Budget Session to start on January 31

Budget Session to start on January 31

• The Budget Session of Parliament will begin on January 31 and continue till April 6.The session will have 27sittings spread over 66 days with a nearly month long recess. The recess will be from February 14 to March 12 to examine the Budget papers. 
• Union Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman on December 16 indicated that her forthcoming Budget would continue to push growth on the back of public spending as she said it would “follow the spirit” of earlier Budgets.
• Scheduled to be presented on February 1, itwill be the fifth Budget of the Modi 2.0 government and the last full Budget before the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

Himachal Pradesh restores old pension scheme for 136,000 employees

• The just over a month-old Congress government in Himachal Pradesh at its first meeting, deciding to provide the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) to all government employees, covered under the defined contributory pension scheme or National Pension System (NPS), on the pattern of party-ruled Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
• This will benefit about 1.36 lakh NPS employees, an official statement said.
• The Cabinet also decided to constitute a Cabinet sub-committee for finalising the roadmap for implementation of its poll promises -- creating one lakh employment opportunities and granting Rs 1,500 to all women in the age group of 18 to 60 years.
• After Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Punjab, Himachal Pradesh has become another state that has replaced National Pension System (NPS) with Old Pension Scheme (OPS).

Santhi Kumari Appointed as First Woman Chief Secretary of Telangana

• Senior IAS Officer A Santhi Kumari has been appointed as the new Chief Secretary of Telangana. Santhi Kumari took charge as the first women Chief Secretary of the State at the Secretariat in BRK Bhavan. 
• Santhi Kumari will take charge over incumbent Somesh Kumar, who was relieved from the Telangana government by the Union Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).
• Santhi Kumari is a 1989 batch officer who hails from Andhra Pradesh and has become the first woman to be Chief Secretary of Telangana. She holds a post-graduation degree in Marine Biology, has pursued an MBA in the US, and worked in the United Nations programs for two years.