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The Central Board of Trustees of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) recommended a higher interest rate of 8.25 per cent for financial year 2023-24 for its over 29 crore total subscribers, out of which around 6.8 crore are active contributing subscribers.
This will be the highest rate of interest for EPF subscribers in the last three years and comes ahead of the Lok Sabha elections that are around the corner.
After maintaining the interest rate at 8.5 per cent both in 2019-20 and 2020-21, the EPFO had cut the interest rate in 2021-22 to 8.1 per cent, the lowest in four decades. It then hiked it marginally to 8.15 per cent in 2022-23.
The Ministry of Labour and Employment will now send the interest rate recommendation of 8.25 per cent for 2023-24 to the Ministry of Finance for ratification.
After the ministry’s consent to the interest rate, the EPFO would credit the rate of interest for the previous fiscal to the EPF subscribers.
Govt & Politics
Manipur: New bill proposes jail term for renaming places (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
As even the names of places become contested in strife-torn Manipur, the upcoming Manipur assembly session is likely to see a Bill that proposes using names not authorised by the government a punishable offence.
Through the course of the conflict, as either Kukis or Meiteis fled areas where they were in a minority, the names of places also became contested. The most prominent example is over the name of the Kuki-Zomi-dominated district Churachandpur and its district headquarter town with the same name.
The name draws from Churachand Singh, the Meitei king of the Manipur Kingdom from 1891 to 1941, and while people from the Kuki-Zomi community have been using the name Lamka for the town for a long time now, during the course of the conflict, Lamka started appearing on homes, shops and even government institutions and offices.
World
Indo – Pacific strategy has made US, region more prosperous secure: White House (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The implementation of the Indo-Pacific Strategy has enhanced the security and prosperity of both the United States and the key region, and expanded the bilateral partnership with India in unprecedented ways.
Addressing the media on the second anniversary of the introduction of the Biden administration's significant foreign policy strategy, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, Adrienne Watson said.
Over the past two years, we have made historic progress in advancing an Indo-Pacific that is free and open, connected, prosperous, secure, and resilient.
Economy
India to leverage US led partnership to get critical mineral assets from abroad (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Union Mines Ministry has proposed to circulate critical mineral block proposals received by partner countries in the US-led Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) with central public sector undertakings or PSUs to allow them to acquire critical mineral assets abroad.
The ministry has also recommended that PSUs give a clear financial mandate to relevant subsidiaries to expedite the acquisition process in a meeting held on October 30, 2023. PSUs such as Coal India Limited, NLC India Ltd, and NTPC Ltd, representatives of whom were present at the meeting, have expressed interest in securing lithium, cobalt, and graphite assets overseas.
During the meeting, VL Kantha Rao, Secretary, Ministry of Mines, “assured to provide every possible help” to PSUs in the acquisition of critical mineral assets abroad, which includes circulating details of some block proposals received through the MSP, according to the minutes of the meeting accessed through the RTI. India joined the MSP in June, 2023 during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US.