Death toll goes up to 149 in China's earthquake
Beijing (PTI): The death toll from the 6.2-magnitude earthquake that jolted northwest China earlier this week has risen to 149 with two people still missing.
The quake, the worst in nine years in the region, struck midnight on December 18 at a depth of 10 kilometres.
The Quake hit Jishishan County, Gansu Province, and Minhe County in the neighbouring Qinghai Province last Saturday causing heavy death and destruction.
The death toll in Qinghai Province has risen to 32 while two people are still missing, the Qinghai Emergency Management Department said on Monday. Search for the two missing people was continuing, the department said.
The death toll in Gansu Province stood at 117 and 781 people in injured. About 200 people were injured in the Qinghai quake.
Chinese Premier, Li Qing visited the quake-hit areas on Saturday and asked the rescue and relief teams to make sure that people live through the winter safely.
So far, about 500 individuals have been discharged from the hospital after receiving treatment, while 282 people remain under treatment. Among them, 17 are in critical condition and 69 are severely injured, according to official media reports.
China's National Forestry and Grassland Administration (NFGA) has allocated disaster-relief materials to Gansu and Qinghai which included 1,335 pieces of cold prevention materials and communication equipment, state-run Xinhua reported.
Primary and secondary schools in Jishishan County, northwest China's Gansu Province resumed classes on Monday, state-run CGTN TV reported.
The quake was China's deadliest since an earthquake killed 617 people in Yunnan province in 2014.
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Karnataka government employees demand return of Old Pension Scheme
Bengaluru: Government employees in Karnataka have urged the state government to scrap the New Pension Scheme (NPS) and bring back the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), The New Indian Express reported.
The demand was made by the Karnataka State Government Employees’ Association, whose leaders met senior IAS officer Uma Mahadevan on Monday and submitted a memorandum. The association asked the NPS Review Committee, headed by senior IAS officer Anjum Parvez, to recommend the reintroduction of OPS in the state.
Association president C.S. Shadakshari reportedly said the review committee has already visited Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana where NPS was revoked and OPS re-implemented. The committee is yet to submit its report, but has told the government it will do so soon.
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Shadakshari allegedly said NPS has been in force in Karnataka since 2006. He pointed out that West Bengal never adopted the scheme, while Andhra Pradesh and Telangana replaced NPS with a contributory pension model.
States including Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Jharkhand have already scrapped NPS through cabinet decisions or budget announcements.
“Under NPS, 10% of the employees’ basic salary and DA, and 14% contribution from the state is credited to the employees’ fund. It constitutes 24% of the total which is non-withdrawable. This is invested in the share market and the final amount depends on the ups and downs of the market,” TNIE quoted Shadakshar as saying.
As per the report, he said that by limiting its contribution to 14%, the government could save up to ₹1.87 lakh crore annually if all vacancies are filled, strengthening the case for bringing back the old pension system.
