Daily Current Affairs 25 February 2024 – IAS Current Affairs

Current Affairs 25 February 2024 focuses on the Prelims-Mains perspective. Major events are :

Nidhi Aapke Nikat 2.0

Source: PIB
GS II: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources

Overview

1. News in Brief
2. Nidhi Aapke Nikat 2.0
3. Employees’ Provident Fund Organization

Why in the News?

EPFO is organising its monthly district outreach program Nidhi Aapke Nikat 2.0 in over 670 districts of the country.

News in Brief

• For the ease of EPS’95 pensioners, a special dedicated Pension Helpdesk will be set up wherein various pensioners-centric services viz submission of Digital Life Certificates(DLCs), inquiries PPO handover on the day of retirement under PRAYAS Yojna, etc will be provided.
• A service kiosk will also be set up with a special focus on on-the-spot grievance redressal for employees, employers and pensioners and to share information with stakeholders.

Nidhi Aapke Nikat 2.0

• Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) is launched a massive District Outreach programme in all the Districts of the country through a revamped Nidhi Aapke Nikat programme.
• This programme  e-launched on 27th January 2023.
• Nidhi Aapke Nikat 2.0 is a grievance redressal platform and information exchange network for employers and employees.
• Also the platform for the exchange of information with the district-level authorities of various State and Central Government departments.
• In this programme, a help desk will be created where members will get online services like filing online claims etc.
• Grievance redressal of the members will be done on the spot and in case any grievance cannot be redressed on the spot, it will be registered on the grievance portal of EPFO and will be resolved on priority.
• Nidhi Aapke Nikat is a programme where EPFO stakeholders come to the EPFO field offices for grievance redressal, under the Nidhi Aapke Nikat 2.0.
• The programme aims to reach out to all the districts in the country on the same day every month.
• The Nidhi Aapke Nikat 2.0 is conducted on the 27th of every month starting from January 2023.

Employees’ Provident Fund Organization

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) is a statutory body under the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India. It is responsible for managing one of the world’s largest social security schemes, the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF), which is aimed at providing financial security and stability to employees in the organized sector.

Details of EPFO

• Establishment: EPFO was established in 1952 under the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952.
• Coverage: It covers employees and employers in organizations where the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 applies.
• Membership: As of recent data, EPFO has over 60 million members and manages a corpus exceeding Rs. 14 lakh crore (approximately $190 billion).
• Contributions: Both the employer and the employee contribute a certain percentage of the employee’s salary towards the EPF scheme every month.
• Interest Rates: EPFO announces interest rates on EPF deposits annually. Over the years, the interest rates have varied, but they are typically higher than those offered by other similar investment avenues.
• Investments: EPFO invests its funds primarily in government securities, public sector bonds, and other low-risk instruments.

Language Atlas of India

Source: The Hindu
GS I: Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times

Overview

1. News in Brief
2. About Language Atlas of India
3. What are the challenges?
4. Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA)

Why in the News?

Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA), an autonomous body under the Union Culture Ministry, has proposed conducting a linguistic survey nationwide to create a ‘Language Atlas’ of India, a pan-India Language Mapping Project.

News in Brief

• As India makes efforts towards imparting education in the mother tongue, especially at the primary level, a crucial question remains on the number of languages that can be considered active in the country.
• In a country as vast and varied as India, where language changes every few miles, the question of how many languages truly thrive within its borders has remained a matter of some intrigue.

About Language Atlas of India

• The proposed ‘Language Atlas’ of India aims to chart the languages spoken across the nation and preserve the rich tapestry of local wisdom, knowledge, and culture they represent.
• The proposed linguistic survey would focus on the number of languages and dialects in India.
• Also have the number of languages and dialects which are extinct or on the verge of extinction.
• The first and most exhaustive Linguistic Survey of India (LSI) was carried out by Sir George Abraham Grierson and published in 1928.
• The DPR proposes that firstly, there should be State-wise data collection, and then region-wise.

Need for Language Atlas

• India officially recognizes 22 languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, purportedly covering 97% of the population according to the latest Census data.
• The last comprehensive survey conducted in 1961 enumerated 1,554 languages, including those with a solitary speaker.
• Languages spoken by fewer than 10,000 people have been omitted from the Census.
• The effort of IGNCA aims to close this gap by enhancing and modernizing the data that was gathered more than 50 years ago.

What are the challenges?

• Planning ahead and allocating substantial resources is necessary for documenting languages, particularly those spoken in isolated regions or by small populations.
• The dynamic character of language, with dialects changing and new ones appearing, makes the process more difficult.

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