US can help: Pak
Pakistan has welcomed the US offer to help de-escalate tensions with India, saying “any positive role” America plays to bring peace and stability in South Asia can serve the region well, according to a media report on Wednesday.
Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Pakistan’s envoy to Washington, termed US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley’s remarks on Monday as positive.
Chaudhry said Pakistan is interested in such efforts
sort of conflict going forward...”.
The suggestion was that the Trump administration could insert itself into the South Asian dispute or, at the very least, the US envoy to the UN was strongly advocating it should.
India shot down Hailey’s suggestion, saying, “Government’s position for bilateral redressal of all India-Pakistan issues in an environment free of terror and violence hasn’t changed.”
The US was not planning to seek a change either, as the state department spokesperson said, because it “wants good neighbourly relations with India”.
Pakistan’s support for a thirdparty mediation comes after India rejected on Tuesday any role for the US. India said its position for bilateral redressal of all India-Pakistan issues “in an environment free of terror and violence hasn’t changed”.
India has ruled out thirdparty mediation, including by the UN or the US, and maintained that Kashmir was a bilateral issue. PTI
despite Haley’s remarks.
Was she taking a contrary position on India as well, then?
The Trump administration has let India know the President had no intention of involving himself into the conflict as a mediator , according to officials in New Delhi .
India first raised the issue with the new administration in January after Trump, then president-elect, was seen to be signalling a desire to mediate in a call with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
To ensure more workers get retirement benefits, pension fund body Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) will raise the salary ceiling of its mandatory coverage.
Under the proposal, set to be accepted next week, people with basic monthly salary under ₹25,000 will be mandatorily covered under the pension plan.
Currently, workers earning less than ₹15,000 every month come under the provident fund.
“We are raising the ceiling to offset the inflationary factors. Nearly 1 crore additional workers will get retirement benefits if the ceiling is raised,” said an EPFO official.
The EPFO’s central board of trustees will meet on April 12 to decide on the proposal.
“We are wholeheartedly supporting it. It is good that more people get retirement benefits,” said DL Sachdev, national secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress and an EPFO trustee.
Trade unions are also demanding that a scheme should also be planned for retirement benefits for informal sector workers, who constitute more than 90% of India’s work force.
The new wage ceiling would mean an additional burden of ₹2,700 crore for the central government. The Centre contributes 1.16% of basic wages of EPFO subscribers for their pension scheme.
Sources, however, added that even if people with wages up to ₹27,000 come under EPFO coverage, the employers may continue to pay the old rate of contribution.
Currently, they are obliged to pay 12% of ₹15,000, or ₹1800 as monthly contribution.
TRADE UNIONS ARE
ALSO DEMANDING THAT A SCHEME SHOULD ALSO BE PLANNED FOR RETIREMENT BENEFITS FOR INFORMAL SECTOR WORKERS, WHO MAKE 90% OF WORKFORCE