General Awareness

GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND SCHEMES - January 2019

Jan 2019

Apr 20, 2019

Kerala tops in women on Haj without males

A growing number of Muslim women from Kerala are taking advantage of the change in government rules that allow women above 45 years of age to travel in groups for Haj without being accompanied by a male companion (mehram).
Freshly released government data show 1,124 of the 1,340 women who undertook the pilgrimage without a male companion last year were from Kerala.
This year too, 2,011 of the 2,340 Muslim women who will be travelling to Saudi Arabia happen to be from the southern state.
A year after the rules were eased, the pilgrimage in 2019 is also likely to see the highest number of Indians, with Saudi Arabia issuing a formal order to enhance India's quota from 1.75 lakh to 2 lakh.
It follows a meeting in February attended by the PM, Sushma Swaraj, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
This is the third hike in consecutive years.

Apr 12, 2019

Bengal Government Schemes Win UN Awards

Two schemes of the West Bengal government for skill development and distribution of bicycles to students have won the prestigious World Summit on the Information Society awards of the United Nations.
The two schemes are 'Utkarsh Bangla' and 'Sabooj Sathi'.
The "Utkarsh Bangla" project aims at creating a pool of skilled candidates who are industry ready, while under the "Sabooj Sathi" scheme, bicycles are distributed to students between class IX and XII studying in government run and government aided schools and madrasas of the state.

Mar 10, 2019

Ordinance to Hike OBC Quota

Madhya Pradesh governor Anandiben Patel has signed on ordinance to increase the quota for other backward classes (OBCs) in government jobs and university admission from 14% to 27%.
The move has come with the possibility of the model code of conduct for the Lok Sabha polls set to being announced soon.
Chief Minister Kamal Nath had announced an increase in the OBC quota.
He had also announced 10% reservation in government jobs and college admissions to the economically weaker sections in the general category.

Mar 09, 2019

New Foreign Investment Law

China's Parliament took up a draft foreign investment law that could help smooth out trade talks with the U.S. as the world's top two economies angle towards a deal.
The legislation was presented at a session of the National People's Congress in Beijing and is expected to be approved on March 15, the last day of the annual parliamentary meeting.
The Bill will ban the illegal transfer of technology and "illegal government interference" in foreign businesses, a key point in Washington's contention that Beijing steals American technology.
The law aims to assuage concerns about China's business environment for foreign firms, but earlier versions of the draft drew criticism from some business groups.

Mar 08, 2019

Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme

The Cabinet approved the grant of Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) facilities to Second World War veterans, Emergency Commissioned Officers, Short Service Commissioned Officers and premature retirees. This would benefit over 43,000 individuals who were so far not covered under the ECHS.
The facility allows them to get cashless medical treatment through a network of over 425 ECHS polyclinics, 2,500 empanelled private hospitals and all government hospitals throughout the country, subject to certain conditions.
Launched by the NDA government in April 2003, the facility provides quality medicare to 54 lakh ex-servicemen pensioners, their dependants and a few other categories.

Scheme to Rebate Embedded Taxes

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved a scheme to rebate State and Central Embedded Taxes for apparels and made-ups exports.
This will enable the Government to take various measures for making exports of apparels and made-ups zero-rated. The government has a Rebate of State Levies (ROSL) for these two segments. However, some taxes were not covered under the scheme. The Cabinet decision is to rebate all embedded taxes of the Central and State Governments.
The new scheme would come into effect when the rates are notified. It is applicable for apparel and made-ups now and will be extended to yarn in the future.

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