Patna: The NDA government in Bihar will be sworn in on Monday. Nitish Kumar will be the Chief Minister. The decision was taken at the NDA meeting. Departmental division talks are continuing in the NDA. The BJP has made claims in key departments, including home and education.

Nitish Kumar is leading the Bihar government for the fourth time in a row. The JDU has claimed that the JDU itself needs key departments. The JDU will not be able to stand on its own two feet as the Chief Minister has given his term. The BJP, which has more seats in the alliance, had also moved for this.

The former chief minister and Hindustani Awami Morcha leader Jitan Ram Manjhi has said he will not run for the ministry. Nitish Kumar had earlier met BJP, HAM, and VIP leaders. Nitish Kumar responded that the BJP would decide matters related to the LJP led by Chirag Paswan.

New Delhi: Al Qaeda is all set to carry out a series of bomb blasts in West Bengal, intelligence agencies have warned. The plan is to use the sleeper cells of terrorist organizations in the state to carry out the attack. The intelligence bureau submitted the report on November 5.

With foreign help, the plan is to mobilize local militant groups and organize a series of attacks. The intelligence agencies also found that the Pakistan-based Al Qaeda group was recruiting youths in West Bengal for terrorist activities.

The NIA received the information while questioning the terrorists who were earlier taken into custody. The warning also said that terrorists were targeting senior political leaders in the state.

The IB also said that recruitment centers have been set up in Karachi and Peshawar, Pakistan to attract and recruit Bengal youth into militant movements. The NIA has so far arrested 11 people working closely with terrorist organizations.

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government has backtracked on its move to reopen schools that fell during the lockdown following the coronavirus. The state government has withdrawn the decision to reopen the schools, which were closed by mid-March, on November 16. Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy had earlier announced that classes nine to plus two would be opened in the first phase.

Opinion surveys were conducted across Tamil Nadu for parents on whether schools should be reopened. Only 45 percent of parents took part in the survey. The state government informed the high court that more than 50 percent of the parents of the participants were of the opinion that the school should not be opened. The latest news is that schools and colleges will reopen only after the Pongal holidays in the face of opposition from parents. The committee was appointed to curtail the curriculum for classes 9 to 12, but the curriculum has not yet been released.

Earlier, the Madras High Court had asked the government to consider opening educational institutions after December. The court made the request while hearing public interest litigation challenging the government’s order to reopen the school on the 16th of this month. The court observed that the Chief Justice and others were suffering from the disease and that it was appropriate to extend the opening of the school.

The petitioners told the court that opening the school without controlling the coronavirus would lead to a second outbreak. Other state students and students from different districts are studying in colleges in Tamil Nadu. If the disease spreads, the disease will spread to the state and other states. The petition also states that the reopening of educational institutions that once served as coronavirus care centers is a matter of concern.

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Rosgar Yojana’ scheme to create new jobs. The scheme will be subsidized by the Central Government. The plan is for a retrospective effect from October 1 for the next two years. Newly recruited workers in EPFO registered companies with a monthly salary of less than Rs. 15,000 / – will be eligible for the benefit.

Major announcements

* Production Linked Incentive Scheme has been announced for ten major sectors including telecom and automobile. 1.46 lakh crore has been sanctioned for this.

* Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme extended till March 2021.

* The government will provide EPF share for two years. The government will provide employee and employer contributions to companies with up to 1,000 workers. This is 12 percent each. The government will pay the employees’ share in a company with more than a thousand employees. This is also 12 percent.

For the first time in history, the country’s economy has entered a recession, the RBI said in a news release. A team of economists, including RBI Deputy Governor Michael Pathra, has said that India is heading for a recession in the first half of the 2020-21 financial year. In the second quarter ending September, GDP fell by 8.6 percent, according to the RBI. Nowcasting is the current or near-future forecast of the country’s economy. This is the first time the RBI has published ‘Nowcast’. The National Statistical Office (NSO) reported in August that GDP had shrunk by 24 percent in the first quarter. The NSO is expected to release its second-quarter figures by the end of November.

New Delhi: All platforms using digital content, including online media, are now under the purview of the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. This also applies to OTT and shopping portals. The Central Government has issued an order in this regard. The rules of the Central Government will also apply to online media. News, contemporary information, the film, audio, and visual programs provided by online content providers will no longer be subject to central laws.

Online video streaming portals such as Netflix, Hotstar, Amazon Prime, and Jio Cinema will now be subject to the same censorship as TV channels. This is stated in the notification issued by the Cabinet Secretariat. So far the censorship terms did not apply to OTT platforms as they were outside the rules of the Censor Board. Moreover, in September, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting refused to support the Internet and Mobile Association of India’s (IAMAI) position that self-imposed restrictions were being used. More than 15 video streaming platforms have signed up to implement the Code of Self-Regulation under IAMAI.

In 2019, the then Information Minister Prakash Javadekar had made it clear that the Center would not take any action that would undermine media freedom. But he also made it clear that it would bring in some restrictions similar to those of print and visual media. From now on, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting will be empowered to decide the policy matters of online news and content on OTT platforms. The notification, signed by President Ramnath Kovind, will be implemented soon, the ministry said.

Currently, there are no rules for online portals in India. While the Press Council of India regulates the print media, TV channels operate under the Cable Television Networks (Regulations) Act. The TV channels came under the News Broadcasters Association. Advertising Standards Council of India examines the content of advertisements. There is also a Central Board of Film Certification to monitor movies. But so far there have been no rules or specialized organizations for digital content and OTT platforms.Public interest litigation was filed in the Supreme Court seeking to regulate OTT platforms and online portals. Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and Justices A.S. Bopanna, V. The bench comprising Justice Ramasubramanian had sent notices to the Center, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and IAMAI. It is reported that this is the decision of the Center.