The Union Cabinet on Monday approved a slew of measures to offer more benefits to members of the National Pension Scheme (NPS). Under the new approved changes, the Centre’s contribution to NPS has been increased to 14 per cent of from 10 per cent of the basic salary, said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

Addressing the press conference, Jaitley said NPS subscribers will now be able to withdraw 60 per cent of the accumulated corpus without having to pay any tax on it.

Subscribers are allowed to contribute regularly in a pension account during their working years; on retirement, subscribers can withdraw a part of the total amount in lump sum and use the remaining corpus to buy an annuity and secure a regular income after retirement.

As of now, the minimum employee contribution in NPS is 10 per cent of the basic pay and an equal contribution is made by the government. However, the cabinet has decided to now offer 4 per cent more contribution in order to offer better returns.

Padma Shri Professor Mushirul Hasan, a renowned historian who served as vice-chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia, passed away early Monday morning. He was 71. A former Director General of the National Archives of India, Hasan has been credited for writing extensively on the partition of India, and histories of Islam in south-Asia. He served as the Pro Vice-Chancellor of Jamia between 1992-96 and later in the capacity of VC between 2004-09.

“He met with a road accident about two years ago and was mostly bed-ridden after that. He was also undergoing dialysis for kidney problems,” former secretary to Jamia Vice chancellor, Zafar Nawaz Hashmi, told PTI. He added, “Some health complications emerged and he was taken to hospital post midnight. He passed away there this morning.”

Hasan, who has been known for his contribution to social sciences was also the former Vice-Chairman, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, former president of Indo-Iran Society in Iran Embassy and former president of  Indian History Congress in 2002 among numerous other posts he held in his illustrious career.

UNDERLINING the deepening trust deficit between the Reserve Bank of India and the central government, RBI Governor Urjit Patel resigned Monday, almost 10 months ahead of his term — ending the shortest tenure a central banker in India has had since 1992.

That’s why Patel’s announcement caught many including some of the board members of the RBI by surprise. Sources said that much before Section 7 (1) of the RBI Act was invoked — the first formal process of discussions with the Governor before the government issues a directive — Patel had indicated that he would step down if push came to shove.

Air Force Chief Birender Singh Dhanoa left on a five-day goodwill visit to Japan on Monday. 

During his visit, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa will call on Japanese Minister of Defence Takeshi Iwaya, Chief of Staff of Japan Air Self Defence Force General Yoshinari Marumo, Chief of Staff, Joint Staff Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano.

This visit of the Indian Air Chief will provide further impetus towards expanding defence cooperation between the two countries and pave the way for greater interaction and cooperation in future.

Raising Indian government hopes of bringing home fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya, a UK court Monday ordered his extradition to India to stand trial on the charges brought by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate. He has 14 days to appeal the order in a higher court.

Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot of the Westminster Magistrates’ Court ordered the extradition, saying there was “no evidence which allowed me to find that if extradited, Dr Mallya was at real risk of suffering a flagrant denial of justice”.

Holding that Mallya’s conduct “would constitute the offences of making false representations to make a gain for himself, conspiracy to defraud and money laundering”, she said, “I am sending Dr Mallya’s case to the Home Secretary of State for a decision to be taken on whether to order his extradition”.

The indigenously built Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile Agni-5 has been test-fired successfully from Abdul Kalam island under  Chandipur Interim Test Range on Monday.

This is the fourth successful test of this missile. Previously the test of  Agni 4 was unsuccessful.  Having 17 meters length and 2 meters diameter the missile can hit the target from a distance of 5 thousand kilometres. 

It can carry both nuclear and traditional weapons. The first test was conducted in 2012 from  ITR Chandipur in Balasore district.

Today is Human Rights Day and the year when Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) turns 70. Apart from going through the theme and objective of Human Rights Day, let us visit the time when Hansa Mehta of India changed the phrase 'all men' with 'all human beings' in UDHR.

Human Rights Day is observed every year on December 10, the day when the United Nations General Assembly adopted and proclaimed the 'Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). This year marks the 70th anniversary of the document which declared inalienable rights which everyone is inherently entitled to as a human being -- regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinions, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is the most translated document in the world-- available in more than 500 languages.

Public Relations Officer (PRO) in the prime minister's office and senior journalist Jagdish Thakkar passed away on Monday.

Thakkar, 72, who was unwell for some time, passed away at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled his demise, saying he was awonderful person who loved his work. "Extremely saddened by the demise of Shri Jagdish Thakkar, the PRO in the PMO. Jagdishbhai was a veteran journalist and I had the pleasure of working with him for years, both in Gujarat and in Delhi. He was known for his simplicity and warm-hearted nature," the PM tweeted.

He said several journalists would have regularly interacted with Jagdishbhai over the years.

He had previously served with many chief ministers of Gujarat, "We have lost a wonderful person, who loved his work and did it with utmost diligence. Condolences to his family and well wishers," Modi said.

Khelo India Youth Games-2019 will be held in Pune of Maharashtra from the 9th to 20th of January. 

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi today, Sports Minister Col Rajyavardhan Rathore said, nine thousand youth will participate in this edition of the game. 

Last year around 3500 school children had participated in the event. He said, in this edition of Khelo India Youth Games university players will also take part.

Col Rathore said, his Ministry is trying to develop a sports system that connects local talents to global podiums. He said, the government will also involve private organisations to supplement its efforts to groom the talents in various disciplines. 

The Minister said, under Khelo India programme, the government is providing scholarships to 1500 students from across the country. 

In a major push to kickstart listing of start-ups in India in a big way, capital markets regulator Sebi has lined up a slew of relaxations for new-age ventures. 

The proposed changes include renaming the Institutional Trading Platform that the regulator had created for such listings as Innovators Growth Platform. 

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had set up an expert group in June this year to review the start-up platform. 

The Group held extensive consultations with other stakeholders including start-ups, investors, bankers and wealth management firms and submitted its report to Sebi on the proposed changes. 

The changes include doing away with the requirement of at least 50 per cent of pre-issue capital being held by qualified institutional investors.