Small savings schemes interest rates lowered

The government has reduced the interest rates on small savings schemes such as the Senior Citizen Savings Scheme, Public Provident Fund, Kisan Vikas Patra and the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, according to a notification issued on Friday.

The rate for the five-year Senior Citizen Savings Scheme has been reduced to 8.6% from 8.7%. The five-year National Savings Certificate rate has also similarly been reduced to 7.9% from 8%. Deposits in the Public Provident Fund will now fetch an interest of 7.9% compounded annually, down from the 8% earlier.



The rate for the Kisan Vikas Patra scheme has been modified to 7.6% which will mature in 113 months, compared with the earlier 7.7% which matured in 112 months. The rate for one, two, and three-year time deposits has been reduced to 6.9% from 7%, compounded quarterly. The rate for five-year time deposits has been reduced to 7.7% from 7.8%.



The Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana would now fetch an interest rate of 8.4% compared with 8.5% earlier.

Guinness World Records nod for Bilaspur police’s ‘rakhi with khaki’

The “rakhi with khaki” initiative of Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur police, in which girls and women tied rakhis to 50,033 police personnel, has been acknowledged by the Guinness World Records.
The event, a brainchild of Bilaspur Superintendent of Police Sheikh Arif Husen, was held on August 25, a day before Raksha Bandhan, and had women and girls from local schools and colleges tying rakhis over a span of ten hours and then uploading selfies with hashtags #rakhiwithkhaki and #HappyRakshaBandhan.

The Guinness World Records certificate was awarded to Bilaspur police at a function held at the Lakhiram Memorial Auditorium here on Saturday, Mr. Husen told PTI.
Prabhjot Sodhi, representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) India was the chief guest at the function on Saturday.
“The rakhi with khaki initiative aimed at reaching out to women and girls and assuring them of security. Besides, it was to make the festival special for police personnel who are on duty even during such occasions,” Mr. Husen said.


He added that Bilaspur police had started “samvedna kendra” at police stations to help women witnesses speak freely with the police about their problems.
Mr. Husen, a 2005 batch IPS officer, has earlier received the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) award twice for community policing initiatives during his tenure as SP of Bastar and Balod in the State.

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