What is a social security agreement A social security agreement co-ordinates the pension programs of two countries for people

who have lived or worked in both countries. Canada has international social security agreements with a number of countries that offer comparable pension programs. These programs pay benefits when you retire, or if you become disabled or die. Social security agreements help people receive the benefits to which they are entitled. If you have lived or worked in another country, you may be eligible for social security benefits, either from that country or from Canada. The Canadian benefits included in the agreements are those paid under the Old Age Security program and the Canada Pension Plan. The foreign benefits included in the agreements vary according to each country's pension program. You can find more information on qualifying for benefits by selecting a country. For more information on Canada's social security agreements, please contact Service Canada. Also, if you work in Canada and contribute to the Canada Pension Plan, and your employer sends you to work temporarily in another country, a social security agreement with that country might enable you to:

continue to contribute to the Canada Pension Plan while you work in that country, have the periods in that country considered as residence in Canada for purposes of the Old Age Security Program, and be exempt from contributing to the pension program of the other country.

For more information on Canada Pension Plan contributions while working abroad, please contact the Canada Revenue Agency.

India and Republic of Portugal Signed a Social Security Agreement

A Social Security Agreement (SSA) was signed between India and Republic of Portugal on 4 March 2013 at New Delhi. The agreement was signed by Vayalar Ravi, the Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs and Paulo Sacadura Cabral Portas, Minister of State of Foreign Affairs of Portugal. The bilateral social security agreement would help in taking advantage of the emerging employment opportunities and strengthening the trade and investments between the two countries. At present about 75000 Indians are living in Portugal and it includes self-employed people as well as working professionals. Benefits that Indian nationals working in Portugal will get with the Social Security Agreement For short term contract of up to 5 year, no social security contribution should be paid under the Portuguese law by the detached workers, in case they are making their contribution of the social security payment in India. In case an employee is sent to Republic of Portugal by an Indian Company from a third company then also the benefits of the agreement will be available to the Indian worker. Indian workers shall be entitled to the export of the social security benefit if they relocate to India after the completion of their service in Republic of Portugal. The self-employed Indians in Republic of Portugal would also be entitled to export of social security benefit on their relocation to India. The period of contribution in one contracting state will be added to the period of contribution in the second contracting state for determining the eligibility for social security benefits. India has signed the Social Security Agreement with 17 countries of the world and they are Belgium, Germany (Social Insurance), Hungary, Switzerland, France, The Czech Republic, Republic of Korea, Germany (Comprehensive SSA), Luxemburg, The Netherlands, Japan, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Canada, Sweden and Austria.

Parliament passes Bill to prevent sexual harassment at workplace

NEW DELHI, February 26, 2013

Expressing concern at the increase in sexual offences against women, the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday approved the amended Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Bill, that seeks to provide protection to women in unorganised and organised sectors including the private sector. The Bill covers sexual harassment of domestic help and agriculture workers. The Bill, which has already been passed by the Lok Sabha, was approved unanimously after Minister of State for Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath gave an assurance to the House that stringent rules would be framed to ensure that the Bill was not just another piece of legislation without an implementation mechanism and effective monitoring. Cases of sexual harassment of women at workplace will have to be disposed of by in-house committees (that must be set up) within a period of 90 days failing which a penalty of Rs. 50,000 would be imposed. Repeated non-compliance with the provisions of the Bill can attract higher penalties and may lead to cancellation of licence or registration to conduct business. Sexual harassment, says the Bill, includes any one or more of unwelcome acts or behaviour like physical contact and advances, a demand or request for sexual favours or making sexually coloured remarks or showing pornography. The acts or behaviour whether directly, or by implication, include any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature. The Bill makes it mandatory that all offices, hospitals, institutions and other workplaces should have an internal redress mechanism for complaints related to sexual harassment. 'Society itself will have to implement law' Responding to the across-the-board concern expressed by members at non-implementation of earlier legislation for safety and protection of women, Ms. Tirath said: The system, the elected representatives and society itself will have to implement the Bill. She clarified that the Bill was not related to the Delhi gang rape case. She rejected a suggestion for monitoring by gram panchayats, saying it might be politicised. She also did not accept the BJPs Najma Heptullas suggestion that the word sexual be dropped from the Bills title as harassment could be also be mental harassment. Ms. Tirath said sexual harassment was all encompassing and included mental harassment.

A Parliamentary Standing Committee, which had examined the Bill, recommended that the preventive aspects be in line with the Supreme Courts guidelines in the 1997 Vishaka case. The judgement not only defines sexual harassment at workplace but also lays down guidelines for its prevention and disciplinary action. Several members objected to the clause for conciliation and for punishment to the complainant for false or malicious complaint and false evidence saying it took a lot for a woman to come up and make a sexual harassment complaint. A member wanted to know why offences under the Bill were not non-cognisable. Among those who participated in the discussion were Pratibha Thakur (Congress), T.N. Seema (CPI-M), D. Bandopadhya (AITC), Vandana Chavan (NCP), Ashok Ganguli (Nom), B.S. Raut (Shiv Sena), Maya Singh and Smriti Irani (both BJP), Gundu Sudha Rani (TDP), Kanimozhi (DMK), Renubala Pradhan (BJD) and Vijaylaxmi Sadho (Cong).

PSLV C20 successfully launches 7 satellites, President Pranab Mukherjee watches live
FEB 25 2013, 21:14 IST

India's Polar rocket PSLV C20 today successfully put into orbit seven satellites in the space of four minutes including a Indo-French oceanographic spacecraft that will study changes in the environment, completing ts 22nd consecutive flawless launch. After a textbook launch witnessed by President Pranab Mukherjee here, Indian Space Research Organisation's workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) placed into orbit in one single mission all the seven spacecraftIndo-French oceanographic study satellite 'SARAL' and six foreign mini and micro satellites. The PSLV-C20 rocket blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in clear weather at 6.01 pm at the end of the 59-hour countdown, marking the 103rd mission of ISRO and yet another testimony to India's Space prowess. In 2008, India successfully launched 10 satellites in a single mission, boosting its capabilities in space. The lift-off, scheduled for 5.56 pm, was delayed by five minutes to avoid probability of collision with space debris, a normal cautionary step in a launch mission, ISRO sources said. Soaring into clear weather, the 44.4 metre tall 230-tonne rocket, in its core alone variant, injected the 409 kg Indo-French satellite SARAL first into orbit about 18 minutes after the lift-off, followed by six other foreign satellites in about four minutes as the scientists broke into cheers. India has reaffirmed its commercial launch capabilities with today's launch of SARAL's copassengers -- SAPPHIRE and NEOSSat (Canada), AAUSAT3 (Denmark), micro satellites BRITE and UniBRITE from Austria and STRaND from United Kingdom, with a combined weight of 259.5 kg. Congratulating scientists for the 'remarkable launch' and 'meticulously

Kaveri River water dispute

The sharing of waters of the Kaveri has been the source of a serious conflict between the Indian states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The genesis of this conflict, rests in two controversial agreementsone signed in 1892 and another in 1924between the erstwhile Madras [1] Presidency and Princely State of Mysore. The 802 kilometres (498 mi) Kaveri river has 2 2 32,000 km basin area in Karnataka and 44,000 km basin area in Tamil Nadu. The state of Karnataka contends that it does not receive its due share of water from the river as does Tamil Nadu. Karnataka claims that these agreements were skewed heavily in favour of the Madras Presidency, and has demanded a renegotiated settlement based on "equitable sharing of the waters". Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, pleads that it has already developed almost 3,000,000 acres (12,000 km2) of land and as a result has come to depend very heavily on the existing pattern of usage. Any change in this pattern, it says, will adversely affect the livelihood of millions of farmers in the state. Decades of negotiations between the parties bore no fruit. The Government of India then constituted a tribunal in 1990 to look into the matter. After hearing arguments of all the parties involved for the next 16 years, the tribunal delivered its final verdict on 5 February 2007. In its verdict, the tribunal allocated 419 billion ft (12 km) of water annually to Tamil Nadu and 270 billion ft (7.6 km) to Karnataka; 30 billion ft (0.8 km) of Kaveri river water toKerala and 7 billion ft (0.2 km) to Puducherry. The dispute however, appears not to have concluded, as all four states deciding to file review petitions seeking clarifications and possible renegotiation of the order.