Current Affair Quiz, 13 December 2018

On December 10, 2018, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced the rise in contribution of the government in National Pension Scheme (NPS) to 14 per cent from existing 10 per cent, burdening the government by Rs 2,840 crore for 2019-20. The change in contribution was recommended by Committee of Secretaries (CoS), thus resulting in a total corpus of 24% from the previous 20%.Out of the 24%, 14 per cent would be contributed by the government and the remaining 10 per cent by the employees. Furthermore, he also made entire withdrawal amount tax free at the time of retirement by enhancing the tax exemption limit for lump sum withdrawal on exit to 60%.At present, 40 per cent of the total accumulated corpus utilised for purchase of annuity is already tax exempted, and of 60 per cent of the accumulated corpus withdrawn by the NPS subscriber at the time of retirement, 40 per cent is tax exempt and balance 20 per cent is taxable. This would benefit 18 lakh employees.

On December 11, 2018, a 2-day Regional Conference on ‘Good Governance – Focus on Aspirational Districts’ concluded at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. It started on December 10, 2018 and was inaugurated by the Governor of Kerala Shri Justice (Retd.) P. Sathasivam. It was organized by: The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Government of India and Government of Kerala. This conference was aimed at providing a common platform for formulation and implementation of best practices in citizen centric governance.

On December 10, 2018, the Delhi government launched a 10-day special inspection drive named- “Operation Minimum Wage”, to check implementation of minimum wage rules it had set. The operation will continue till December 21, 2018. The violation would be checked as per the Minimum Wages Act, 2017 and as per the act, the labourers can lodge a complaint by calling 155214. As per the Act, the punishment for not paying minimum wages can be Rs. 50,000 fine or a jail term for three years or both.

On 11th December 2018, Arunachal Pradesh gets its 24th district – Lepa Rada, a day after Shi Yomi became a new district. Lepa Rada is carved out of the Lower Siang district, comprising four administrative circles – Tirbin, Dari, Sago and Basar. Basar will be headquarters of Lepa Rada. The state assembly on 29th August 2018 had passed a bill for creation of three new districts – Pakke-Kesang, Lepa Rada and Shi Yomi – in the state.

On December 10, 2018, the 2- day first International Conference, on the theme- ‘Sustainable Water Management’, commenced at Indian School of Business (ISB), Mohali in Punjab. It concluded on December 11, 2018. It was organized under National Hydrology Project, Union Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation by Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB). In the conference, Governor of Himachal Pradesh, Acharya Devvrat was the Chief Guest and Shri U.P. Singh, Secretary, Government of India, Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation was the Guest of Honour. A CD of documentary entitled ‘Bhakra Beas Nation’s Pride’ on BBMB was also released on the occasion. Countries like Australia, United Kingdom, USA, Spain, Netherlands, Republic of Korea, Canada, Germany, Sri Lanka etc. took part in the two-day conference.