Daily News Notes

· With a view to providing social security to unorganised workers, including landless agricultural labourers, the Government has enacted the Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008. The Act provides for constitution of National Social Security Board to recommend social security schemes viz. life and disability cover, health maternity benefits, old age protection and any other benefit as may be determined by the Government for unorganized. workers. The Government has taken the following initiatives for them; (1).The “Aam Admi Bima Yojana” providing for death and disability cover to rural landless households between the age group of the 18 to 59 years, with effect from 02.10.2007; (2).The Rashtriya Bima Yojana for BPL families (a unit of five) in unorganized sector on 01.10.2007. The scheme providing for smart card based cashless health insurance cover of Rs. 30,000/- per family per annum on a family floater basis became operational from 01.04.2008; (3).Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme provides for old age pension of Rs. 200/- per month to persons above the age of 60 years and for the persons above the age of 80 years the amount of pension has been raised to Rs. 500/- per month.
· Food inflation, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index, remained in the negative zone for the fourth week in a row on account of cheaper vegetables. However, other food products, led by protein-based items, became more expensive on an annual basis.
· The Prime Minister has set up an expert committee to examine issues related to sugar, including deregulation. The government is planning to remove restrictions on the sugar industry to boost its competitiveness.
· In Madhya Pradesh, a special train the Red Ribbon Express is spreading awareness on HIV, AIDS and National Rural Health Mission in different parts of the state. The Red Ribbon Express is stationed in Sagar today. This train provides detailed information regarding HIV, AIDS and National Rural Health Mission through Photo Exhibition and Audi-Visual medium.
· Taking another step towards combating black money, India has signed a multi-lateral agreement with economic powers like France and Germany (and other 31 nations previously) to check both tax evasion and avoidance, and to promote international co-operation while respecting the rights of taxpayers. The agreement has been signed under the aegis of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), at its headquarters in Paris. By joining the agreement, India and other 31 signatories sent a strong signal that these countries are acting together to ensure that individuals and multinational enterprises pay the right amount of tax, at the right time and in the right place.
· The UN Security Council is discussing the crisis in Syria. The unexpected meeting was announced by France's UN mission on its Twitter account after representatives of the council's five permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- held talks yesterday on the new resolution. The resolution, which has been drawn up by Britain, France, Germany and a number of Arab nations, giving strong backing to the Arab League's initiative to end the Syria crisis. The Arab League has called on President Bashar al-Assad to hand over powers to a deputy so that elections can be held in Syria
· The United States and South Korea said that they would start two major annual joint military exercises. First one would start from today and the other one which is a joint air, ground and naval field training exercise known as Foal Eagle will be held from the 1st of March to 30th April. North Korea has denounced the exercises as war mongering and terms them a rehearsal for invasion.
· Italy has agreed to a strategic partnership aimed at supporting Afghanistan after combat forces withdraw from the country in 2014 as the two leaders signed the long-term agreement which calls for Italy to assist Afghanistan in political, security, economic and counter-narcotics issues after 2014.
· Twitter has announced that it can now selectively censor tweets on a country-by-country basis, a move which may augur well for India which urged social media websites to remove offensive contents. The proposed move came amid a legal clash between India and global Internet giants, including Google, Yahoo, Twitter and Facebook, over pre-screening user contents and removal of offensive materials from their websites.