Department of Information and Public Relations

Press Release No. 366/18

DEPUTY CM INAUGURATES MEGHALAYA SKILL COMPETITION 2018

Deputy Chief Minister of Meghalaya, in-charge for Labour, Prestone Tynsong, on Tuesday inaugurated the Meghalaya Skill Competition 2018, at the Government Industrial Training Institute, Rynjah, Shillong, in the presence of Additional Chief Secretary to the Government of Meghalaya in-charge for Labour, Shri. M.S. Rao. Speaking on the occasion, Prestone insisted the trainees and participants to do well in the competitions that would be held during the next two days, as it could ultimately allow them to have further exposure to the outside world. He also iterated that the problem these days is that the unemployed youths always seek government jobs and that they do not make effort to use their potential skills and talents to their best to establish their own ventures and stand on their own feet. He also highlighted on the mindset of most parents that they send their children for education, with the only purpose that they should later be settled with government jobs, which is also one of the factors leading to unemployment. Furthermore, he urged the trainees to take advantage of their training programmes as their challenge, by using effective strategies to their best, so that it could fetch them a good run in the future. “Take opportunities to avail loans from banks to fetch capital for your business establishments in the future, if finance shortage is an issue”, he added.

In his Keynote Address M.S. Rao, mentioned the different skill fields which are enlisted as part of the competition, which include carpentry, automobile, electrical works, fashion technology, bakery and cooking, besides others. He also added that two winners in each category of competitions, will be awarded cash prizes and will be selected, to compete at the regional skill competition, which is scheduled to be held later this year in Bengaluru, for which if they perform well, they could even qualify for the global skill competition to be held in Russia in 2019. He also lauded on the mass participation this year, tallying to 140 participants and wished each of them their very best.

Press Release No. 367/18

MDR WAIVER AND REVISED BHIM INCENTIVE SCHEMES

With the aim to achieve the target 2500 crore digital payment transaction set for Financial Year 2017-2018, the Government of India vide Gazette Notification No. 6 (19)/2017-DPD-1, dated 27.12.2017, has waived off Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) applicable on Debit Card/BHIM/ UPI/Adhar Pay transactions less or equal to Rs. 2000/- in value for a period of two years with effect from 1st January 2018. Further, Government of India has also revised and extended BHIM Cashback Scheme for Individuals, BHIM Incentive Scheme for Merchants and BHIM Aadhar Merchant Incentive Scheme with effect from 1st April 2018 till 31st March 2019 for promotion and wider adoption of digital payment. These initiatives are aimed to promote digital transactions and also improve the adoption of digital payments in the country which had seen a significant growth from 1003 Cr in 2016-27 to 2600 Cr in 2017-18.