Daily Current Affairs Quiz PDF of 24th March 2018
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Parliament has passed the Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2017.
Highlights of the Bill:
- The 2017 Bill empowers the central government to (i) notify the period of maternity leave eligible for qualifying as continuous service; and (ii) determine the amount of gratuity available to employees.
- The Bill removes the reference to 12 weeks in the 1972 Act and empowers the central government to notify the maximum maternity leave.
- Under the Act, the maximum amount of gratuity payable to an employee cannot exceed Rs 10 lakh. The Bill removes the existing ceiling and states that the ceiling may be notified by the central government.
The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972:
The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 applies to establishments employing 10 or more persons. The main purpose for enacting this Act is to provide social security to workmen after retirement, whether retirement is a result of the rules of superannuation, or physical disablement or impairment of vital part of the body. Therefore, the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 is an important social security legislation to wage earning population in industries, factories and establishments.
Who Are Eligible?
The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 allows for the payment of gratuity to employees in any establishment, factory, mine, oil field, plantation, port, railways, company, or shop employing 10 or more workers.
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has been signed by 44 African countries at a summit of the African Union in Kigali, Rwanda. If successful, it will be the biggest trade trade agreement since the formation of the World Trade Organization in 1995. Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy and most populous country, as well as a host of others did not sign the agreement.
What is AfCFTA?
African heads of government agreed to establish a continental free trade area in 2012 and started negotiations in 2015.
- The draft agreement commits countries to removing tariffs on 90% of goods, with 10% of “sensitive items” to be phased in later.
- The agreement will also liberalise services and aims to tackle so-called “non-tariff barriers” which hamper trade between African countries, such as long delays at the border.
- Eventually, free movement of people and even a single currency could become part of the free trade area.
Significance of AfCFTA:
The AfCFTA has the potential to bring over 1.2bn people together into the same market. The bloc of 55 nations would be the largest in the world by member states.
- The AfCFTA could improve trade between African countries, which in 2016 estimates stated accounted for only 10%. By reducing barriers to trade, such as removing import duties and non-tariff barriers, African countries hope to boost intra-continental business.
Objectives of the AfCFTA:
- Create a single continental market for goods and services, with free movement of business persons and investments, and thus pave the way for accelerating the establishment of the Continental Customs Union and the African customs union.
- Expand intra African trade through better harmonization and coordination of trade liberalization and facilitation regimes and instruments across RECs and across Africa in general.
- Resolve the challenges of multiple and overlapping memberships and expedite the regional and continental integration processes.
- Enhance competitiveness at the industry and enterprise level through exploiting opportunities for scale production, continental market access and better reallocation of resources.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which invited bids for various highways, hopes to generate more than Rs 6,000 crore by leasing out the roads under the ‘toll-operate-transfer’ (TOT) model. This will provide NHAI funds to build more highways, filling in for the private sector that is reluctant to invest in new highways.
Background:
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs in 2016 had authorised NHAI to monetise 75 publicly funded national highways that are operational and have been generating toll revenues for at least two years.
About the TOT model:
Under this newly launched ToT model, the right to collect user-fee or toll on selected national highway stretches built through public funding is proposed to be auctioned and assigned to a concessionaire for a period of 30 years against an upfront payment of a lump-sum amount to the government.
- The concessionaire is also responsible for the operation and maintenance of the roads during the tenure.
- The model concession agreement also seeks to address the risks associated with such a long concession contract, with several provisions designed to deal with eventualities like roadway expansion, high toll traffic variation, etc., to ensure that concessionaires are not exposed to undue risks.
- The government can also increase the concession period in later stages, if the concessionaire wants it.
Significance of the Model:
India is facing a $526 billion infrastructure investment gap by 2040. The TOT model, once successful in the highways sector, other sectors such as power transmission, oil and natural gas could replicate the same model, thereby unlocking the huge offbudget funding.
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