#public provident fund scheme

[bricksnwallbusiness]

What is the Public Provident Fund Scheme?

All people can invest tax-free through the Public Provident Fund (PPF) savings plans. The government launched the program to promote people's investing and saving behaviours. The system was first announced on June 15, 1968, via GSR 1136. Since then, numerous changes have been made. A new scheme has now been announced by the government, according G.S.R. 915(E), dated December 12, 2019.

A ₹1,50,000 maximum deposit is allowed in a fiscal year, with a ₹500 minimum requirement.

From the third to the sixth fiscal year, a lending facility is offered.

Annual withdrawals are allowed starting with the seventh fiscal year.

After fifteen complete financial years have passed since the account's opening, it matures.

With new deposits, the account can be extended after maturity for an unlimited number of 5-year blocks.

Following maturity, interest can be accumulated at the current rate on an ongoing basis, provided no additional deposits are made.

There is no court ruling or decree that could lead to the attachment of the funds in the PPF account.

Under Income Tax Act Section 80-C, deposits are deductible.

Section 10 of the Income Tax Act exempts the interest earned in the account from income tax.

Overview of Public Provident Funds 

Eligibility for Public Provident Funds

Any authorized bank, post office, or nationalized bank may open PPF accounts. Form 1 must be submitted along with the necessary paperwork and the required minimum deposit in order to start a PPF account.

Can I open two PPF accounts? 

Under the PPF plan, a person is only allowed to register one account in his name. Furthermore, a person may register a single PPF account in the name of each juvenile or mentally ill person for whom he is the legal or natural guardian. It should be mentioned that any guardian of a kid or someone mentally ill may only open one account in their name. It is not possible to open joint accounts under this scheme 

Repercussions for not making the required minimum payment into the account

The account will be deemed cancelled if the depositor does not make the required number of deposits in the subsequent years. However, if the minimum yearly deposit of Rs. 500 is paid for each year of default, together with a penalty of Rs. 50 for each year of default, the account can be reopened during its maturity period. The amount that the investor deposits in the account will not be increased by the amount of the fee.

The account holder will only be permitted to open a new account following the account's closure upon maturity if their PPF account is deemed abandoned. Additionally, the facility for loans and partial withdrawals shall not be available. 

The amount in the closed account will still accrue interest at the rate that is periodically relevant to the scheme, even if it is not reopened.

PPF Withdrawal Guidelines

When is it possible to withdraw money?

Only five years from the end of the year the account was opened may money be taken out of the PPF account prior to maturity. If a juvenile or someone mentally incompetent opens the account, withdrawals can be made whenever it's convenient for them, as long as they're still alive.

Maximum amount that can be taken out

A maximum of 50% of the balance in the account's credit at the end of the year immediately prior to the withdrawal or at the end of the previous year, whichever is smaller, may be taken from the PPF account.

If the account has received deposits after maturing, the total amount of withdrawals made throughout the five-year block period cannot exceed 60% of the credit balance at the beginning of the block period. One may choose to make this withdrawal in one lump sum payment or in yearly installments. However, no more withdrawals will be permitted if the account user decides to keep the account open without making any more deposits.

How Can I Take Out My PPF Amount?

The Form 2 application must be submitted. On the other hand, the guardian must provide a certificate if the withdrawal is made from the account on behalf of a minor or someone who is not of sound mind.

Additional circumstances

Before submitting an application for such a withdrawal, the account holder must refund any outstanding debt, including interest, if any has been acquired against the account;

The withdrawal option is only accessible once a year; withdrawals cannot be performed from accounts that have been closed or from account extensions in which the account holder chooses not to make any more deposits.

Is it possible for a Non-Resident to open a PPF account?

It was forbidden for non-residents to invest in the PPF under the prior structure. Nothing in the new plan forbids non-residents from doing anything. Therefore, anyone can choose to use this program, resident or not.

However, in order to open an account under the plan, the applicant needs to submit Form 1, which certifies that they are an Indian citizen living in the country. It is uncertain if Section 2(v)/2(w) of the FEMA Act or Section 6 of the Income-tax Act will be used to determine this residential status.

Therefore, the applicant will not be permitted to sign such a declaration if he is a foreign national or a non-resident of India (as defined by both Acts). Therefore, Form 1 will prevent a non-resident citizen from signing and submitting the application in Form 1, even when the scheme's limitation has been removed. Unlike the previous scheme, if the account holder becomes a non-resident at any point after choosing it, he will not have to cancel the accounts and only need to submit a declaration to an accounts officer stating his change in residency.

[techandtravel]

Small Savings Schemes 2024-New Interest Rates

Small Savings Schemes 2024 Small Savings Schemes 2024The Inside Scoop on Interest RatesMeet the RatePost Office Plans: What’s Changing?The Money Math: How Rates Are SetPPF Stays Put: No Changes HereBanks vs. Small Savings SchemesSavings Showdown: Big Banks vs. Post Office Small Savings Schemes 2024- The government just spilled the beans on interest rates for small savings schemes from January…

[world-of-wales]

BREAKING NEWS -

THE ROYAL FOUNDATION BUISNESS TASKFORCE FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD RELEASES NEW REPORT!

Business investment in early childhood could unlock £45.5bn in value a year for the UK economy, according to a report by a taskforce created by the Princess of Wales.

In the report, CEOs from eight leading companies urged “businesses of all sizes across the UK, to join us and help build a healthy, happy society for everyone”.

The report by the Royal Foundation Business Taskforce for Early Childhood, set up by the princess in March 2023, said the figure included £12.2bn from equipping people with improved social and emotional skills in early childhood, £16.1bn from reducing the need to spend public funds on remedial steps for adverse childhood experiences and £17.2bn from supporting parents and caregivers of under-fives who work.

The princess, who announced in March she was undergoing preventive chemotherapy after a cancer diagnosis, was said to be “excited” by the report.

A Kensington Palace spokesperson said the release of the report should not be seen as the princess returning to work, but she has been kept fully up to date and seen the report.

Taskforce members announced new initiatives, including:

The Co-operative Group creating a specific early childhood fund as part of its unique apprenticeship levy share scheme, and committing to raise £5m over the next five years, creating more than 600 apprenticeships.

Deloitte focusing its ongoing investment in Teach First to include the early years sector for the first time, supporting 366 early years professionals in 2024.

NatWest Group extending its lending target for the childcare sector to £100m, launching an early years accreditation scheme to its staff and producing a financial toolkit for childcare providers to help them grow and succeed.

Ikea UK and Ireland expanding its contribution of support, design expertise and products for babies and young children to six new locations across the UK to help families with young children experiencing the greatest disadvantage.

The Lego Group donating 3,000 LEGO® Education Build Me “Emotions” sets, supported by training materials, to early years providers in the UK.

Christian Guy, the executive director of the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, said it was a “rallying cry” to business leaders to “transform the way our country supports the vital early years”.

The princess, Guy said, “feels passionately about the transformational impact of getting this right, together with business, both for the current generation and many more to come. She is looking forward to seeing momentum grow in the coming months and years.” The work of the centre was “rolling on while she recovers”, he added.

The Royal Foundation Business Taskforce for Early ChildhoodThe taskforce – comprising CEOs from the Co-operative Group, NatWest, Unilever, Ikea, Iceland Foods, Aviva, Deloitte and Lego – identifies five areas in which businesses can make the greatest impact for children under five, the adults around them, the economy and wider society.

These are: building a culture prioritising early childhood within businesses, local communities, and wider society; helping the families facing the greatest challenges access the basic support and essentials they need; offering parents and carers greater support, resources, choice, and flexibility with their work; prioritising and nurturing social and emotional skills in young children and the adults in their lives; and supporting initiatives that increase access to quality, affordable and reliable early childhood education and care.

[probablyasocialecologist]

“Under the most ambitious climate change mitigation scenario, food production is expected to decline by up to 25%,” the report reads. “Ambitious combinations of measures, including reducing food waste, using arable land to grow crops for direct human consumption rather than livestock feed (and thus implying a dietary change), and increased productivity on remaining farmland, could fully mitigate expected reductions in food production.” After the UK left the EU, farmers were no longer part of the Common Agricultural Policy subsidies scheme, which paid land managers according to the acreage they farmed. Instead the devolved nations have set up their own farming payments system. In England, this is the sometimes controversial Environment Land Management Scheme (ELMS), which pays farmers to make room for nature by letting hedges grow wilder, or sowing wildflowers for birds and bees on field margins. Anecdotally, farmers taking part in the schemes have noticed more wildlife, but until now no data has been available. The new government studies found that more mobile creatures, such as butterflies, moths and hoverflies, fared better when larger areas of land – a large farm or multiple small neighbouring ones – were involved in the scheme. Surveyed squares with high levels of eco-friendly schemes in the surrounding landscape had on average 117 more butterflies (a 53% increase), compared with the average for squares with low scores for schemes in the surrounding landscape. There were an average of 12 more moth species in areas with more eco-friendly schemes. Smaller, less mobile insects were boosted in smaller, more local areas signed up to the schemes. Numbers of barbastelle and Daubenton’s bats were also found to respond positively to eco-friendly schemes at the landscape level. Martin Lines, CEO of the Nature Friendly Farming Network, told the Guardian: “The evidence in the Natural England report confirms what many nature-friendly farmers are finding: delivering good-quality habitats, supported by public money, is helping to stop nature’s decline or even reverse it. Many farmers are pleased that their hard work is showing positive results, and with the support of well-funded ELMS, more farmers can deliver or help reverse nature’s decline.”

9 August 2024

[foreverlogical]

In a New York Times profile of the Michigan Republican Party, state Rep. Lisa McClain offers a quintessentially stoic midwestern insight about the ailing state party that perfectly sums up the GOP's national dynamic too.

“It’s not going real well," McClain told the Times' Nick Corasaniti.

“The ability to raise money," she continued, "we’ve got a lot of donors sitting on the sideline. That’s not an opinion. That’s a fact. It’s just a plain fact. We have to fix that.”

Though McClain was assessing the divide between the state's monied benefactors, such as former Trump Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, and its Trumpy grassroots activists, she may as well have been talking about national GOP donors' frantic search for a savior as the MAGA grassroots coalesce around Donald Trump for the 2024 nomination.

In fact, Corasaniti's piece—an anatomy of GOP dysfunction encapsulated by the Republican Party in a Rust Belt swing state—mirrors rifts emerging across the country at both the state and national levels. Corasaniti portrays a party coming apart at the seams after its drubbing in the '22 cycle in a state where Republicans roundly lost the gubernatorial contest, every statewide executive office (e.g., attorney general and secretary of state), and control of both legislative chambers. A hat trick, if you will.

The key cast of characters includes:

Tudor Dixon, 2022 gubernatorial nominee, Bible-thumper, anti-abortion activist, and former right-wing news host.

Fervent 2020 election deniers Kristina Karamo and Matthew DePerno, 2022 GOP nominees for secretary of state and attorney general, respectively.

Meshawn Maddock, former co-chair of the Republican Party and leader of Women for Trump, who has been charged in the fake elector scheme.

The DeVos family, longtime Republican Party donors and Michigan establishment heavyweights.

Every one of those is effectively a stand-in for similarly situated Republican players in GOP apparatuses around the country.

Following Michigan Republicans' midterm election implosion, a round of rapid-fire finger-pointing broke out, with MAGA party officials blaming Dixon for a toxic near-total abortion ban position and soft fundraising, Dixon blaming both the party and old-guard donors for her campaign's collapse, and party officials chastising donors for insufficiently funding their cuckoo election-denying candidates.

Corasaniti writes:

A state party autopsy days after the election, made public by Ms. Dixon, acknowledged that “we found ourselves consistently navigating the power struggle between Trump and anti-Trump factions of the party” and that Mr. Trump “provided challenges on a statewide ballot.”

True enough. On the national stage, every 2024 Republican hopeful but Trump is presently trying to thread the needle of enthusing high-dollar donors while managing to peel away pro-Trump voters open to alternatives.Campaign Action

Back in Michigan, establishment type Dave Trott, a retired GOP congressman and former state party donor, dished about the Republican elite's distrust of former GOP co-chair Maddock, a MAGA activist.

"Meshawn was never connected to the donor base, and so having her as the vice chair [of the party] for a lot of us was a showstopper,” Trott explained. "We just knew she would never be someone that would be rational in her approach to state party politics."

In response, Maddock expressed a reciprocal lack of trust in the party's establishment muckety-mucks.

“The state party needs the wealthy RINOs who often fund it to come to terms with what the actual voters on the right want,” Maddock told the Times. Wealthy donors, she added, need to treat the base "with an ounce of respect for once.”

The same could be said of national Republican donors who have never crossed paths with actual base voters and apparently still believe Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin can save them from Trump.

That same mutual distrust and disgust between establishment Republican donors and state party officials is also playing out in Georgia, where popular Republican Gov. Brian Kemp warned well-heeled donors earlier this year they could "no longer rely on" the state Republican Party to win elections. Kemp has effectively built a parallel political apparatus after urging donors to abandon the pro-Trump state party.

And then there are the anti-abortion zealots pointing fingers at everyone else for their own deeply unpopular position. Dixon's support for a strict abortion ban doomed her candidacy, just like the efforts of Ohio Republicans to ban abortion there sank an anti-abortion ballot measure earlier this month.

Following that loss, the nation's premier forced birther group, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life 

America, castigated establishment Republicans and the business community for not pulling their weight in the battle to pass the measure, which would have significantly raised the bar for enshrining abortion protections in Ohio's constitution.

All across the nation, the Republican Party is reckoning with the deal it cut with the devil. In swing states like Michigan and Georgia, red states like Ohio, and nationally, the GOP is cracking up as different factions variously cling to or reject Trump. The damage done may not be fully realized until voters cast their ballots next year, but the Republican Party is entering 2024 in a position so precarious that it almost defies historical comparison.

[ihatetaxes99]

I'll say it: I love the MLA, but they probably shouldn't have existed. Not in their canon state, at least.

Everything about their presence after their introductory arc only really serves to make everything to do with storytelling harder for Horikoshi. Let's remove the League from the equation for the moment. The MLA has Geten and Re-Destro, implied to be two of the more powerful characters in the series (and neither of whom were actually defeated during the MVA arc, with the latter only standing down due to losing his own faith in the battle), and that's without getting into the 100k+ foot soldiers they've got kicking around. Curious and Skeptic are fairly useless in regards to combat proficiency, but Hanabata provides another strong support pillar of the army. Even before you add in Shigaraki, Twice and Dabi, the MLA is overpowered.

And what did this lead to? A massively tangled operation where half of its members had to be unsatisfyingly knocked out off-screen because Horikoshi had accidentally made them too powerful to be conceivably beaten. And to be fair, it's a trap I fell into myself the last time I wrote them. The Liberation Army are very difficult to make threatening, because you have to gimp them in order for the heroes to not get immediately blown to pieces like a small child throwing a rock at the Berlin Wall. As it stands, they're too good.

So, in all this smug retrospect, what would I have done? Well, it's something I'm toying with for something I'm working on, but my main idea would be to cut the MLA down. Make them a real underground faction of extremists. They still have their primary figureheads, but that aside, give them a couple of hundred loyalists spread throughout the country, not a couple of hundred thousand. They're powerful, but they're low in number, with many of their forces consisting of people like Yotsubashi's private security team and Hanabata's party subordinates. Much like the IRB at the turn of the twentieth century prior to the Easter Rising, they're basically an old boys' club, sitting around and reminiscing on when the group had power. Their schemes have to be more subtle, more focused on the - ahem - hearts and minds of the public. Things like Detnerat's products and commercials, Curious' articles, Hanabata's proposed policies, they all subtly push a pro-Liberation message. They warm the general population up to the idea, they take advantage of the Commission's failures, they engineer public crises from behind the scenes to weaken people's belief in the current system. What if, for example, it had been the MLA who had secretly encouraged Overhaul's production of a Quirk-erasing drug, in the hopes that it would cause further unrest and fear that they could manipulate to turn public sentiment against the current government? What if they had provided funding to the League post-All for One's arrest in order to stir up more trouble, instead of getting in a big fight and losing half their men to Shigaraki? What if the UA traitor had been acting on orders from the MLA, who then relayed the information to the League for the purpose of essentially using them as their pawns to attack UA on their behalf? A secret society pulling the strings, and using the League as their unwitting patsies, behind the scenes to sow distrust in the Commission and set them up for their eventual failure. The final arc could have been less about whatever the hell it was about and more about the League finally realising what was going on and having a massive three-way battle between the heroes, the villains and the MLA who finally take to the streets after spending pretty much the whole story scheming and manipulating and building up their forces.

It's all fanfic stuff, and it's so easy to point and gape and go "I would do that so much better!" but I honestly think the secret society working to undermine the government angle would have been more interesting and made for a more threatening faction than a massive revolutionary army which gets immediately crumpled during their first major battle with the heroes.

[truth4ourfreedom]

HOW MUCH THE NRA AND THE 'EVIL' GUN LOBBY SPENDS EACH YEAR.

The popular narrative from prohibitionists is that the lack of legislative support for various gun control schemes is due to aggressive lobbying. The story goes that “blood money” from the National Rifle Association and other gun lobby efforts along with the firearm industry has a stranglehold on elected officials who are just pining to do “the right thing” but are being drowned out by all the cash.

How much money is actually spent by the NRA on lobbying? How does this compare to lobbying efforts from elsewhere?

Statista is a German online platform specializing in data gathering and visualization in German, English, Spanish, and French. The company provides statistics and survey results presented in charts and tables. Its main target groups are business customers, lecturers, and researchers, offering subscriptions to a database of companies in the same manner as Bloomberg L.P.

Statista’s data partners include the Federal Statistical Office, the Allensbach Institute for Public Opinion Research, the OECD, and the German Institute for Economic Research. Other partners include the Financial Times and Fortune. Financial Times Germany named them among the winners of the start-up competition, Enable to Start.

Major U.S. Political Lobbying

The big three in major U.S. political lobbying are Pharmaceuticals/Health Products ($357 million per year), Electronics Manufacturing ($180 million per year), and Insurance ($153 million per year.)

Major annual lobbying expenditures in the United States

www.statista.com/statistics/257364/top-lobbying-industries-in-the-us

Critical note: Statista felt compelled to add the following footnote to this chart:

The NRA and lobbying: One of the most famous lobbying organizations in the United States is the National Rifle Association (NRA), which lobbies lawmakers in favor of gun rights. However, despite this, it only spent around 2.2 million U.S. dollars on lobbying expenditures in 2020.

Apparently, they received so many inquiries as to why the NRA wasn’t included in that chart above they included the answer right underneath: the NRA spends a marginal fraction on lobbying compared to the actual big spenders.

NRA (bottom) compared to the actual big lobby efforts.

Gun Lobby Money:

The NRA typically spends a few million dollars per year on lobbying. From 1998-2022, the most the NRA spent on lobbying in a single year was just over $5 million. Most years it’s between 1.5-2.5 million.

www.statista.com/statistics/249398/lobbying-expenditures-of-the-national-rifle-associaction-in-the-united-states/

The National Shooting Sports Foundation also lobbies. In 2023, according to federal records, the NSSF spent the most in lobbying in its 60-year history: $5.4 million on federal lobbying, slightly more than the NRA’s all-time annual record amount.

Anti-Gun Lobbying:

Firearm prohibitionists claim there is some large grassroots movement to push for legislative restrictions. It turns out that many anti-gun organizations are astroturfing fronts funded as tax deductions by a small group of very wealthy donors. These “organizations” provide no services with all funding received as contributions.

As an example, “March for Our Lives” bills itself as a grassroots movement of young people working to restrict gun ownership under the guise of safety. In reality, this is a front group funded by a few dozen donors. According to public tax documents for March for Our Lives, the group is funded almost entirely by large tax-deductible donations in excess of $100,000 with less than 1% of all donations from people donating less than $5,000. Nearly 100% of “March for Our Lives” income is Contributions serving as a tax deduction for donors and no Program Services are offered. Contrast this to the NRA’s public tax records where nearly half of the income is from Program Services and about a third is from Contributions.

Lobby Money Breakdown

Pharmaceutical companies spend the most on lobbying, much more than any other industry or sector. Pharmaceutical companies spend more on lobbying than second and third place (Electronics Manufacturing and Insurance) combined. Novo Nordisk, the maker of the obesity drug Ozempic, has spent $10 million per year just to lobby for that one drug with their primary effort pushing for the passage of the proposed Treat and Reduce Obesity Act which would emphasize regular prescription by doctors to patients for Ozempic. That doesn't count the $100 million Novo Nordisk has spent in advertising this drug to the general public.

Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford, appointed to the current Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, has declared that “obesity cannot be treated with exercise and good diet” and is pushing for more pharmaceutical interventions. This push is for drug interventions such as Ozempic. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Stanford had been a paid consultant for Novo Nordisk.

[rockyp77mk3]

Mississippi and Kentucky have a high rate of Welfare recipients yet, they have a big Conservative influence in Government. Here are some forms of Socialism we have in America. Which of these would you get rid of?

Fire and Ambulance

Postal Service

Road and Bridge Maintenance

Social Security and Medicare

Farm Subsidies

Local Law Enforcement

The definition of socialism is a state where the government owns the means of production, distribution, and exchange. Private ownership in general and private sector business in particular are discouraged, prohibited, or regulated and taxed into extinction. In other words it is a system that seeks to destroy capitalism and centralize power.

Fire services, police departments, road infrastructure, and a postal system fall under the duties of a lawfully elected government. We the people authorize by vote and benefit from these things and they encourage prosperity under the capitalist system. These services in no way seek to control our ability to use a fire extinguisher, protect ourselves, or send an Email.

Farm subsidies can fall into the category of buying votes from the public coffer and while not socialist should be eyed critically.

Social security is a non voluntary retirement Ponzi scheme. In theory it should help workers who contribute to it have a retirement cushion. In reality politicians have raided the fund and used it for other purposes. It however is not socialist because it is an earned benefit. A better, private sector solution would be to allow workers to take their FICA and invest it independently.

Medicare, while not socialist has become something of an abomination that delivers very little of what was promised. There are better solutions.

For years people who tout Socialism as the be all-end all have pointed to roads, police, and fire departments as examples of the socialist dream. These people overlook the fact that these things, which we provide for ourselves, do not eliminate the concept of private property and resources which is the core to the socialist ideal.

[darkmaga-retard]

A radical censorship-obsessed group financed by leftist billionaire George Soros is doubling down on efforts to interfere in the 2024 election by turning the screws on Big Tech to censor speech and by manipulating journalists.

Free Press, fueled with at least $2 million by Soros between 2017 and 2021, announced that it was launching a new Orwellian scheme called “‘Democracy Is … .’” This so-called “new initiative” will deputize journalists through indoctrination by the Soros machine and engage the public on how to censor speech by supposedly “flagging disinformation” on social media platforms. In addition, Free Press pledged that the initiative would “provide other needed resources to influence media and technology platforms to better serve our communities and strengthen our democracy,” the press release boasted. [Emphasis added.]

The new “Democracy Is …” website sensationalized how “In an era of misinformation and manipulation, the role of media and tech matter more than ever,” offering chilling insights into where the Soros empire is zeroing its focus ahead of the November elections.

The coalition is a hodgepodge of leftist and Soros-backed groups. These groups include the “digital brownshirts” at the Center for Countering Digital Hate, whose entire modus operandi is pressuring Big Tech to censor views that don’t comport with leftist narratives on climate change, COVID-19 and other things. […]

[catherinetheprincessofwales]

May 2024: Invest in childhood to unlock £45.5bn a year, says Princess of Wales’s taskforce - The Guardian

Report from group set up by Catherine says business can improve early years and benefit all of society. Business investment in early childhood could unlock £45.5bn in value a year for the UK economy, according to a report by a taskforce created by the Princess of Wales.

In the report, CEOs from eight leading companies urged “businesses of all sizes across the UK, to join us and help build a healthy, happy society for everyone”.

The report by the Royal Foundation Business Taskforce for Early Childhood, set up by the princess in March 2023, said the figure included £12.2bn from equipping people with improved social and emotional skills in early childhood, £16.1bn from reducing the need to spend public funds on remedial steps for adverse childhood experiences and £17.2bn from supporting parents and caregivers of under-fives who work.

The princess, who announced in March she was undergoing preventive chemotherapy after a cancer diagnosis, was said to be “excited” by the report.

A Kensington Palace spokesperson said the release of the report should not be seen as the princess returning to work, but she has been kept fully up to date and seen the report.

Taskforce members announced new initiatives including:

The Co-operative Group creating a specific early childhood fund as part of its unique apprenticeship levy share scheme, and committing to raise £5m over the next five years, creating more than 600 apprenticeships.

Deloitte focusing its ongoing investment in Teach First to include the early years sector for the first time, supporting 366 early years professionals in 2024.

NatWest Group extending its lending target for the childcare sector to £100m, launching an early years accreditation scheme to its staff and producing a financial toolkit for childcare providers to help them grow and succeed.

Ikea UK and Ireland expanding its contribution of support, design expertise and products for babies and young children to six new locations across the UK to help families with young children experiencing the greatest disadvantage.

The Lego Group donating 3,000 LEGO® Education Build Me “Emotions” sets, supported by training materials, to early years providers in the UK.

Iceland Foods providing learning, awareness and support in all 1,000 Iceland and The Food Warehouse stores by featuring emoji posters at a child-friendly height – a practical tool to help customers with young children and to create a space of understanding and support in stores.

Christian Guy, the executive director of the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, said it was a “rallying cry” to business leaders to “transform the way our country supports the vital early years”.

The princess, Guy said, “feels passionately about the transformational impact of getting this right, together with business, both for the current generation and many more to come. She is looking forward to seeing momentum grow in the coming months and years.” The work of the centre was “rolling on while she recovers”, he added.

The taskforce – comprising CEOs from the Co-operative Group, NatWest, Unilever, Ikea, Iceland Foods, Aviva, Deloitte and Lego – identifies five areas in which businesses can make the greatest impact for children under five, the adults around them, the economy and wider society.

These are: building a culture prioritising early childhood within businesses, local communities, and wider society; helping the families facing the greatest challenges access the basic support and essentials they need; offering parents and carers greater support, resources, choice, and flexibility with their work; prioritising and nurturing social and emotional skills in young children and the adults in their lives; and supporting initiatives that increase access to quality, affordable and reliable early childhood education and care.

The authors are not lobbying the government for changes in policy, though the report has been briefed to No 10, the Department of Health and Social Care, and the Department for Education.

The report was not meant to be prescriptive, but rather a blueprint to start the conversation and encourage companies of any size to adopt initiatives, however small, its authors said.

[dailyadventureprompts]

Adventure: Storming the Door of Death

Having long used the energies of sundered souls to perform their rites and rituals, a coven of necromancers now seeks to create a portal to the underworld by gathering as many ghosts and other haunting spirits in one place as possible. As their experiment reaches critical mass, the sinister energies have even begun leaking into the land and sky, threatening to spill out across the land.

Hooks:

The town the party is staying in is buffeted by a supernatural storm, thunder sending ripples of unnatural fear through the populace while spectral figures stalk through the sheets of rain. Even as the bruise coloured clouds dissipate, the danger is not lifted, as the torrent seems to have brought with it an infestation of ghosts. With the local temples overtaxed putting the dead to rest, an apprentice level adventuring party could make reasonable coin ousting shadows from abandoned houses or attics above taverns, and wrangling furniture and other objects gone rogue through poltergeist activity.

While hunting a beast that’s been digging up the local cemetery, the party encounter a chipper young mystic who’s wandering through the plots collecting wayward soul wisps in an ornate lantern. She’s all too happy to talk, explaining that she’s part of a group called the order of the veils who want to help those spirits left behind by the church find peace. She’ll offer to show the party how to construct their own lantern, which will be of great aid to them should they encounter any more wayward spirits. Should the party end up “filling” one or more lanterns, she encourages them to travel to a particular clearing not far from the local crossroads and leave the lanterns hanging there for one of her fellow initiates to collect.

Several nobles and wealthy merchants with aging or sick loved ones have been surreptitiously approached by the Order of Veils for patronage, offering to one up any of the local clergy with promises regarding the afterlife: Why wait years to see your loved ones when you could have them back within your lifetime? These whispers have reached the ears of a cleric of the Raven Queen who wants the party’s help investigating this outwardly pious band. Apparently a prominent official was funding the construction of a public grave temple to honour the memory of his departed wife, but abruptly cut off his charity after the veils convinced him that his money was better used elsewhere. 

Background: Unlike other necromancers, many in the order of the veils really do believe (at least in part) that they’re doing something good,  providing succour and sanctuary for souls that’ve gone unclaimed by the divine or lost on the path to the afterlife. Their leadership has grander ambitions however, as the (self appointed) Deacon Maudry and her inner circle grow ever closer to opening a door into death itself. With such a portal, they imagine they will be able to step across the threshold of mortality with ease, not only able to return endlessly from death but to extract kingly ransoms from those who wish to do the same.

 On paper their scheme is surprisingly sound: hauntings have been known to create “lowspots” between the land of the living and the dead, and portals have spontaneously formed between the two realms when the conditions were right.  Get enough ghosts to induce the sinking effect, throw up some dimensional and necromatic wards, and it seems like you’d have a ready made portal into death. However, Maudry and co are brainpoisoned by a) reading nothing but necromancy literature for years b) being up their own asses and have failed to realize that once their chosen gateway ( a grand country manor abandoned after terrible murders took place) begins sinking into the shadowfell, they won’t be able to stop it, and will very likely drag them and everything within a few miles down with it and possibly create a new dread realm in the process.

[novankenn]

J/C - the Idols of Beacon

--==(Table of Contents) ==--

(Chapter Five - Scheme behind the Scheme )

"So how are things, progressing." Ozpin inquired as Glynda entered his office. "I assume Ms Adel was successful?"

"She was." Glynda replied without looking up from her tablet. "Though this is a relatively expensive... experiment. She's already gone through the entire allotment... which was supposed to last her a week."

"Understandable. Jaune and Cardin basically had nothing." Ozpin commented, "What about our, other assistants? Have they agreed?"

"While it was easy to 'bribe' Ms Adel with no detention time for her actions... Ms Schnee and Ms Nikos will be slightly more... troublesome to gain their assistance."

"Understandable. Both are exemplary students, so 'plea bargains' like what worked with Ms Adel... are not an option."

"Is this whole... scheme actual worth the investment?" Glynda asked as she took a seat before Ozpin, her tablet laid upon her lap. "While we are hosting the Vytal festival this year, we've never had to arrange for additional funding sources like you are proposing."

"True."

"So what else are you planning?"

"We both know that Amber was... vulnerable. She wandered alone, or mostly alone well outside our protective reach."

"What happened to Amber was not your fault. Her attackers laid a trap for her. There was nothing..."

"But what if there was?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if she had no reason to be wandering the countryside alone? What if she had been in a position that allowed her to be constantly surrounded by those that could protect her, or at least would provide incentive to not attack her."

"Ozpin?"

"I had an epiphany... I've noticed that our trend with the maiden powers went to someone combat capable. Someone we deemed capable of protecting themselves..." Ozpin rose from behind his desk and moved to one of the massive arching windows of his office. With his hands clasped behind his back, he gazed out over the Emerald Forest, "... what is the opposite is the true way to protect those powers... to keep the relics sealed away?"

"You can't be serious? Locking away maidens would be tantamount to wrongful impr..."

"That is not what I was suggesting, Glynda."

"Then what are you suggesting?"

"Who are our prime candidates for the aura transfer? The ones we feel would be the best to... inherit Amber's powers?"

"Ms Nikos, Ms Xaio Long, and Ms Schnee."

"You would agree with me that all three are exemplary combatants correct?"

"Yes I would."

"What was you assessment of Amber's combat prowess?"

"She was... is a very capable combatant, she would have easily been at the top of the class for the third years if she had stayed."

"Yet she was still... overwhelmed." Ozpin continued to stare out into the sky above the emerald forest. "Our three candidates are also strong... but it is becoming evident that strength is not the answer."

"Ozpin?"

"What if we could 'hide' the maiden powers in a young woman who would never see combat? A young woman that was watched and potentially protected by thousands?"

"You wouldn't."

"Idols live in the public eye, and are always protected due to their fame. They are rarely alone, and only when in very safe environments."

"You can't be serious."

"I ask you Glynda. If you were her... would you even think to look for the keys to the relic vaults on a stage... dancing and singing?" Ozpin looked over his shoulder, "Or would you expect the powers to reside in a strong, possibly championship caliber combatant?"

"Oz..."

"Where would you look, Glynda? Where would you spend your time and resources searching?"

"I would look at active huntresses, or follow rumors to hidden and sequestered women." Glynda sighed, "I would never think or even consider that a pop-star would contain what I sought."

"Exactly how I would act." Ozpin returned to gazing out the window. "I've had many lifetimes to ponder my past choices. My failed actions. I seem to keep making the same mistakes doing things the way I felt they should be."

"Oz you can't keep blaming yourself..."

"It's time to think outside of the box, don't you think Glynda? Time to try something new over hoping that the same choice works out... despite it failing time and time again." Ozpin sighed. "Do you know what the definition for insanity is?"

"Doing the same action over and over again... expecting different results."

"We've been focused on strong combatants in a game where there is always someone stronger."

"Who?"

"Glynda?"

"Which one are you considering?"

"Ms Arc."

"May I know why?"

"Her aura reserves." Ozpin replied, "But also her acceptance of the... transformation."

"You think Jaune won't ask to be changed back... when the time comes."

"Correct... despite some... questionable activities... Jaune appears not to be as troubled with the transformation as Cardin does" Ozpin turned from the window and returned to his seat. "Though I do want both to have some psychological assessments."

"I can have that arranged." Glynda picked up her tablet and quickly typed in some notes. "So when?"

"I would like for it to happen prior to the start of the Vytal festival."

"So we have some time."

"That we do." Ozpin took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled. "So is there a way we can get Ms Schnee to become Carla and Joan's singing instructor?"

"I really don't know." Glydna admitted.

"What about Ms Nikos as their personal fitness trainer?"

"That is probably more achievable." Glynda commented, "Though we will need to arrange for an agent, song writers, dance instructors... it might be more efficient just to hire for what we need... instead of trying to delegate to our student body."

"Make some inquiries, see if there is interest from the student body, but also make some discreet inquiries with some talent agencies."

[max1461]

Speaking of, what do you, as a linguist, think should be done about a dying language? Obviously we can promote policies that convince people to learn it but we can't force them, and eventually all languages die (or I guess morph into something unrecognizable). It's a bit sad, but in the end, it's just a language. So should we just let it die? Be content with writing everything there is to know about it in a book?

It's not really a question of what "we" should do, it's a question of what the language's community wants to do. Language revitalization efforts are not something to be imposed on a community from the outside, they're something which, ideally, communities should have the option to engage with to whatever degree and in whatever ways they feel benefit them most. This may range from instituting full immersion schooling in the language, to translating texts and software for use by speakers, to simply documenting certain aspects of the language for posterity. Ever community is going to have its own needs and its own constraints—economic and cultural—and language revitalization efforts need to work within these constraints to provide for the requests of the community as maximally as possible.

It's also worth making clear that language revitalization programs, where they exist, generally only exist because the community of speakers (or the broader ethnic community around the language) has fought very hard to make them happen. Funds for this kind of thing don't just materialize out of nowhere! There's a weird assumption in this ask that speakers of endangered languages are generally disinterested in seeing their language continue, and this is... close to the polar opposite of the truth, as far as I can tell. Every actually existing language revitalization effort that I have ever encountered has been the result of tireless organizing on the part of the language community, generally in the face of stark obstacles from both within and without. Language revitalization is something people really want, and are willing to work hard to make happen.

And so the answer to your question is in fact very simple, it's really no ethical conundrum at all. Where a language community is fighting for revitalization, we (outsiders to the community) should offer help in what ways we can. Linguists should step up to do work that is useful for the revitalization effort (compiling reference works and educational materials, bringing language acquisition expertise to help develop curricula, etc.). The broader public should vote in favor of funding for relevant programs, where and when it comes up, because in the grand scheme of things this sort of stuff is not especially expensive and it means a lot to people. Companies should translate their products, especially tech products, into smaller languages—and they should employ translators from the given language community in order to do it.

Probably someone with more expertise in language revitalization could list more things or describe in more detail what specific sorts of efforts are most effective. Anyone with that kind of background is invited to do so!

I think there are also probably communities who are troubled by the decline of their language, but who aren't aware of language revitalization as a concept, or believe that their language is simply doomed to die no matter what, or so on. Probably work should be done by linguistics to make it known to these communities that language revitalization is an option, and I'm not sure how that should pan out. Again, anyone with more expertise is invited to chime in.

If a community or individual has the option to pursue revitalization and they reject it? Well, that's their prerogative. It's that simple. To impose revitalization on someone who doesn't want it would be to impose culture on another person from without, and to my eye that's inherently unjust.

It's really that simple.

[workersolidarity]

The IMF is the financial arm of US imperialism and works towards it's goals by impoverishing developing countries by saddling them with debt and forcing them to restructure their economies to provide the raw materials and resources the US needs to make up for it's HUGE trade and currency deficits and deindustrialization.

Meanwhile, NED funded propaganda outlets flood developing countries with "news" it needs to push or placate the people of developing countries however the West sees fit.

Together this combination of propaganda and indebtedness work together to force developing countries to accede to modern forms of Neocolonialism led by the US.

For years, US Imperialists hoped to see this process play out in China and Vietnam as the US dominated Financial system forced these countries to accede to loans and capitalist reforms to their Socialist systems.

Instead, the Chinese and Vietnamese have played the US system and used the greed and corruption of US capitalists to enrich and develop their country and make the entire Western world dependent on China and Vietnam's productive capacity while developing themselves and deindustrializing their enemies.

And now the US Imperialists and Neocons have suddenly woken up from their fat cat naps and want to start a war with China in an effort to stop its now inevitable rise.

At the same time, starting a war, economic or otherwise with China distracts from the disaster that is Ukraine as they turn that country into a techno-dystopian parking lot at endless war, and use that disaster to transfer massive public funds into the accounts of Defense Contractors.

The entire US system is a SCAM.

A giant ponzi scheme.

Added the video just to emphasize the point of the charade this is

[atulksposts]

This blog explores PPF investment and how to maximize your returns. It explains PPF calculators and their benefits. With a provided formula, it showcases how to calculate maturity amount. Strategies like early and regular investment, maximizing contributions, and extending tenure are recommended. Remember, PPF interest rates are subject to change, and consult a financial advisor before making any decisions.