES Fund, which was set up in March in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Further, the Bill seeks to make faceless assessment applicable to at least eight processes under the I-T Act, including for collection and recovery of tax and gathering of information.

Sep 19, 2020

J-K LG Launches NGDRS For Online Registration

Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor (LG) Manoj Sinha launched the National Generic Document Registration System (NGDRS), marking a major shift from the existing manual registration system to online registration for transactions in sale or purchase of land.
The NGDRS represents a major shift from the existing manual registration system to online registration of all transactions in sale-purchase/transfer of land and the stamp papers have been replaced by e-stamps which have been incorporated in coordination with Stockholding Corporation of India.
Today's launch marks another step of the government towards the establishment of an accountable and transparent governing system where the welfare of common citizen is at the core.

Rupani Announces Subsidy Schemes for E-scooters, Rickshaws

In order to encourage the use of electric vehicles to prevent air pollution, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani announced subsidy schemes for electric two-wheelers and e-rickshaws, during a virtual programme on climate change to commemorate the founding day of the state climate change department.
The CM announced the subsidy as a "Panchsheel gift" of five development schemes in Gujarat to celebrate the 70th birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Announcing a support plan for the use of a battery-powered two-wheelers and three-wheelers, the CM declared that students will get a subsidy of Rs 12,000 each to buy e-scooters.
Under this scheme, the government will provide assistance to students studying from Class 9 to college to purchase battery-powered two-wheelers. The target is to provide this assistance to 10,000 such vehicles.

Jal Shakti Ministry Ropes in Ministry of Electronics for 'Jal Jeevan Mission'

The Union Jal Shakti Ministry has roped in Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to bolster the implementation of its Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM).
This is to develop and inject technological intervention for monitoring the implementation and sustenance of the JJM.
The JJM aims to provide piped water connection to every rural household by 2024.
The homing in on technological solutions is to deal with future challenges relating to supplies in the piped water connections to the households, and functional aspect of the infrastructure (the network of pipes) laid down under the JJM.
To this effect, the National Jal Jeevan Mission of the Jal Shakti Ministry and MeitY has launched, "ICT Grand Challenge".

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