Food Safety and Standards (First Amendment) Rules, 2022

The amendment provides that the designated Officer under the rules shall be a whole time Officer, not below the rank of Sub-Divisional Officer or equivalent and shall possess a Bachelor’s or Master’s or Doctorate degree in Science with chemistry as one of the subjects or shall possess at least one of the educational qualifications prescribed for the Food Safety Officers under these rules or who has possessing not less than five years of experience as Food Safety Officers or has not less than seven years combined experience as Food Safety Officer and Food Inspector of which minimum four years as Food Safety Officer after commencement of the Food Safety and Standards Act.

UGC publicises its UGC SWAYAM Courses for January 2023 Semester

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued a notification regarding UGC SWAYAM Courses for January 2023 Semester. These include a total of four Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). These will be offered on the SWAYAM Platform from January 2023.

DGFT amends a part of Chapter 5 of the Handbook of Procedures, 2015-20

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has published a notice amending Chapter 5 of the Handbook of Procedures, 2015-20. This amendment relates to one-time relaxation from maintenance of Average Export Obligation and extension in the Export Obligation period for specified EPCG Authorisations. The notice was issued on January 20, 2023.

Ministry of Commerce & Industry relaxes the EPCG Scheme

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has issued a press release relaxing the Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) Scheme for Sectors Affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic. The press release has announced a one-time relaxation from maintaining average export obligation and an option to extend the export obligation period for a longer duration. These reliefs will be enabled without the necessity of having to pay any additional fees. This relaxation has been provided in light of the economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This relief will help the sectors to cope with the negative impact of the pandemic on their export activities

Meity invites comments from stakeholders on amendments proposed to Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021

Under the proposed amendment, the due diligence by intermediaries shall include making such efforts to not upload, publish, transmit or share information identified as fake or false by the Fact Check Unit of the Press Information Bureau, which takes cognizance of fake information both suo motu and by way of queries sent by citizens on its portal or through e-mail and WhatsApp and responds with correct information when the same pertains to the Government.