BLOG FROM RAKESH KUMAR JHA

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has recently announced new passport rules in India for the year 2018.  The MEA or the Foreign Ministry is a government agency, which is in charge of carrying out the foreign relations in India. The major changes that are already in effect and a few that will soon come into effect are listed below. New Passport Rules In India For 2018 The committee is all set to bring new rules this year and will come into effect from June 2018.  Here is an overview of the proposed passport changes in 2018: Passport’s last page will not include residential information According to the recent updates, the MEA is planning to eliminate printing the last page of the passport. The residential information of the person will not be printed but will remain in the government database. Since 2012, passports have a clear barcode, which upon scanning gives the details to the immigration officials. It is a measure taken to not to reveal much information than requi

MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT NOTIFICATION EPFO has issued a notification under which EPF  admin charges has been reduced to 0.65 percent from 0.85 percent earlier. Earlier EPFO had reduced the charges from 1.10 percent to 0.85 percent from 01.01.2015. The new rate of 0.65 percent is applicable on contribution for the month of April-2017 ,so you have to pay 0.85 percent for the contribution of March-2017. Present  Contribution under  Employee Pension Scheme (EPS), Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and  Employee Deposit Linked Insurance (EDLI) Scheme. RATES OF CONTRIBUTION Present Rates of Contribution under Employee Pension Scheme (EPS), Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and  Employee Deposit Linked Insurance (EDLI) Scheme BY CONTRIBUTION ACCOUNTS ADMINISTRATION ACCOUNTS EPF contribution EPS EDLI EPF @@ EDLI @@ EMPLOYEE 12% /10%  0 0 0 0 EMPLOYER Difference of EE share and Pension Contribution 8.33% 0.5% 0.85% !![w.e.f. 01-01-2015] 0.01% 10% rate is applic

Microsoft is working on to fix crashing and freezing issues with  Google 's  Chrome  browser with its new "Windows 10 April 2018" update which could be ready for next week's scheduled patch. "The software maker was forced to delay rolling out its Windows 10 April 2018 Update due to  Blue Screen of Death  (BSOD) issues last month and now it's facing these fresh issues with Chrome and the 'Hey Cortana' feature," The Verge reported late on Thursday. Several Chrome users reported bugs after installing the latest update and the software giant reportedly said it was aware that devices could totally hang and lock up when using the latest  Windows 10 update  and Chrome. The monthly Windows 10 updates typically include new features such as the recent "Timeline" activity log and seek to squash bugs -- such as the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities Microsoft added defences for last month. Microsoft has suggested users affected

Google’s annual developer conference, Google I/O is less than a few days away. As always, the search giant is geared up to make some big announcements. Among other things, one key announcement that is expected is around an Android OS designed for Internet of Things ( IoT ). Dubbed  Android Things 1.0 , the concept made its first appearance in December 2016. Now, Google is ready for a full roll out of Android Things 1.0. As the name suggests, Android Things 1.0 is an OS designed for making developers’ task easier while working on smart displays, kiosks and digital sign boards. Interestingly, device manufacturers won’t be allowed to change Android Things’ code related to software updates. If this is the case, then Google would have overcome the problem of device makers not updating software regularly. This could make IoT more viable as there will be regular updates available. While it’s still unclear how and what Google intends to do with Android Things 1.0, a full roll-out will be

After making inroads into India’s payments sector via  WhatsApp ,  Facebook  is eyeing a larger piece of the country’s fast-growing ecommerce market where the world’s largest retailers  Amazon  and  Walmart are gearing up for a direct faceoff. The social media giant is in talks with several brands and businesses to list on  Facebook Marketplace , according to two people familiar with the discussions. It will begin testing business-to-consumer transactions on the marketplace this month ahead of a soft launch planned for June, one of them said. Facebook “will build more tools (on its marketplace) for businesses to upload products and manage inventory and orders, and will also add payments to it by the end of this year”, the other person said. “For now, Facebook will start with directing consumers to sellers’ (Facebook) pages or websites.” Facebook launched its marketplace as a consumer-to-consumer interface in India about six months ago only to receive a lukewarm response to its at