LIC IPO only after 3 other PSU selloffs

The government is looking to complete at least three public sector disinvestment transactions before rolling out the mega initial public offer (IPO) of Life Insurance Corporation of India early next year, a finance ministry official said.At least three firms – National Fertilisers Ltd, Mishra Dhatu Nigam Ltd and Rashtriya Chemical & Fertilizers Ltd – will be divested through offer on sale, or OFS, route within the next quarter, the official said.“We expect that the LIC offer should hit the markets early next year, so by that time we should be able to complete these issues as already necessary approvals are in place,” he said.Earlier this month, the cabinet committee on economic affairs, or CCEA, gave its in-principle approval to list LIC.A 10% stake sale in the insurer could fetch around ₹1-1.5 lakh crore as per industry estimates. The government is simultaneously pursuing strategic disinvestment in companies such as Air India and BPCL.“We expect a good response for these OFS issues,” the above-quoted official said, adding that it may also launch the initial public offer of WAPCOS Limited where it plans to offload 25% stake.84839003The government will disinvest 20% stake in National Fertilizers where it holds 74% stake and will sell 10% each in Rashtriya Chemical & Fertilisers and defence PSU Mishra Dhatu Nigam (Midhani) where it holds 75% and 74% stakes, respectively, the person said.Earlier this week, the government sold 8% stake in Housing and Urban Development Corporation Ltd (Hudco) through the OFS route. The issue got subscribed almost two times by non-retail investors. So far in this fiscal, the government has garnered ₹7,646 crore through minority stake sale, of which ₹3,651 crore was from NMDC OFS and ₹3,994 crore from sale of SUUTI stake in Axis Bank.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/3zR8YVL

Tokyo Olympics: Improving Deepika keeps medal hopes alive

via Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Live Match Scores & Sports News Headlines, Results & more https://ift.tt/3zKpoiz

Olympics Live: India men look enter hockey quarterfinals

via Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Live Match Scores & Sports News Headlines, Results & more https://ift.tt/3zNnjlQ

Tokyo Olympics: No-fuss Pooja Rani shines on Olympic debut

via Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Live Match Scores & Sports News Headlines, Results & more https://ift.tt/3rSr0Ep

2nd T20I: Sri Lanka beat depleted India by 4 wickets to keep series alive

via Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Live Match Scores & Sports News Headlines, Results & more https://ift.tt/3ibgLaO

Now, students to be assessed on core concepts

The Centre will introduce ‘competency based assessments and examinations — SAFAL — for classes 3, 5 and 8 from this academic session onwards in keeping with the National Education Policy 2020.The NEP 2020 had strongly advocated a simpler assessment format to ensure learning levels are maintained.This was recommended against the ‘no detention’ policy under the Right to Education Act which is said to have had a detrimental affect on student learning levels.The SAFAL (Structured Assessment for Analysing Learning levels) will focus on testing for core concepts, application-based questions and higher order thinking skills.50 lakh students of more than 25,000 CBSE schools are expected to go through SAFAL assessment besides students from states/UTs who adopt this new framework.Vidya Pravesh—a 3-month play-based school preparation module for all grade 1 students—will also be introduced till universal provision of quality preschool education is achieved.The module is designed to bolster a child’s pre-literacy, pre-numeracy, cognitive and social skills. On the higher education side, the Academic Bank of Credit Regulations to promote flexibility and facilitate student mobility is set to come up. Further, over 100 institutions will allow multiple entry -exit from this year on.It is based on principle of Distributed & Flexible Teaching-Learning, that allows a student to learn as per his or her convenience, drop education mid-way and pick it up again as per their choice and convenience.Higher education institutions with NAAC “A”/NBA/Top NIRF-100/IOE/INI are eligible for the ABC platform.Delayed due to the pandemic, a Simplified and Transparent admission process to all central universities through Common Entrance Examination will be brought in by 2022-23.Work on regional languages in technical education has already started.Technical book writing in all scheduled Indian languages and translation of SWAYAM Courses of first year Engineering in 8 Indian Languages has been initiated. First year engineering ourses will be on offer in Indian languages at several instituets from the new academic session. 13 AICTE approved technical institutions will be imparting technical education in regional languages from the academic session 2021-2022 on pilot basis.Private institutes will be encouraged and incentivized to use Indian languages as medium of instruction and/or offer bilingual programmes. As envisaged under NEP 2020, revamped teacher education modules, guidelines for internationalisation of education and the setting up of NDEAR - to create a unifying national digital infrastructure to energise and catalyse the education ecosystem- will be launched this year, sources in the education ministry said.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/3BT51Sg

Juvenile Bill empowers DMs to authorise adoptions

The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill, 2021 to "strengthen" the child protection setup under the 2015 Act." The act now empowers district magistrates to sign adoption orders, and is an effort to make the process of adoption faster but more compliant with rules, minister for women and child development Smriti Irani said in the parliament on Wednesday.Government officials said the decision to amend the act was taken after the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) conducted a survey of children's shelter homes across the country, and found over 7,600 of them had deplorable living conditions. "We wrote to all of them but received replies from only 2,000 homes. Many did not have access to basic amenities such as water or proper food. Often children are forced to spend years in shelter homes because adoption processes take time. The final orders have to come from judges and judges are anyway overburdened. By shifting the accountability to the DM or ADM, we are working on the adoption process to get shorter and by increasing the background checks and punishment, we are sure it will be more law-compliant and child friendly," Priyank Kanoongo, chairperson of NCPCR, told ET.Irani in the parliament said that the changes will enable officials to finish the process of adoption in a time bound manner. As per the amended provisions of the act, Child Care Institutions will have to be registered after considering the recommendations of the district magistrate who will also independently evaluate the functioning of district child protection units, child welfare committees, juvenile justice Boards, specialised juvenile police units among others.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/3zO9jbs