Tamil Nadu Govt signed MoU with IPPB for pensioner’s digital life certificate
The Tamil Nadu government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) for obtaining life certificate from pensioners through doorstep services of the Postal Department. IPPB would transfer it to the doorstep services at a cost of Rs 70 per digital life certificate. Almost most than 7.15 lakh State government pensioners/ family pensioners submit their life certificate during July, August and September every year.
Key points:
- Recently, the State government issued orders for five modes of annual mustering of pensioners during July to September this year, including the doorstep services of the IPPB, for obtaining digital life certificate through Jeevan Pramaan Portal to avoid hardship of coming in person for aged pensioners/family pensioners.
- As of now, mustering can be done by pensioners/family pensioners by exercising any one of three options—direct mustering (physical appearance); submission of life certificate through post; and digital life certificate (DLC) through Jeevan Pramaan Portal by using biometric device. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, exemption from annual mustering was granted during the last two years.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- India Post Payments Bank CEO: J. Venkatramu;
- India Post Payments Bank Headquarters location: New Delhi;
- India Post Payments Bank Founded: 1 September 2018.
Meghalaya Wins Best Project Award at UN World Summit
The Meghalaya government key initiative of e-proposal system, part of Meghalaya Enterprise Architect has won a coveted UN Award- World Summit on the Information Society Forum (WSIS) prize at Geneva in Switzerland. Secretary General of ITU, Houlin Zhao presented the winner award to Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma in the WSIS Forum Prizes 2022, held at Geneva, Switzerland. Post this there was voting to select the best 90 projects which were invited in Geneva, Switzerland for the final award.
Meghalaya contested with projects from Australia, China, Argentina and Tanzania. Meghalaya was declared as the best project in the category and MeghEA is the only project from India to win the Winner Award this year.
About the MeghEA project:
MeghEA project is being implemented by Planning Department, Government of Meghalaya. The project has several components such as Government to Citizen or Business services, Government to Employee services and Government to Government services.E-Proposal system, part of the Government-to-Government component, enables faster processing and tracking of schemes.
Important Takeaways For All Competitive Exams:
- Meghalaya Chief minister: Conrad Sangma;
- Meghalaya Capital: Shillong;
- Meghalaya Governor: Satya Pal Malik.
HDFC ties up with Accenture for digital transformation
NBFC giant, HDFC has announced the collaboration with global information technology services and consulting firm, Accenture to digitally transform its lending business. The tie-up will revamp HDFC’s customer experience and business processes to provide greater operational agility and efficiency, and drive business growth.
About the collaboration:
- The collaboration is aimed at making HDFC’s lending lifecycle paperless and nimble. HDFC highlighted that a key element of the program is a cloud-native lending platform with digital workflows for every step of the customer journey including application, loan processing, credit underwriting and decisions, disbursement, and loan servicing.
- It leverages a machine learning-based decision engine aimed at improving risk mitigation and driving agility by standardizing the credit underwriting process.
- Further, the platform includes a user-friendly mobile application and a web-based portal for customers. Developed using human-centric design principles, the intuitive mobile application and web portal will enable digital-native experiences and significantly reduce the time taken for customer onboarding.
- Also, the platform will offer customers real-time visibility into their home loan application status and other related service requests anytime, anywhere.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- HDFC Bank Ltd MD & CEO: Sashidhar Jagdishan;
- HDFC Bank Ltd Establishment: 1994;
- HDFC Bank Ltd Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra;
- HDFC Bank Ltd Tagline: We Understand Your World.
Rajasthan’s Special Health Care Abhiyan ‘Anchal’ launched for pregnant women
In Rajasthan, a Special Health Care Abhiyan ‘Anchal’ has been launched in the Karauli district for pregnant women. More than 13 thousand women have benefited from this Abhiyan. During the campaign, 13,144 pregnant women were tested for their hemoglobin levels, out of which 11,202 were found to be anemic. These women were advised to take the right medicine and necessary nutritious diet. They were also advised to keep themselves stress-free.
About the Anchal Campaign:
This unique campaign was started on the initiative of District Collector Ankit Kumar Singh to ensure all necessary medical aid to pregnant women at the pre and post-natal stage so that maternal and infant mortality rates could be reduced. Under this campaign, it is also ensured that the Auxiliary Nurse Midwife and ASHA workers in the district will keep in constant contact with the pregnant women of their respective areas and provide them with necessary counseling and treatment as and when required.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- Chief Minister of Rajasthan: Ashok Gehlot; Governor: Kalraj Mishra.
Govt ratifies 8.1 pc EPF interest rate for 2021-22
The government has approved 8.1 per cent rate of interest on employees’ provident fund (EPF) deposits for 2021-22, an over four-decade low for about five crore subscribers of retirement fund body Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). Earlier in March this year, EPFO had decided to lower the interest on provident fund deposits for 2021-22 to 8.1 per cent from 8.5 per cent provided in 2020-21.
Key points:
- The Ministry of Labour and Employment has conveyed approval of the central government to credit 8.1 per cent rate of interest for 2021-22 to each member of the EPF scheme.
- The labour ministry had sent the proposal to the Ministry of Finance for its concurrence.
- Now, after the ratification of the interest rate by the government, the EPFO would start crediting the fixed rate of interest for the fiscal into the EPF accounts. The 8.1 per cent EPF rate of interest is the lowest since 1977-78, when it stood at 8 per cent.
About EPFO:
The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation is the statutory body under the Government of India’s Ministry of Labour and Employment, which is responsible for regulation and management of provident funds in India. The EPFO administers the mandatory provident fund.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- EPFO Founded: 4 March 1952, New Delhi;
- EPFO Headquarters: New Delhi.
Union Minister Dr. Virendra Kumar launched the Scheme “SHRESHTA”
Union Minister of social Justice and empowerment Dr. Virendra Kumar has launched the Scheme “SHRESHTA”-Scheme for residential education for students in High school in Targeted Areas. The Scheme for Residential Education for Students in Targeted Areas (SHRESHTA) has been formulated with the objective to provide quality education and opportunities for even the poorest.
Objective of the SHRESHTA Scheme:
- Scheduled Caste students, as per the Constitutional mandate. The students from the Scheduled Caste communities, for long been subjects to inequality, were kept out of quality education and a situation that perpetuates the disadvantages carried forward for generations of lack of adequate education.
- The Governmental efforts to spread educational facilities without discrimination have worked well in achieving near universal access. However, the objective of providing access to quality education that provides a level playing field is still far from reality.
- Accordingly, the Department as a new initiative has introduced the scheme for providing quality education in top class private Residential Schools to the meritorious SC students who cannot afford the fee of such schools.
About the SHRESHTA Scheme:
- Scheme for Residential Education for Students in High Schools in Targeted Areas (SHRESHTA) provides for high quality education for meritorious but poor SC students in CBSE-affiliated reputed residential schools across the country.
- Approximately 3,000 seats are providedeach year for admission in class 9th and 11th and the entire cost of the school fee and residentialcharges are borne by the Department.
- The students, belonging to Scheduled Castes, studying in class 8th and 10th in the current academicyear are eligible for availing the benefits of scheme are selected through a transparent mechanism through a National Entrance Test for SHRESHTA (NETS), which is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admission in class 9th and 11th.
- Students belonging to marginalized income group within the SC community, whose parental annual income is upto Rs.2.5 Lakh are eligible. Successful candidates, after following the e-counselling process, are given admission in the school of their choice anywhere in the Country for their academic persuasion.
- The Department shall bear the total cost of the school fee and hostel charges till completion of their academic upto class 12th. There after the students of the scheme may avail benefits of other schemes of the Department fortheir higher education.
IAF heritage centre to come up in Chandigarh
A heritage centre to showcase the role of the Indian Air Force in various wars and its overall functioning will come up at Chandigarh. The ‘IAF Heritage Centre’ will be set up jointly by the force and the Chandigarh administration. An MoU between the Union Territory of Chandigarh and the IAF for setting up of the centre was inked. The ceremony was attended by Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit and Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari.
About the heritage centre:
This heritage centre will have artefact, simulators and interactive boards to highlight various facets of IAF. It will also showcase the vital role played by the service in various wars and assistance rendered for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. This joint project of Administration of UT Chandigarh and IAF is planned to be completed by October.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- Indian Airforce founded: 08th October 1932;
- Indian Airforce Headquarters: New Delhi;
- Indian Airforce Chief of Air Staff: Vivek Ram Chaudhari.
UN approves Turkey’s request to change name to Turkiye
The United Nations has changed the Republic of Turkey’s country name at the organisation from “Turkey” to “Türkiye”, following a request from Ankara for the change. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric had been received from the Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu addressed to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, requesting the use of “Türkiye” instead of “Turkey” for all affairs.
Turkey began the move to change its internationally recognised official name in English to Türkiye in December after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan released a memorandum and asked the public to use Türkiye to describe the country in every language. Türkiye is the best representation and expression of the Turkish people’s culture, civilization and values.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
Tata Projects wins bid to build UP’s Jewar Airport
Tata Projects will build the national capital region’s new airport at Jewar, after outbidding the Shapoorji Pallonji Group and Larsen & Toubro for the contract. While the deal size has not been disclosed, sources pegged it at over Rs 6,000 crore. Tata Projects, the infrastructure and construction arm of the Tata group, will construct the terminal, runway, airside infrastructure, roads, utilities, landside facilities and other ancillary buildings at the Noida International Airport.
About the contract:
- The new airport is expected to be functional by 2024.
- With the closure of the EPC contract, the first phase of the airport is on track to be delivered within three years of the commencement of the concession period.
- According to the contract terms for the Jewar airport, a fine of Rs 10 lakh per day will be levied on the developer of the upcoming Noida International Airport in case of a project delay.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- Tata Headquarters: Mumbai;
- Tata Founder: J. R. D. Tata;
- Tata Founded: 1945, Mumbai.
