The Centre on Friday approved construction of 6.5 lakh houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), taking the total number of houses being funded under the scheme to over one crore.

Addressing a press conference, Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said in the next three-four months, the ministry will sanction all the 1.12 crore houses, a target set by the government.

Apart from working towards keeping customers happy and retaining them for a longer period, companies have, of late, also started looking inwards at how to offer the same customer experience to their employees. The idea is simple -- motivated employees are more productive. One of the big trends of 2019 that will impact the next year is the rise of organisations as a talent brand.

"Organisations are waking up to the realisation that in the current digital world, where everyone is visible, the existing employees and the potential talent pool is exploring all the information on the web about the workplaces, their culture and the opportunities, making the management of talent brand for companies critical," says Gaurav Bakshi, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at human resources services firm Strat-Board.

This led to a substantial shift in firms not just marketing their products and services but also speaking about what their brand means in terms of values, employee benefits, work culture, office environment, among others. It has changed in how companies look at their employee programmes.

The key trend has been personalisation across all touchpoints of an employee journey, says Rajiv Burman, Promoter Director at HR services firm GS Advisors, especially in areas of employee benefits, learning and development, and employee engagement. For instance, instead of the one-size-fits-all approach, the basket of employee benefits across companies have become wider. Firms are looking at the needs of people in different life stages so they can choose what works best for them. Instead of uniform training sessions, there are now customised learning path for each individual employee. Hence, even the way engagement surveys are done has changed. Organisations don't want to see how engaged in a department or a unit is but they want to know what each individual is thinking and how to give them a better experience.

Another area where individualisation has happened is recruitment. Organisations have realised that there is a long way to go when it comes to dealing with the prospective talent community. Studies show how candidates hardly ever hear back from firms after the interview. They are now cognizant of the fact that every individual should be treated and responded just like customer needs to be, says Bakshi of Strat-Board.

The number of conversations that companies are having these days with candidates is increasing. In fact, they are going at length to explain what all a job entails rather than paint a rosy picture. They are discussing the work environment, the kind of career people have, the benefits the organisation provides, what one can and cannot expect. With the rise of technology, the consumerisation of human resources will not only stay on but will grow.

The Finance Ministry has made it mandatory for Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana (PMVVY) beneficiaries and applicants to submit their Aadhaar number or undergo Aadhaar authentication. The pension scheme is implemented through LIC for senior citizens.

According to the notification by the ministry issued on December 23, if the individual does not have Aadhaar number then he or she would have to enrol in order to avail the benefits of the PMVVY.

Once the Aadhaar enrolment is done, the applicant must submit their Aadhaar enrolment identification slip and one of the following documents:

1. Bank passbook or post office passbook with photo

2. Voter Identity card

3. Ration card

4. PAN card

5. Driving licence

6. Passport

7. MGNREGA card

8. Kisan Photo Passbook

9. Certificate of identity with photo issued by a gazetted person on an official letterhead

10. Any other document as specified by the department

The notification also says that if Aadhaar authentication fails due to issue with biometrics then the individual must opt for other methods such as Aadhaar one-time password (OTP), time based password with limited time validity, Aadhaar verification with QR code, face authentication or Integrated Risk Information system.

Aadhaar authentication was not mandatory in the scheme previously. This move comes as the government aims to bring in more transparency to reduce instances of fraud and impersonation.

The PMVVY scheme for senior citizens was launched by the government on May 4, 2017. The aim of the scheme was to provide additional investment avenue that would extend a helping hand to the senior citizens in their income needs. Senior citizens can invest up to Rs 15 lakh in the PMVVY scheme. The last date to invest is March 31, 2020.

Eleven people were killed in violence across Uttar Pradesh over the Centre's new citizenship law, which broke out after Friday prayers. One person had died in Lucknow on Thursday, taking the total number of deaths in the state to 12.

The police said four persons have died in Meerut, two each in Firozabad and Bijnor, one each in Sambhal, Kampur, Varanasi and Lucknow.

Violence had taken place across 13 districts on Thursday. The list included Saharanpur, Deoband, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Sambhal, Aligarh, Bahraich, Ferozabad, Kanpur, Bhadohi and Gorakhpur.

Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police OP Singh has denied that police firing was responsible for any of the deaths. "We did not shoot even a single bullet," he said. Another officer had claimed that "if any firing happened, it was from the protesters' side".

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act makes religion the test of citizenship -- a first in the country. The government says it will help minorities from three Muslim-dominated countries to get citizenship if they fled to India because of religious persecution.

Critics say it is designed to discriminate against Muslims and violates the secular principles of the constitution.

Protests against the law have been sweeping the country since December 11, when it was signed off by President Ram Nath Kovind.

While initially, the northeast, Delhi and Bengal were affected, the protests escalated in Uttar Pradesh since Thursday. Lucknow was the first to join into the 13-city protest called across India.  

It was also one of the two cities to witness much violence - the other was Bangalore.

The catalyst was Sunday's protests by students of Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi. The march had ended in violence, with outsiders joining in, burning vehicles and throwing stones at the police.

The subsequent police action on students had triggered a string of student protests that started at the Aligarh Muslims University.

On Thursday, violence broke out in three  key areas in Lucknow city, with protesters burning vehicles and clashing with the police.

The Supreme Court has dismissed a batch of petitions seeking review of its November 9 Ayodhya land dispute case verdict on Thursday, which cleared the way for construction of a Ram Temple at the disputed site.

A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde, which took these review pleas for consideration in-chamber, rejected them after finding no merits. Justice Sanjiv Khanna has replaces the former CJI Ranjan Gogoi on the bench that delivered the verdict.

Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind was the first party to challenge the verdict of the court. They said that complete justice can be done in the case only if Babri Masjid is allowed to be rebuilt at the disputed site. It said that the Supreme Court's order to build a temple at the site is virtually a direction to demolish Babri Masjid because if the mosque had not been illegally demolished, the order would have required the destruction of the mosque to build the temple.

At least seven review petitions were filed with the backing of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) citing serious illegalities in the judgment of the apex court.

The Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha was also one of the petitioners. It challenged the court's finding that the disputed structure was a mosque. It stated that references in the judgment to "mosque/Babri Masjid" should be changed to "disputed structure".

The November 9 judgment by the Supreme Court stated that the 2.77-acre disputed land in Ayodhya must go to child deity Ram Lalla Virajman, while a separate 5 acre of land were given to the Muslims for the construction of a new mosque.