General Affairs
PM Narendra Modi Pays Tributes To Babasaheb Ambedkar At Deekshabhoomi In Nagpur
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi today paid tributes to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar on his 126th birth anniversary at Deekshabhoomi in Nagpur.
After paying floral tributes at the hallowed precincts, where the Dalit icon and architect of the Constitution embraced Buddhism in 1956 with his large number of followers, PM Modi prayed for a few minutes with folded hands.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was also present.
Ahead of his visit, PM Modi tweeted yesterday that he was "extremely honoured" to be visiting Nagpur, on the "very special occasion" of Ambedkar Jayanti.
On a day-long visit to the second capital of Maharashtra, the PM is also to dedicate to the nation 14 units of thermal power plants at Koradi, Chandrapur and Parli with a total capacity of 3,230 MW.
These include three super-critical units with 660 MW each at Koradi, two of 500 MW each at Chandrapur, and one of 250 MW at Parli. "A series of development projects are going to be inaugurated in Nagpur, which will have a positive impact on people's lives," PM Modi had said in another tweet yesterday.
"The development projects include IIIT, IIM & AIIMS and launch of Koradi Thermal Power Station. Will also address a public meeting," he said.
"We are unwavering in our efforts towards creating a strong, prosperous & inclusive India of Dr Ambedkar's dreams," PM Modi said.
The PM later in the day will join the culmination of the DigiDhan Mela, where he will present awards to the mega draw winners of Lucky Grahak Yojna and DigiDhan Vyapar Yojna. '
He will also address a public rally at Mankapur in Nagpur.
After paying floral tributes at the hallowed precincts, where the Dalit icon and architect of the Constitution embraced Buddhism in 1956 with his large number of followers, PM Modi prayed for a few minutes with folded hands.
Ahead of his visit, PM Modi tweeted yesterday that he was "extremely honoured" to be visiting Nagpur, on the "very special occasion" of Ambedkar Jayanti.
On a day-long visit to the second capital of Maharashtra, the PM is also to dedicate to the nation 14 units of thermal power plants at Koradi, Chandrapur and Parli with a total capacity of 3,230 MW.
"The development projects include IIIT, IIM & AIIMS and launch of Koradi Thermal Power Station. Will also address a public meeting," he said.
"We are unwavering in our efforts towards creating a strong, prosperous & inclusive India of Dr Ambedkar's dreams," PM Modi said.
The PM later in the day will join the culmination of the DigiDhan Mela, where he will present awards to the mega draw winners of Lucky Grahak Yojna and DigiDhan Vyapar Yojna. '
He will also address a public rally at Mankapur in Nagpur.
Reservation Over Religion May Lead To Another Pakistan: Venkaiah Naidu
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Union minister Venkaiah Naidu today said implementation of reservations on the basis of religion may result in social unrest in the country and "lead to creation of another Pakistan". Speaking at a BJP meeting organised on the occasion of the Ambedkar Jayanthi, Mr Naidu also hinted that Telangana's recent proposal to hike reservations for certain sections may not be constitutionally valid.
He also said that architect of Constitution B R Ambedkar had opposed religion-based reservation.
"We are not opposing (reservation on religion basis) because KCR (Telangana CM K Chandrashekhar Rao) wants to implement it," he said, adding, "the BJP opposed such a move even when Rajasekhar Reddy (late CM of united Andhra Pradesh) and Chandrababu Naidu (present CM) also tried to do that.
"We will oppose any such move because it will lead to creation of another Pakistan. It is an all India policy of the BJP. It is not the policy of Telangana unit of the BJP," he said.
Mr Naidu said the BJP is against communal reservations.
"Communal reservation will divide people on the communal basis. It will give demand to another partition of the country. It will bring disunity among the people. Social disruption will also caused by that," he said.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao recently said his government would convene the Legislative Assembly on April 16 to pass a bill to increase quotas to the STs (Scheduled Tribes) and backward sections among Muslims.
Mr Rao further said resolution once passed by the state Assembly will be sent to the centre for its consent. He also warned that in the event of centre's descent, the state government may approach the Supreme Court.
He also said that architect of Constitution B R Ambedkar had opposed religion-based reservation.
"We will oppose any such move because it will lead to creation of another Pakistan. It is an all India policy of the BJP. It is not the policy of Telangana unit of the BJP," he said.
"Communal reservation will divide people on the communal basis. It will give demand to another partition of the country. It will bring disunity among the people. Social disruption will also caused by that," he said.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao recently said his government would convene the Legislative Assembly on April 16 to pass a bill to increase quotas to the STs (Scheduled Tribes) and backward sections among Muslims.
Mr Rao further said resolution once passed by the state Assembly will be sent to the centre for its consent. He also warned that in the event of centre's descent, the state government may approach the Supreme Court.
Won't Bring Law To Regulate Food Portions In Hotels: Minister Ram Vilas Paswan
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After stirring a debate on portion sizes that should be served at restaurants, Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan today said that the government will not make any law or issue any order to hotels or restaurants to regulate the amount of food on a plate.
"We want the hotel industry to make arrangements," the minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said.
The minister made it clear that the government doesn't want to control anything. "We are doing this in the interest of consumers. We just want the portions to be uniform and won't even interfere with the costing of food items, but quantity of food should be written on menu cards," he said.
He also suggested that restaurants give it in writing how much will be served in a portion, "whether one piece of chicken or two, one chapatti or two or one idli or two... the amount of soup in terms of mililitres, or number of prawns in one plate" so that customers can order according to their needs.
Mr Paswan said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi has talked about wastage of food on his monthly radio address to the nation, Mann Ki Baat. Since customers don't know about the quantity of food being served, they cannot finish it and remaining part goes waste. So we have asked hotels to tell customers about the quantity of food in each menu so they can order accordingly."
The government has also asked the Association of Hotels to train their staff to stop wastage of food.
"The association has agreed to spread awareness among consumers and train their staff to be judicious," said Madhulika Sukul, Additional Secretary, Consumer Affairs Department.
The government had also prepared an advisory to remove service charge from the bill since it was not a tax but a tip, Mr Paswan said.
"It is wrong to levy service charge on bill. Let customers decide if they want to pay it," he said.
"We want the hotel industry to make arrangements," the minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said.
He also suggested that restaurants give it in writing how much will be served in a portion, "whether one piece of chicken or two, one chapatti or two or one idli or two... the amount of soup in terms of mililitres, or number of prawns in one plate" so that customers can order according to their needs.
Mr Paswan said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi has talked about wastage of food on his monthly radio address to the nation, Mann Ki Baat. Since customers don't know about the quantity of food being served, they cannot finish it and remaining part goes waste. So we have asked hotels to tell customers about the quantity of food in each menu so they can order accordingly."
"The association has agreed to spread awareness among consumers and train their staff to be judicious," said Madhulika Sukul, Additional Secretary, Consumer Affairs Department.
The government had also prepared an advisory to remove service charge from the bill since it was not a tax but a tip, Mr Paswan said.
"It is wrong to levy service charge on bill. Let customers decide if they want to pay it," he said.
After Protests From 3 Northeastern States, Centre Allows Digital Day On Any Other Date
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A day after three Christian-dominated Northeastern states -- Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram informed the centre about their inability to observe Digital India Day today owing to Good Friday, the centre has told the Chief Secretaries of all the states that they can observe the Digital India Day on any convenient date.
Yesterday, the Niti Aayog asked the three state governments to organise the day on any other day. "It has been decided that the Digi Dhan Mela may be held on any other date convenient to the governments of Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland," Niti Aayog Chief Executive Officer Amitabh Kant said.
The Digital India Day programme was scheduled for the 100th day of the Digi Dhan Mela, which is on April 14. But it coincided with Good Friday celebrations. The centre's decision to observe the day on Good Friday met with strong opposition from the three states.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma on Tuesday criticised the BJP-led NDA government for observing Digital India Day on Good Friday. "Are they selectively identifying these dates to marginalise the minorities with a complete disregard to the Constitutional obligation of ensuring personal liberty?" the Congress leader had said.
He demanded that people be given space to engage in their cultural and religious activities.
Meghalaya's opposition parties -- United Democratic Party and Hill State People's Democratic Party -- too opposed the observation of Digital Day on Good Friday, the day Christians offer prayers to mark crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Nagaland Chief Secretary Pankaj Kumar said the state government will not join any activity related to the event. Mizoram's Young Mizo Association termed BJP government's decision as a show of disregard to one's religion.
The Naga Peoples' Front (NPF) government in Nagaland, where the BJP is an alliance partner, also informed the centre that they can't observe Digital India Day on Good Friday.
In 2014, the government's move to declare Christmas as Good Governance Day had drawn criticism and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had even quipped "every day is good governance day".
Yesterday, the Niti Aayog asked the three state governments to organise the day on any other day. "It has been decided that the Digi Dhan Mela may be held on any other date convenient to the governments of Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland," Niti Aayog Chief Executive Officer Amitabh Kant said.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma on Tuesday criticised the BJP-led NDA government for observing Digital India Day on Good Friday. "Are they selectively identifying these dates to marginalise the minorities with a complete disregard to the Constitutional obligation of ensuring personal liberty?" the Congress leader had said.
He demanded that people be given space to engage in their cultural and religious activities.
Meghalaya's opposition parties -- United Democratic Party and Hill State People's Democratic Party -- too opposed the observation of Digital Day on Good Friday, the day Christians offer prayers to mark crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Nagaland Chief Secretary Pankaj Kumar said the state government will not join any activity related to the event. Mizoram's Young Mizo Association termed BJP government's decision as a show of disregard to one's religion.
The Naga Peoples' Front (NPF) government in Nagaland, where the BJP is an alliance partner, also informed the centre that they can't observe Digital India Day on Good Friday.
In 2014, the government's move to declare Christmas as Good Governance Day had drawn criticism and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had even quipped "every day is good governance day".
India Denied Access To Kulbhushan Jadhav Again, Pakistan Toughens Stand
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India will appeal against the death sentence handed down to Indian man Kulbhushan Jadhav by a Pakistani military court on charges of spying, Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale told Pakistani Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua on Friday and again, asked for consular access to the former Navy man, who New Delhi insists, was kidnapped from Iran and mysteriously landed in the custody of Pakistani agencies in March last year.
Mr Bambawale had sought the Friday afternoon meeting with Ms Janjua, days after Home Minister Rajnath Singh told parliament that the government would do everything it can to bring justice to Kulbhushan Jadhav.
Sources told that an appeal against the death sentence was part of the plan that New Delhi is drawing up. Mr Bambawale also conveyed this to Pakistan's foreign office and as the first step, demanded a copy of the charge-sheet and the military court's judgement that sentenced Kulbhushan Jadhav to death.
Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif told the senate this week that Kulbhushan Jadhav could appeal against his conviction within 60 days, and file mercy pleas to the Army Chief and the President.
But Islamabad has not granted New Delhi consular access to Jadhav despite 13 requests being made over the last year, an average of one request every month. At Friday's meeting, Mr Bambawale made the request again, for the 14th time.
The Pakistani Foreign Secretary, however, claimed that consular access need not be provided because this was a case of espionage. The High Commissioner strongly rejected the argument, pointing that international law and convention did not provide for such an exception.
In a statement, Pakistan Prime Minister's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz later blamed India for aggravating the situation with its reaction to the verdict. Mr Aziz, who had told the senate in December that the evidence against Mr Jadhav was not conclusive, said his conviction was based on "credible, specific evidence".
New Delhi had reacted angrily, declaring that if the "indefensible" and "farcical" verdict was carried out, India will regard it as a case of "premeditated murder". India also recalled how, shortly before the verdict came, Mr Aziz had told the senate that the evidence against Mr Jadhav was not conclusive.
Pakistan claims Mr Jadhav was working as a spy for India's external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing when he was arrested from the troubled province of Balochistan in March 2016. Days later, it had also released a video in which he was seen admitting to the claims. India has dismissed the video and refuted the allegations.
Mr Bambawale had sought the Friday afternoon meeting with Ms Janjua, days after Home Minister Rajnath Singh told parliament that the government would do everything it can to bring justice to Kulbhushan Jadhav.
Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif told the senate this week that Kulbhushan Jadhav could appeal against his conviction within 60 days, and file mercy pleas to the Army Chief and the President.
But Islamabad has not granted New Delhi consular access to Jadhav despite 13 requests being made over the last year, an average of one request every month. At Friday's meeting, Mr Bambawale made the request again, for the 14th time.
The Pakistani Foreign Secretary, however, claimed that consular access need not be provided because this was a case of espionage. The High Commissioner strongly rejected the argument, pointing that international law and convention did not provide for such an exception.
In a statement, Pakistan Prime Minister's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz later blamed India for aggravating the situation with its reaction to the verdict. Mr Aziz, who had told the senate in December that the evidence against Mr Jadhav was not conclusive, said his conviction was based on "credible, specific evidence".
New Delhi had reacted angrily, declaring that if the "indefensible" and "farcical" verdict was carried out, India will regard it as a case of "premeditated murder". India also recalled how, shortly before the verdict came, Mr Aziz had told the senate that the evidence against Mr Jadhav was not conclusive.
Pakistan claims Mr Jadhav was working as a spy for India's external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing when he was arrested from the troubled province of Balochistan in March 2016. Days later, it had also released a video in which he was seen admitting to the claims. India has dismissed the video and refuted the allegations.
Business Affairs
Mobile EMI of Rs 1,590 fetches Rs 1-crore bonanza for student
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An EMI payment of Rs 1,590 for a newly bought mobile phone has earned a mega lottery of Rs 1 crore for 20 year-old engineering student Shradha Mohan Mengshette under the government's Lucky Grahak Yojana.
Mengshette, a second year student of Electrical Engineering from Latur district in Maharashtra, received the cash prize from Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a function in Nagpur today.
She won the mega prize for making a transaction of Rs 1,590 through her Rupay card online.
The second prize of Rs 50 lakh under the Lucky Grahak Yojana, an official statement said, was won by Hardik Kumar from Khambhat in Gujarat.
The 29-year-old is a primary school teacher who used his Rupay card for making a transaction of Rs 1,100.
Under the Digi-Dhan Vyapar Yojana category for merchants, the first prize of Rs 50 lakh was won by Anand Ananthapadmanabhan for accepting a payment of Rs 300 at GRT Jewellers in Tambaram, Tamil Nadu.
The second prize of Rs 25 lakh was won by Ragini Rajendra Uttekar, owner of a small beauty parlour in Thane, Maharashtra, the statement said.
She accepted a payment of Rs 510 which won her the amount, it added.
NITI Aayog's two schemes to incentivize digital payments -- Lucky Grahak Yojana and DigiDhan Vyapar Yojana -- was launched on December 25 last year.
According to the statement, Rs 258 crore of prize money was won by 16 lakh winners, including customers and merchants belonging to different corners of the country and from varied walks of life.
An EMI payment of Rs 1,590 for a newly bought mobile phone has earned a mega lottery of Rs 1 crore for 20 year-old engineering student Shradha Mohan Mengshette under the government's Lucky Grahak Yojana.
Mengshette, a second year student of Electrical Engineering from Latur district in Maharashtra, received the cash prize from Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a function in Nagpur today.
She won the mega prize for making a transaction of Rs 1,590 through her Rupay card online.
The second prize of Rs 50 lakh under the Lucky Grahak Yojana, an official statement said, was won by Hardik Kumar from Khambhat in Gujarat.
The 29-year-old is a primary school teacher who used his Rupay card for making a transaction of Rs 1,100.
Under the Digi-Dhan Vyapar Yojana category for merchants, the first prize of Rs 50 lakh was won by Anand Ananthapadmanabhan for accepting a payment of Rs 300 at GRT Jewellers in Tambaram, Tamil Nadu.
The second prize of Rs 25 lakh was won by Ragini Rajendra Uttekar, owner of a small beauty parlour in Thane, Maharashtra, the statement said.
She accepted a payment of Rs 510 which won her the amount, it added.
NITI Aayog's two schemes to incentivize digital payments -- Lucky Grahak Yojana and DigiDhan Vyapar Yojana -- was launched on December 25 last year.
According to the statement, Rs 258 crore of prize money was won by 16 lakh winners, including customers and merchants belonging to different corners of the country and from varied walks of life.
PM Narendra Modi launches BHIM-Aadhaar Pay app: Here's how it works
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday launched BHIM-Aadhar platform - a biometric-based payment system - in Nagpur. BHIM-Aadhaar Pay app will allow users to make payments through the fingerprint scanner, by authenticating the biometric details of a user with Aadhaar database.
BHIM, also known as Bharat Interface for Money, was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi three months ago to provide a tool that can be a one-stop solution for all digital payments.
The app, which will be available for download to merchants across the country, will link your Aadhaar number and biometic fingerprint to complete a transaction. To enable the transactions through BHIM-Aadhar, merchants will have to purchase fingerprint scanners.
With more than 1.8 crore downloads of the app which is available both on the Google Play Store and the iOS App store, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday launched two new offers to reward BHIM users. These two schemes are:
BHIM Referral Bonus Scheme (For Individuals)
The Referral Bonus scheme will incentivize existing BHIM users for bringing new users on the BHIM platform and encouraging the new users to do transactions with others using BHIM or by referring new users on BHIM. Hence, the bonus will be paid to both the referrer and the new user of BHIM (referee). The referral will be considered successful only after 3 unique successful financial transactions have been completed by the new user.
On completion of minimum 3 unique successful transactions totalling only Rs 50 to any 3 unique users (either to customers or to merchants), the referrer and the referee will be notified about the bonus amount via notification in BHIM app. The referrer will get Rs 10 per successful referral, while the new users will get Rs 25 for downloading and transacting from BHIM App.
BHIM Merchant Cashback Scheme
The scheme incentivizes not just one-time adoption of BHIM by merchants, but will also encourage transactions via BHIM mode (either QR code or VPA or Mobile number or 'Pay to Aadhaar'). The cashback to the merchant can be up to Rs 300 per month, with each merchant eligible to win up to Rs 1800 in 6 months.
What is BHIM Aadhar app?
BHIM Aadhar is a new Aadhar Payment App is a new Android smartphone application being launched by the Narendra Modi government to encourage the use of digital payments. BHIM Aadhar Pay smartphone payment app would also eliminate the fee currently being charged by the private card companies such as 'MasterCard' and 'Visa'.
Who should install Aadhar Pay app?
Aadhar Pay App is need to be installed by merchants only i.e. only the shopkeepers, showrooms need to install aadhar pay app and the users who wants to pay using aadhar pay only need to link their aadhar number with their bank accounts. Shopkeepers/ Merchant can download aadhar pay to take payments from customers from their aadhar linked bank accounts using their biometric scan.
How to download BHIM Aadhar Pay app?
Merchants would just need to download the Aadhar Pay App and connect their smartphones to the biometric scan machine to accept the payments from customers. The merchants would also be required to connect their bank accounts and register themselves on the app.
The application can be downloaded from the Google Play Store by searching for 'Aadhar Pay' and clicking the download link.
How it works?
Merchants would be required to download the BHIM Aadhar Pay payment app on their android smartphone connected to a biometric reader. The biometric reader is currently available for just Rs 2000. If a customer wants to make payment, then he/she just need to enter his Aadhar Number in the app and select the bank from which the payment is to be made and use the biometric scan as the password for the transaction.
Upon entering the Aadhar Number, the app would automatically fetch the bank accounts linked with your Aadhar number, then the customer can make the selection of bank for payment as per his/her choice
How will it help?
The Aadhar Pay App for merchants would help eliminate the long waiting period and hassle of getting a new POS (Point of Sale) machine. At present there are only 15 lakh POS machines deployed by the banks across the country. SBO alone has deployed over 3 lakh terminals followed by HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank.
BHIM Aadhaar Pay app is made available on a merchant's smartphone. Customers can pay the merchant by selecting the Bank's name and filling only one field on the merchant's phone - the Aadhaar number. The customer's fingerprint is the password used to authenticate the transaction.
Customers need not use debit or credit cards, download mobile applications or even carry a mobile to make cashless transactions. The solution eliminates the hassles of remembering passwords, account numbers, or setting up of virtual payment addresses and using USSD codes to transfer money.
The acceptability of digital payments has also been very poor among the merchants in the country. One of the biggest reasons behind this is India being a cash dominated country and 2%-3% charges taken by the card companies such as Visa and MasterCard.
The lack of connectivity has also made it difficult for the merchants in the country to adopt digital payment systems. There are about 5 Crore merchants in the country at present and only 15 lakh POS machines for a population of more than 125 crore.
Not only for the merchants, the BHIM Aadhar Payment would also be helpful for customers to get rid of their stacks of plastic money, confusing sets of passwords and their digital payment accounts passwords being stolen. Also, the customers need not to download a digital payment wallet or even a smartphone.
Customer benefits:
Customers don't need to have an android phone or any other technology to make payments. No service tax or any other extra charge on the payments using Aadhaar payments app. There is no need to carry debit card or credit card. No need to remember PINs, MPINs and passwords. Instant Payments through aadhaar bridge system this is similar to Aadhaar Enabled Payment system (AEPS). Affordable payment solution for merchants as well as customers.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday launched BHIM-Aadhar platform - a biometric-based payment system - in Nagpur. BHIM-Aadhaar Pay app will allow users to make payments through the fingerprint scanner, by authenticating the biometric details of a user with Aadhaar database.
BHIM, also known as Bharat Interface for Money, was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi three months ago to provide a tool that can be a one-stop solution for all digital payments.
The app, which will be available for download to merchants across the country, will link your Aadhaar number and biometic fingerprint to complete a transaction. To enable the transactions through BHIM-Aadhar, merchants will have to purchase fingerprint scanners.
With more than 1.8 crore downloads of the app which is available both on the Google Play Store and the iOS App store, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday launched two new offers to reward BHIM users. These two schemes are:
BHIM Referral Bonus Scheme (For Individuals)
BHIM Referral Bonus Scheme (For Individuals)
The Referral Bonus scheme will incentivize existing BHIM users for bringing new users on the BHIM platform and encouraging the new users to do transactions with others using BHIM or by referring new users on BHIM. Hence, the bonus will be paid to both the referrer and the new user of BHIM (referee). The referral will be considered successful only after 3 unique successful financial transactions have been completed by the new user.
On completion of minimum 3 unique successful transactions totalling only Rs 50 to any 3 unique users (either to customers or to merchants), the referrer and the referee will be notified about the bonus amount via notification in BHIM app. The referrer will get Rs 10 per successful referral, while the new users will get Rs 25 for downloading and transacting from BHIM App.
BHIM Merchant Cashback Scheme
The scheme incentivizes not just one-time adoption of BHIM by merchants, but will also encourage transactions via BHIM mode (either QR code or VPA or Mobile number or 'Pay to Aadhaar'). The cashback to the merchant can be up to Rs 300 per month, with each merchant eligible to win up to Rs 1800 in 6 months.
What is BHIM Aadhar app?
BHIM Aadhar is a new Aadhar Payment App is a new Android smartphone application being launched by the Narendra Modi government to encourage the use of digital payments. BHIM Aadhar Pay smartphone payment app would also eliminate the fee currently being charged by the private card companies such as 'MasterCard' and 'Visa'.
Who should install Aadhar Pay app?
Aadhar Pay App is need to be installed by merchants only i.e. only the shopkeepers, showrooms need to install aadhar pay app and the users who wants to pay using aadhar pay only need to link their aadhar number with their bank accounts. Shopkeepers/ Merchant can download aadhar pay to take payments from customers from their aadhar linked bank accounts using their biometric scan.
How to download BHIM Aadhar Pay app?
Merchants would just need to download the Aadhar Pay App and connect their smartphones to the biometric scan machine to accept the payments from customers. The merchants would also be required to connect their bank accounts and register themselves on the app.
The application can be downloaded from the Google Play Store by searching for 'Aadhar Pay' and clicking the download link.
How it works?
Merchants would be required to download the BHIM Aadhar Pay payment app on their android smartphone connected to a biometric reader. The biometric reader is currently available for just Rs 2000. If a customer wants to make payment, then he/she just need to enter his Aadhar Number in the app and select the bank from which the payment is to be made and use the biometric scan as the password for the transaction.
Upon entering the Aadhar Number, the app would automatically fetch the bank accounts linked with your Aadhar number, then the customer can make the selection of bank for payment as per his/her choice
How will it help?
How will it help?
The Aadhar Pay App for merchants would help eliminate the long waiting period and hassle of getting a new POS (Point of Sale) machine. At present there are only 15 lakh POS machines deployed by the banks across the country. SBO alone has deployed over 3 lakh terminals followed by HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank.
BHIM Aadhaar Pay app is made available on a merchant's smartphone. Customers can pay the merchant by selecting the Bank's name and filling only one field on the merchant's phone - the Aadhaar number. The customer's fingerprint is the password used to authenticate the transaction.
Customers need not use debit or credit cards, download mobile applications or even carry a mobile to make cashless transactions. The solution eliminates the hassles of remembering passwords, account numbers, or setting up of virtual payment addresses and using USSD codes to transfer money.
The acceptability of digital payments has also been very poor among the merchants in the country. One of the biggest reasons behind this is India being a cash dominated country and 2%-3% charges taken by the card companies such as Visa and MasterCard.
The lack of connectivity has also made it difficult for the merchants in the country to adopt digital payment systems. There are about 5 Crore merchants in the country at present and only 15 lakh POS machines for a population of more than 125 crore.
Not only for the merchants, the BHIM Aadhar Payment would also be helpful for customers to get rid of their stacks of plastic money, confusing sets of passwords and their digital payment accounts passwords being stolen. Also, the customers need not to download a digital payment wallet or even a smartphone.
Customer benefits:
Customers don't need to have an android phone or any other technology to make payments. No service tax or any other extra charge on the payments using Aadhaar payments app. There is no need to carry debit card or credit card. No need to remember PINs, MPINs and passwords. Instant Payments through aadhaar bridge system this is similar to Aadhaar Enabled Payment system (AEPS). Affordable payment solution for merchants as well as customers.
Infosys Q4 results: CEO Vishal Sikka's salary drops 40% after lacklustre performance
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Following lacklustre performance of Infosys in the final quarter of FY17, the first non-founder CEO and MD of the company, Vishal Sikka's annual compensation has dropped by 40 per cent.
Sikka, who has a fixed compensation of $3 million, took home a salary of $6.7 million for the last fiscal, instead of $11 million that included variable pay based on performance targets.
Sikka received only $3.68 million of his target variable compensation of $8 million for 2016-17.
The drop in Sikka's take home pay for 2016-2017 comes amid IT firm's lack of success in achieving the target of double-digit growth.
Sikka's $11 million compensation is mainly through restricted stock units, whose value will do well only if the company does well.
India's second-largest software exporter on Thursday posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 3,603 crore for the January-March quarter of FY17. It had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 3,708 crore in the October-December quarter of FY17.
Last year, Sikka took home an annual salary package of $7.45 million (about Rs 48.73 crore) for the 2015-16 financial year.
Differences have come to the fore between the promoters of Infosys Ltd and the board over the high salary of Chief Executive Officer Vishal Sikka and the hefty severance packages given out two top executives recently.
Sikka's annual pay package during 2015-16 worked out to a whopping Rs 49 crore which is much higher than his counterparts in other Indian IT companies. While the then TCS chief N. Chandrasekaran was paid a pay packet of Rs 25.6 crore by the Tata Group for 2015-16, Wipro CEO Abidali Neemuchwala's annual pay was Rs 12 crore.
Infosys' tepid performance in 2016-17 performance has made it very hard for the company to meet Sikka's aspiration to hit $20 billion revenue target by 2020-21.
Earlier, Infosys founder, N R Narayana Murthy had criticized the proposed salary hike of Chief Operating Officer (COO) Pravin Rao.
Questioning a steep hike in compensation of the COO, Murthy had said, "Giving nearly 60% to 70% increase in compensation for a top level person when the compensation for most of the employees in the company was increased by just 6% to 8% is, in my opinion, not proper."
"The impact of such a decision will likely erode the trust and faith of the employees in the management and the board. With what conscience can a decent person like Pravin tell his juniors that they should work hard and make sacrifice to reduce cost and protect margin," he had said.
Batting for maintaining a reasonable ratio between the lowest salary and the highest salary, Murthy said, "I have always felt that every senior management person of an Indian corporation has to show self restraint in his or her compensation and perquisites.
In his letter, Murthy said that without compassionate capitalism, this country cannot create jobs and solve the problem of poverty. "Experts tell me that capitalism may come to an end in the not-so-distant future if the current corporate leaders do not heed this advice in India."
NR Narayana Murthy, Kris Gopalakrishnan and Nandan Nilekani had also written to the company's board raising concerns including the pay hike given to Chief Executive Vishal Sikka.
Following lacklustre performance of Infosys in the final quarter of FY17, the first non-founder CEO and MD of the company, Vishal Sikka's annual compensation has dropped by 40 per cent.
Sikka, who has a fixed compensation of $3 million, took home a salary of $6.7 million for the last fiscal, instead of $11 million that included variable pay based on performance targets.
Sikka received only $3.68 million of his target variable compensation of $8 million for 2016-17.
The drop in Sikka's take home pay for 2016-2017 comes amid IT firm's lack of success in achieving the target of double-digit growth.
Sikka's $11 million compensation is mainly through restricted stock units, whose value will do well only if the company does well.
India's second-largest software exporter on Thursday posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 3,603 crore for the January-March quarter of FY17. It had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 3,708 crore in the October-December quarter of FY17.
Last year, Sikka took home an annual salary package of $7.45 million (about Rs 48.73 crore) for the 2015-16 financial year.
Differences have come to the fore between the promoters of Infosys Ltd and the board over the high salary of Chief Executive Officer Vishal Sikka and the hefty severance packages given out two top executives recently.
Sikka's annual pay package during 2015-16 worked out to a whopping Rs 49 crore which is much higher than his counterparts in other Indian IT companies. While the then TCS chief N. Chandrasekaran was paid a pay packet of Rs 25.6 crore by the Tata Group for 2015-16, Wipro CEO Abidali Neemuchwala's annual pay was Rs 12 crore.
Infosys' tepid performance in 2016-17 performance has made it very hard for the company to meet Sikka's aspiration to hit $20 billion revenue target by 2020-21.
Earlier, Infosys founder, N R Narayana Murthy had criticized the proposed salary hike of Chief Operating Officer (COO) Pravin Rao.
Questioning a steep hike in compensation of the COO, Murthy had said, "Giving nearly 60% to 70% increase in compensation for a top level person when the compensation for most of the employees in the company was increased by just 6% to 8% is, in my opinion, not proper."
"The impact of such a decision will likely erode the trust and faith of the employees in the management and the board. With what conscience can a decent person like Pravin tell his juniors that they should work hard and make sacrifice to reduce cost and protect margin," he had said.
Batting for maintaining a reasonable ratio between the lowest salary and the highest salary, Murthy said, "I have always felt that every senior management person of an Indian corporation has to show self restraint in his or her compensation and perquisites.
In his letter, Murthy said that without compassionate capitalism, this country cannot create jobs and solve the problem of poverty. "Experts tell me that capitalism may come to an end in the not-so-distant future if the current corporate leaders do not heed this advice in India."
NR Narayana Murthy, Kris Gopalakrishnan and Nandan Nilekani had also written to the company's board raising concerns including the pay hike given to Chief Executive Vishal Sikka.
Income Tax Department to investigate deposits of Rs 5-10 lakh now under second phase of operation 'clean money'
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The black money hoarders cannot breathe easy anymore as the Income Tax Department on Friday commences the second phase of operation black money. The I-T department identified over 60,000 entities for the second round of its investigation.
The move comes after a poor response to the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY), an income declaration scheme which forced the Income Tax department to launch another drive to catch hold of tax evaders who could have deposited large sums during the demonetisation period.
The first phase of operation clean money which was launched on January 31, scrutinised cash deposits of over Rs 10 lakh. The second phase however, would recongnise the deposits between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh.
According to Central Board of Direct Taxation (CBDT), the I-T dept has detected unaccounted income worth Rs 9,334 crore after the demonetisation till February 28th, 2017.
"More than 60,000 persons, including 1,300 high risk persons, have been identified for investigation into claims of excessive cash sales during the demonetisation period. More than 6,000 transactions of high value property purchase and 6,600 cases of outward remittances shall be subjected to detailed investigations (under Operation Clean Money II). All the cases where no response is received shall also be subjected to detailed enquiries," the CBDT said.
The CBDT said the category of people who will undergo "detailed investigations" as part of the next phase of the operation include businesses claiming cash sales as the source of cash deposits, like petrol pumps and other essential services like hospitals, which is found to be excessive compared to their past profile or industry norms during the notes ban period.
It will also probe those government or Public Sector Undertaking employees who made "large cash deposits", people who have undertaken high value purchases, those who "layered" or laundered funds by using shell companies and those who did not respond to taxman's queries under the first phase of the said operation.
A senior officer said there is no threshold of deposits that has been identified under the latest operation and all suspicious and similar inter-related transactions have been chosen and brought under it.
"The deposits under scrutiny of the latest operation are no doubt high value ones," he said.
The officer added that while the initial communication to these 60,000 people will go via the online medium, the taxman will also undertake search and survey action and also seek physical documents from the assessee as part of the operation.
The CBDT said the complete exercise of examining "all the doubtful and non-tax compliant accounts" may take more than an year to complete but with the help of technology and continuous enforcement action all the liable accounts will be brought to task.
The latest operation has been initiated based on "identification" of huge cash deposits through use of advanced data analytics "including integration of data sources, relationship clustering and fund tracking".
The CBDT said the taxman also undertook "extensive enforcement action" of search, survey and seizure post demonetisation and has detected undisclosed income to the tune of Rs 9,334 crore between November 9 and February 28.
"More than 2,362 search, seizure and survey actions have been conducted by the department...leading to seizure of valuables worth more than Rs 818 crore, which include cash of Rs 622 crore and detection of undisclosed income of more than Rs 9,334 crore," it said.
"More than 400 cases have been referred by the tax department to the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI. Surveys have been conducted in more than 3,400 cases by assessment units," the statement added.
The demonetisation of two high value currencies of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8 last year.
Under the first phase of the operation, it said, 17.92 lakh people, who entered into cash transactions that did not appear to be in line with their tax profile, were contacted via the online medium.
"Online queries were raised in 35,000 cases and online verification was completed in more than 7,800 cases," it said, adding the department has decided to close the verification in cases where explanation of source of cash was found to be justified.
"In cases where the cash deposit has been declared under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojna (PMGKY), the verifications would also be closed," it said.
The 'Operation Clean Money', the CBDT said, is being conducted by the tax department through use of advanced data analytics allowing "optimisation of government resources and causing minimum inconvenience to the taxpayers".
It added that the impact of government action is already visible in the increase of 21.7 per cent in the returns of income received in Financial Year 2016-17.
Sixteen per cent growth in gross collection was seen, the highest in the last five years, 14 per cent growth in net collection- the highest in last three years and above 18 per cent, 25 per cent and 22 per cent growth in personal income tax, regular assessment tax and self-assessment tax respectively.
The statement said the demonetisation exercise was aimed at the "elimination of black money that casts a long shadow of parallel economy on our real economy" and the latest operation is one of the major steps aimed to achieve this goal and also widen the tax base.
The black money hoarders cannot breathe easy anymore as the Income Tax Department on Friday commences the second phase of operation black money. The I-T department identified over 60,000 entities for the second round of its investigation.
The move comes after a poor response to the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY), an income declaration scheme which forced the Income Tax department to launch another drive to catch hold of tax evaders who could have deposited large sums during the demonetisation period.
The first phase of operation clean money which was launched on January 31, scrutinised cash deposits of over Rs 10 lakh. The second phase however, would recongnise the deposits between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh.
According to Central Board of Direct Taxation (CBDT), the I-T dept has detected unaccounted income worth Rs 9,334 crore after the demonetisation till February 28th, 2017.
"More than 60,000 persons, including 1,300 high risk persons, have been identified for investigation into claims of excessive cash sales during the demonetisation period. More than 6,000 transactions of high value property purchase and 6,600 cases of outward remittances shall be subjected to detailed investigations (under Operation Clean Money II). All the cases where no response is received shall also be subjected to detailed enquiries," the CBDT said.
The CBDT said the category of people who will undergo "detailed investigations" as part of the next phase of the operation include businesses claiming cash sales as the source of cash deposits, like petrol pumps and other essential services like hospitals, which is found to be excessive compared to their past profile or industry norms during the notes ban period.
It will also probe those government or Public Sector Undertaking employees who made "large cash deposits", people who have undertaken high value purchases, those who "layered" or laundered funds by using shell companies and those who did not respond to taxman's queries under the first phase of the said operation.
A senior officer said there is no threshold of deposits that has been identified under the latest operation and all suspicious and similar inter-related transactions have been chosen and brought under it.
"The deposits under scrutiny of the latest operation are no doubt high value ones," he said.
The officer added that while the initial communication to these 60,000 people will go via the online medium, the taxman will also undertake search and survey action and also seek physical documents from the assessee as part of the operation.
The CBDT said the complete exercise of examining "all the doubtful and non-tax compliant accounts" may take more than an year to complete but with the help of technology and continuous enforcement action all the liable accounts will be brought to task.
The latest operation has been initiated based on "identification" of huge cash deposits through use of advanced data analytics "including integration of data sources, relationship clustering and fund tracking".
The CBDT said the taxman also undertook "extensive enforcement action" of search, survey and seizure post demonetisation and has detected undisclosed income to the tune of Rs 9,334 crore between November 9 and February 28.
"More than 2,362 search, seizure and survey actions have been conducted by the department...leading to seizure of valuables worth more than Rs 818 crore, which include cash of Rs 622 crore and detection of undisclosed income of more than Rs 9,334 crore," it said.
"More than 400 cases have been referred by the tax department to the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI. Surveys have been conducted in more than 3,400 cases by assessment units," the statement added.
The demonetisation of two high value currencies of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8 last year.
Under the first phase of the operation, it said, 17.92 lakh people, who entered into cash transactions that did not appear to be in line with their tax profile, were contacted via the online medium.
"Online queries were raised in 35,000 cases and online verification was completed in more than 7,800 cases," it said, adding the department has decided to close the verification in cases where explanation of source of cash was found to be justified.
"In cases where the cash deposit has been declared under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojna (PMGKY), the verifications would also be closed," it said.
The 'Operation Clean Money', the CBDT said, is being conducted by the tax department through use of advanced data analytics allowing "optimisation of government resources and causing minimum inconvenience to the taxpayers".
It added that the impact of government action is already visible in the increase of 21.7 per cent in the returns of income received in Financial Year 2016-17.
Sixteen per cent growth in gross collection was seen, the highest in the last five years, 14 per cent growth in net collection- the highest in last three years and above 18 per cent, 25 per cent and 22 per cent growth in personal income tax, regular assessment tax and self-assessment tax respectively.
The statement said the demonetisation exercise was aimed at the "elimination of black money that casts a long shadow of parallel economy on our real economy" and the latest operation is one of the major steps aimed to achieve this goal and also widen the tax base.
Bank details on sale: Man arrested for stealing account information of 1 crore Indians; sold data at 10-20 paisa each
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Since demonetisation drive, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been encouraging digital transactions in the country. But the recent arrest of a man for allegedly supplying stolen credit cards data to call centres might make you think twice to adopt the same.
Delhi Police have arrested a man who allegedly was in possession of humoungous amount of data. He sold this information to fake call centres whose employees would in turn call the victims and try to obtain one time passwords (OTPs) from them.
The accused Puran Gupta (33) was arrested while Delhi Police were investigating a Citibank credit card fraud.
The police said the probe is underway and more arrests related to this scam are expected in the coming days. According to police, Sushil Chandra Rastogi, a resident of South Delhi lodged a complaint after someone transferred Rs 1.46 lakh from his credit card.
In his complaint that was filed on March 27, Rastogi said that he had received a call telling him that his Citibank credit card was blocked. The caller further told Rastogi that he needed to provide some details to reactivate the card. After Rastogi provided the required information, he found that Rs 1,46,000 was debited from his card to online merchants like PayU, Paytm, Olacabs, Mobikwik, RPSL, MMPL, TTSL, Vodafone bill pay etc.
The victim's family also claimed that when they told Citibank about the fraud, the bank did not help them after which they lodged a complaint with the police.
"Our family has been a loyal Citibank customer for two decades. We have three credit cards from the bank, but when we approached them, they did not help us at all. Then we approached the police, who asked us to write emails to the e-wallet companies, and they wrote some emails themselves so that some of that money could be retrieved," Rastogi's daughter-in-law was quoted as saying by DNA.
According to the Times of India, Delhi police in its investigation arrested a man named Ashish Jha. Jha has worked with many banks as a sales executive. In 2013, he started tele-calling for selling health insurance on his own web portal.
For his call centre, Jha used to buy information from data providers and this gave him the idea to get involved in the online credit card scam.
During the probe, he told police that he used to purchase the data of bank customers' credit cards from Puran Gupta, a resident of Pandav Nagar in east Delhi.
Police arrested Puran on April 10 from his office in South Ganesh Nagar. A laptop was also seized which had data of around 1 crore credit card users.
Puran Gupta worked as a data operator. The police said while working as a data entry operator, Puran got the idea that he can make money by selling the information as well. So, he started his own company in 2010.
Police said that Puran confessed that he used to provide details of different categories of people according to the requirement of his clients.
In 2010, Gupta had started a firm called 'First Step Services and Solutions'. On paper, the firm was created for data collection, data entry, data market research, and online promotion, according to DNA. It is also registered on JustDial.
The investigation further revealed that the data were purchased by Gupta's clients for 10-20 paise per account holder.
"The data of account holders was divided into various categories, depending on the withdrawal limit. Senior citizens and women were kept in the category of easy targets. Students applying for scholarships, and companies using WhatsApp and Facebook for promotional activities, were separate categories," DCP (south-east) Romil Baaniya told DNA.
Police said that fake callers use credit card data to target their victims. They used to trick them in believing that these calls were authentic.
Police added that when they call a target, they state the details like card number, card holder's name, his/her date of birth, which made people believing that these calls were legitamate.
The police also stated that the leader of the gang is based in Mumbai and is yet to be arrested.
Since demonetisation drive, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been encouraging digital transactions in the country. But the recent arrest of a man for allegedly supplying stolen credit cards data to call centres might make you think twice to adopt the same.
Delhi Police have arrested a man who allegedly was in possession of humoungous amount of data. He sold this information to fake call centres whose employees would in turn call the victims and try to obtain one time passwords (OTPs) from them.
The accused Puran Gupta (33) was arrested while Delhi Police were investigating a Citibank credit card fraud.
The police said the probe is underway and more arrests related to this scam are expected in the coming days. According to police, Sushil Chandra Rastogi, a resident of South Delhi lodged a complaint after someone transferred Rs 1.46 lakh from his credit card.
In his complaint that was filed on March 27, Rastogi said that he had received a call telling him that his Citibank credit card was blocked. The caller further told Rastogi that he needed to provide some details to reactivate the card. After Rastogi provided the required information, he found that Rs 1,46,000 was debited from his card to online merchants like PayU, Paytm, Olacabs, Mobikwik, RPSL, MMPL, TTSL, Vodafone bill pay etc.
The victim's family also claimed that when they told Citibank about the fraud, the bank did not help them after which they lodged a complaint with the police.
"Our family has been a loyal Citibank customer for two decades. We have three credit cards from the bank, but when we approached them, they did not help us at all. Then we approached the police, who asked us to write emails to the e-wallet companies, and they wrote some emails themselves so that some of that money could be retrieved," Rastogi's daughter-in-law was quoted as saying by DNA.
According to the Times of India, Delhi police in its investigation arrested a man named Ashish Jha. Jha has worked with many banks as a sales executive. In 2013, he started tele-calling for selling health insurance on his own web portal.
For his call centre, Jha used to buy information from data providers and this gave him the idea to get involved in the online credit card scam.
During the probe, he told police that he used to purchase the data of bank customers' credit cards from Puran Gupta, a resident of Pandav Nagar in east Delhi.
Police arrested Puran on April 10 from his office in South Ganesh Nagar. A laptop was also seized which had data of around 1 crore credit card users.
Puran Gupta worked as a data operator. The police said while working as a data entry operator, Puran got the idea that he can make money by selling the information as well. So, he started his own company in 2010.
Police said that Puran confessed that he used to provide details of different categories of people according to the requirement of his clients.
In 2010, Gupta had started a firm called 'First Step Services and Solutions'. On paper, the firm was created for data collection, data entry, data market research, and online promotion, according to DNA. It is also registered on JustDial.
The investigation further revealed that the data were purchased by Gupta's clients for 10-20 paise per account holder.
"The data of account holders was divided into various categories, depending on the withdrawal limit. Senior citizens and women were kept in the category of easy targets. Students applying for scholarships, and companies using WhatsApp and Facebook for promotional activities, were separate categories," DCP (south-east) Romil Baaniya told DNA.
Police said that fake callers use credit card data to target their victims. They used to trick them in believing that these calls were authentic.
Police added that when they call a target, they state the details like card number, card holder's name, his/her date of birth, which made people believing that these calls were legitamate.
The police also stated that the leader of the gang is based in Mumbai and is yet to be arrested.
General Awareness
PM Narendra Modi’s Nagpur visit to commemorate 126th birth anniversary of Dr. Ambedkar
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On April, 14, 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on a day-long visit to Nagpur for a series of programmes to commemorate 126th birth anniversary of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, the chief architect of Indian Constitution. Firstly, PM Modi visited sacred Deekshabhoomi and paid tributes to Dr. Ambedkar.
PM releases 2 special commemorative postal stamps – Deekshabhoomi and the twin pictures of Lord Gautam Buddha and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar
On the occasion of Dr. Ambedkars 126th birth anniversary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi released 2 special commemorative postal stamps. One stamp depicts ‘Deekshabhoomi’ in its full glory and the other stamp bears twin pictures of Lord Buddha and Dr. Ambedkar.
- ‘Deekshabhoomi’ is a sacred place associated with Dr. Ambedkar. On October14, 1956, Dr. Ambedkar along with his followers embraced Buddhism at this place.
PM Modi inaugurates new units in Koradi thermal power station in Nagpur
On April 14, 2017 PM Modi inaugurated several units of thermal power plants across Maharashtra, including three super-critical units (660 MWX3) at Koradi, two units (500 MW X 2) at Chandrapur and one of 250 MW at Parli.
- Other dignitaries present at the site were: Devendra Fadnavis – Chief Minister of Maharashtra, C Vidyasagar Rao – Governor of Maharashtra and Nitin Gadkari – Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Shipping.
PM launches BHIM-Aadhar Platform to facilitate digital payments
On April 14, 2017 PM Modi formally launched BHIM-Aadhaar platform for merchants at a function organized by the Niti Ayog at Mankapur Indoor Stadium in Nagpur.
- This BHIM-Aadhar platform has been developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and is based on the Unified Payment Interface (UPI).
- Every Indian citizen (including those who do not have access to smart phones, internet, credit/debit cards) will be able to pay digitally through BHIM-Aadhar platform by using their biometric data like thumb impression on the biometric reader of the merchant.
- Nearly 3 lakh merchants under 27 major banks, already have necessary arrangements in place to facilitate payments using the BHIM-Aadhaar app.
Pm Modi announces incentive platform for BHIM digital Platform
In a bid to encourage cashless transactions through the BHIM-Aadhar platform, PM Modi has announced two incentive schemes.
- Referral Bonus (for consumers): Existing users of BHIM app will get Rs. 10 cash bonus per successful referral. The individual, who adopts BHIM, too will get Rs. 10 credit.
- Cashback (for merchants): The merchants will get cashback for every transaction executed through BHIM-Aadhar platform.
- Rs. 495 crore has been allocated for the above mentioned Referral Bonus and Cashback schemes, which will be operational till October 14, 2017.
Other key events attended by PM Modi in Nagpur:
- Prime Minister graced the 100th and final Digidhan Mela in Nagpur.
- The Mega prize-winners of Lucky Grahak Yojana and Digidhan Vyapar Yojana were felicitated by the PM
- Around 75 townships were declared less-cash places.
- PM performed ground-breaking for 21 upcoming projects in state under Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana with an objective to realise the vision of ‘Housing for All by 2022’.
- PM also laid the foundation stones for IIM-Nagpur, new AIIMS and Indian Institute of Information Technology.
On April, 14, 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on a day-long visit to Nagpur for a series of programmes to commemorate 126th birth anniversary of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, the chief architect of Indian Constitution. Firstly, PM Modi visited sacred Deekshabhoomi and paid tributes to Dr. Ambedkar.
PM releases 2 special commemorative postal stamps – Deekshabhoomi and the twin pictures of Lord Gautam Buddha and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar
On the occasion of Dr. Ambedkars 126th birth anniversary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi released 2 special commemorative postal stamps. One stamp depicts ‘Deekshabhoomi’ in its full glory and the other stamp bears twin pictures of Lord Buddha and Dr. Ambedkar.
- ‘Deekshabhoomi’ is a sacred place associated with Dr. Ambedkar. On October14, 1956, Dr. Ambedkar along with his followers embraced Buddhism at this place.
PM Modi inaugurates new units in Koradi thermal power station in Nagpur
On April 14, 2017 PM Modi inaugurated several units of thermal power plants across Maharashtra, including three super-critical units (660 MWX3) at Koradi, two units (500 MW X 2) at Chandrapur and one of 250 MW at Parli.
- Other dignitaries present at the site were: Devendra Fadnavis – Chief Minister of Maharashtra, C Vidyasagar Rao – Governor of Maharashtra and Nitin Gadkari – Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Shipping.
PM launches BHIM-Aadhar Platform to facilitate digital payments
On April 14, 2017 PM Modi formally launched BHIM-Aadhaar platform for merchants at a function organized by the Niti Ayog at Mankapur Indoor Stadium in Nagpur.
- This BHIM-Aadhar platform has been developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and is based on the Unified Payment Interface (UPI).
- Every Indian citizen (including those who do not have access to smart phones, internet, credit/debit cards) will be able to pay digitally through BHIM-Aadhar platform by using their biometric data like thumb impression on the biometric reader of the merchant.
- Nearly 3 lakh merchants under 27 major banks, already have necessary arrangements in place to facilitate payments using the BHIM-Aadhaar app.
Pm Modi announces incentive platform for BHIM digital Platform
In a bid to encourage cashless transactions through the BHIM-Aadhar platform, PM Modi has announced two incentive schemes.
- Referral Bonus (for consumers): Existing users of BHIM app will get Rs. 10 cash bonus per successful referral. The individual, who adopts BHIM, too will get Rs. 10 credit.
- Cashback (for merchants): The merchants will get cashback for every transaction executed through BHIM-Aadhar platform.
- Rs. 495 crore has been allocated for the above mentioned Referral Bonus and Cashback schemes, which will be operational till October 14, 2017.
Other key events attended by PM Modi in Nagpur:
- Prime Minister graced the 100th and final Digidhan Mela in Nagpur.
- The Mega prize-winners of Lucky Grahak Yojana and Digidhan Vyapar Yojana were felicitated by the PM
- Around 75 townships were declared less-cash places.
- PM performed ground-breaking for 21 upcoming projects in state under Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana with an objective to realise the vision of ‘Housing for All by 2022’.
- PM also laid the foundation stones for IIM-Nagpur, new AIIMS and Indian Institute of Information Technology.
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