Notifications & Circulars

Press Information Bureau

09.08.2017

Education

NCERT launches its Web Portal for supply of NCERT Textbooks

MANU/PIBU/1031/2017

Shri Upendra Kushwaha, Minister of State, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India has launched a NCERT's Web portal for supply of textbooks to schools and individuals in New Delhi today. The portal will ensure better distribution of textbooks across the country and will also address the apprehensions, on the part of schools and parents, regarding unavailability of NCERT textbooks. The schools will be able to log on to the portal, by entering their respective Boards' affiliation numbers and other details, till 8th September 2017 for placing their orders for the session 2018-19. The Web Portal can be accessed at www.ncertbooks.ncert.gov.in.

At the time of placing the orders, the schools are not required to make the payment; the payment can be made just before the supply. The schools will also have the option of directly procuring textbooks either from their nearest NCERT vendors or from the Regional Production-cum-Distribution Centres (RPDCs) of the NCERT's located at Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Guwahati, and Bengaluru.

Very soon the portal will also be opened to the individual buyers. They can place their orders by login in onto the portal, and books will be delivered at their doorsteps with nominal postal charges. The portal will also enable the buyers to track the status of their respective orders placed with NCERT. The textbooks will also continue to be sold at the Retail Sales Counters located at the NCERT's headquarters in Delhi; at its Regional Institutes of Education (RIEs) Ajmer, Bhopal Bhubaneswar, Shillong, and Mysuru; and at its Regional Production-cum-Distribution Centres (RPDCs) based in Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Guwahati and Bengaluru.

The NCERT textbooks can also be downloaded, free of cost, from the NCERT's website www.ncert.nic.in; one can access the digital versions of NCERT's textbook by logging onto 'epathshala' or through mobile applications. NCERT also gives copyrights to different States/Union Territories for printing of its textbooks. Fifteen States and UTs have been given copyright for the session 2017-18.

Shri Anil Swarup, Secretary, School Education & Literacy, Smt. Rina Ray, Special Secretary School Education & Literacy, Shri R. K. Chaturvedi, Chairman CBSE, Dr. Hrushikesh Senapaty, Director, CBSE were also present on the occasion.

Tags : Web portal Launch Textbooks NCERT

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Press Information Bureau

09.08.2017

Labour and Industrial

Guidelines for revised integrated housing scheme for workers

MANU/PIBU/1032/2017

Ministry of Labour & Employment has released guidelines for the Revised Integrated Housing Scheme (RIHS), 2016 for workers. The scheme provides housing subsidy of Rs. 1,50,000/- per worker for construction of house to be paid in three installments directly into the bank account of the beneficiaries. The workers engaged in Beedi/Iron Ore Mines, Manganese Ore & Chrome Ore Mines (IOMC)/Limestone Ore Mines, Dolomite Ore Mines (LSDM) /Mica Mines and Cine Industries, registered with the Labour Welfare Organisation (LWO). Ministry provides housing subsidy to the workers for construction of houses. The fund allocated for this purpose in the Financial Year 2017-18 is Rs. 60,95,54,000/- and during current year 8000 houses are proposed to be sanctioned. The construction of houses in next financial year depends upon the allocation of budget.

Tags : Scheme Housing Guidelines

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Securities and Exchange Board of India

09.08.2017

Capital Market

Online Registration Mechanism for Custodian of Securities

MANU/SDEP/0007/2017

1. Hon'ble Minister of Finance, Government of India, in his speech while presenting the Budget for FY 2017-18 on February 01, 2017, announced that the process of registration of financial market intermediaries will be made fully online by SEBI.

2. It has now been decided to operationalize SEBI Intermediary Portal (https://siportal.sebi.gov.in) for the applicants to submit the applications for registration as a Custodian of Securities under the provisions of SEBI (Custodian of Securities) Regulations, 1996 (hereinafter referred to as 'Custodian Regulations') online. Link for SEBI Intermediary Portal is also available on SEBI website.

3. All applicants desirous of seeking registration as a Custodian of Securities are now required to submit their applications online only, through SEBI Intermediary Portal at https://siportal.sebi.gov.in. The Custodian of Securities seeking approval as Designated Depository Participant (DDP) in terms of Regulation 11 of SEBI (FPI) Regulations, 2014 shall also apply through this portal. The aforesaid online registration system for Custodians of Securities and approval as DDP has been made operational with immediate effect.

4. In case of any queries and clarifications with regard to the SEBI Intermediary Portal, intermediaries may contact SEBI portal helpline on 022-26449364 or may write at portalhelp@sebi.gov.in.

5. This circular is issued in exercise of powers conferred under Section 11(1) of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 to protect the interests of investors in securities and to promote the development of, and to regulate the securities market.

Tags : Registration Online Custodian Securities

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Press Information Bureau

09.08.2017

Labour and Industrial

Improving working conditions of labourers through reform in Labour Laws

MANU/PIBU/1029/2017

The Ministry of Labour and Employment has taken a number of legislative initiatives in labour laws during the last 3 years. Such initiatives include:

• Amendment to the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 by which eligibility limit for payment of bonus enhanced from Rs. 10,000/- to Rs. 21,000/- per month and the Calculation Ceiling from Rs. 3,500/- to Rs. 7,000/- or the minimum wages.

• Payment of Wages (Amendment) Act, 2017 enabling payment of Wages to employees by Cash or Cheque or crediting it to their bank account.

• Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016 provides for complete ban on employment of children below 14 years in any occupation or process.

• Maternity Benefit Amendment Act, 2017, increases the paid maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks.

• The Employee Compensation (Amendment) Act, seeks to rationalize penalties and strengthen the rights of the workers under the Act.

• Ministry has notified "Ease of Compliance to maintain Registers under various Labour Laws Rules, 2017" on 21st February 2017 which has in effect replaced the 56 Registers/Forms under 9 Central Labour Laws and Rules made there under in to 5 common Registers/Forms. This will save efforts, costs and lessen the compliance burden by various establishments.

• A Model Shops and Establishments (RE&CS) Bill, 2016 has been circulated to all States/UTs for adoption with appropriate modification. The said Bill inter alia provides for freedom to operate an Establishment for 365 days in a year without any restriction on opening/closing time and enables employment of women during night shifts if adequate safety provisions exist.

• A category i.e. Fixed Term Employment has been introduced under Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 to impart flexibility to an establishment to employ people in case of Apparel Manufacturing Sector to meet the fluctuating demands of the sector due to its seasonal nature.

These legislative initiatives are expected to not only facilitate effective enforcement but also enhance wage security, job security, social security and safety, health and working conditions for workers.

Tags : Labourers Working condition Improvement

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Press Information Bureau

08.08.2017

Environment

"Seventeen States/UTS Have Imposed Complete Ban on Use of Polythene Bags": Minister

MANU/PIBU/1019/2017

"As per the provisions of Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, the generators of waste have been mandated to take steps to minimize generation of plastic waste, not to litter the plastic waste, ensure segregated storage of waste at source and handover segregated waste to local bodies or agencies authorised by the local bodies. The Rules also mandate the responsibilities of local bodies, gram panchayats, waste generators, retailers and street vendors to manage the plastic waste. The rules mandate the producers, importers and brand owners to work out modalities for waste collection system based on Extended Producer Responsibility.

In the country, 17 States / Union Territories have imposed complete ban on manufacture, stock, sale and use of plastic carrybags, through directions/notifications and executive orders. Further, use of plastic carry bags has been partially banned in some pilgrimage centres, tourist and historical places located in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

The Government has notified Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, which, inter-alia, regulate manufacture, sale, distribution and use of plastic carry bags including carry bags of compostable plastic, and plastic sheets for packaging or wrapping applications. The use of carry bags made from conventional plastic with thickness less than 50 micron is prohibited. The use of plastic for packaging gutkha, tobacco and pan masala is also prohibited. There is no proposal to impose ban on the use of polythene bags completely throughout the country".

Tags : Ban Polythene Bags Use

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Reserve Bank of India

08.08.2017

Banking

Sovereign Gold Bond-Dematerialisation

MANU/RPRL/0126/2017

The Reserve Bank of India, in consultation with the Government of India, has issued nine tranches of Sovereign Gold Bonds for a total value of Rs. 6030 crore till date. Investors in these bonds have been provided with the option of holding them in physical or dematerialized form.

The requests for dematerialization have largely been processed successfully. A set of records, however, could not be processed for various reasons such as mismatches in names and PAN numbers, inactive or closed demat accounts, besides other reasons. A list of such unsuccessful demat requests is now placed on https://sovereigngoldbonds.rbi.org.in. The information given therein is tranche wise and include names of the Receiving Offices, Investor IDs and reasons for non-dematerialization of the bond. Investors can access this data to ascertain whether their investor IDs figure in the list. All Receiving Offices will also need to access this information for their customers and make appropriate corrections in consultation with their clients. The necessary modules in the e-Kuber application of the Reserve Bank of India has been made available for this purpose. May we add that notwithstanding the pending status, the Sovereign Gold Bonds will continue to be held in RBI books and would be serviced regularly.

Tags : Dematerialisation Gold bonds Issuance

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Press Information Bureau

08.08.2017

Civil

E-Shakti initiative of NABARD

MANU/PIBU/1018/2017

E-Shakti is a pilot project of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) for digitisation of Self Help Groups (SHGs). It was initiated to address certain concerns like improving the quality of book keeping of SHGs and to enable banks to take informed credit decisions about the group through a Management Information System (MIS). The project covers 25 districts and 1,30,176 SHGs have been digitised as on 31st March, 2017. As per information compiled by NABARD, about 69,696 SHGs of the SHGs which have been digitised are credit linked as on 31st July, 2017. No SHG has been de-recognised on account of, or, after digitisation. The digitisation project does not impact the profit/ loss position of the SHGs.

Tags : E-Shakti initiative digitisation

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