The National Food Security Act 2013 guarantees maternity benefit to the tune of Rs. 6,000/- per child by the Central Government for pregnant women and lactating mothers, barring those who are already availing such benefits while being in regular employment with the Central Government or State Governments or Public Sector Undertakings or under other Laws. The NFSA 2013 also legally guarantees free meals for every pregnant woman and lactating mother...

-The Indian Express With 2.5 crore metric tonnes of paddy a year, and almost every family engaged in farming, East Burdwan district is the rice bowl of West Bengal. Burdwan: AMID much fanfare, in January this year, BJP president J P Nadda visited Mushali here to have lunch at the house of a marginal farmer. Following the meal, he announced the launch of the BJP’s ‘Krishak Suraksha Abhiyan’ and ‘Ek Mutho Chal’...

-The Hindu Admitting that annuities now fetch paltry pensions, regulator says investors can withdraw the corpus The National Pension System (NPS) will no longer compel investors to convert 40% of their accumulated retirement corpus into an annuity, as poor yields on annuities and high inflation are translating into negative returns, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Chairman, Supratim Bandyopadhyay, said on Thursday. The regulator will issue fresh rules to soon allow...

-The Hindu Election Commission also banned BJP leader Rahul Sinha from campaigning for 48 hours for his statement on the Sitalkuchi firing incident The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday issued a notice to West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh for violating provisions of the Model Code of Conduct and Indian Penal Code for making an “inflammatory statement” threatening the people of Bengal during a public rally in Barangar, North 24 Parganas. The EC...

-The Indian Express India has welcomed refugees in the past, and on date, nearly 300,000 people here are categorised as refugees. But India is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention or the 1967 Protocol. Nor does India have a refugee policy or a refugee Law of its own. Last week, the Supreme Court appeared to accept the Centre’s contention that the Rohingya people in India are illegal immigrants when it...