The United Nations human rights chief today added her voice to the chorus welcoming the 100th ratification of the UN’s disability convention, but warned that too few countries currently have laws protecting persons with disabilities from discrimination.
SKS Microfinance today challenged in the Supreme Court the special act passed by the Andhra Pradesh government to regulate micro finance institutions in the state after allegations that their high interest rates and strong-arm recovery methods led to suicides by farmers. A bench of justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Mishra issued notice to the state government, directing it to file reply and posted the matter for hearing in the third week of July.
Worried over the circulation of a large number of fake ration cards , Orissa government has asked collectors of eight districts to initiate criminal proceedings against the responsible officials. The department of food supplies and consumer welfare asked the collectors of Bolangir, Kalahandi, Koraput, Nuapada, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Rayagada and Sonepur to act against officials involved in issuance of such ration cards.
The Centre on Thursday said it has plans to introduce bill on Land Acquisition in the next session of Parliament as there appears to be consensus on the issue. However, Home Minister P Chidambaram said law and order in Uttar Pradesh is not a “happy situation” as farmers were protesting in many villages on the land acquisition issue and criticised the way Chief Minister Mayawati was handling the protests by farmers.
Mauritian children are increasingly vulnerable to sexual exploitation, due to a combination of poverty, family dysfunction, social taboos, alcohol and drugs, an independent United Nations human rights expert warned today.
The Commerce Ministry will push for stepping up benefits for exporters under different market-linked schemes in lieu of the popular DEPB, which is scheduled to end on June 30. The case will be taken up with the Finance Ministry which has refused to give any more extension to the Duty Entitlement Pass Book (DEPB) scheme.
In the steepest hike ever, state- owned oil companies today increased petrol price by about Rs 5 per litre with effect from midnight tonight. The increase in petrol price, which the oil firms had been holding since January even though crude oil had touched a two-and-a-half-year high, came a day after election results of five state assemblies were announced.
Faced with duplication of work and wastage of resources in dealing with litigation matters, the finance ministry has asked the Central Board of Excise and Customs to file reports to Directorate of Legal Affairs (DLA) on monthly basis only. Besides, it has also instructed that henceforth only zonal chief commissioners would file reports as against the earlier practice where field formations used to send the files.
Presently Authorized Dealers Category- I bank (AD) is permitted to open Escrow account and Special account on behalf of non-resident corporates for acquisition / transfer of shares / convertible debentures of an Indian company through open offers / delisting / exit offers, subject to compliance with the relevant SEBI [Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers] Regulations, 1997 and other applicable SEBI regulations. In all other cases, opening / maintaining of Escrow accounts for FDI related transactions required prior approval from RBI.
The Government of India has issued updates to the FAQ on Provident Fund [PF] for international workers [IWs] on 6 May 2011 with a view to provide greater clarity on the applicability of PF regulations. This FAQ addresses few of the open issues that were present after the earlier notification tightening PF withdrawal provisions. This article sets out the key clarifications provided in the FAQ whilst highlighting the open issues.
