# Old pension scheme

• Himachal pradesh became the fourth state to restore the old pension scheme for 1.36 lakh government employees on Friday.
• Himachal government fulfilled the congress’s poll promise made in the assembly election.
• Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, both governed by congress, also Punjab which is governed by AAP have already rolled out old pension scheme for their employees.
• Return of the old pension scheme was the primary poll promise of the Congress.

# Supreme Court

• Responding to a petition seeking district wise determination of minority status of a community, the centre told the Supreme Court on Friday that identification of minority at district level would not be legal and it can be done only on the basis of the demography of the state.
• The centre has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court after holding consultative meetings with its various ministries and states and compiling their stand in its response.
• According to the affidavit, most of the states which expressed their views in meetings held by the ministry of minority affairs, took the stand for the status quo to continue with present system.

# Samosa caucus

• Five Indian American lawmakers in a house of 435 is par for a demography that constitutes just over 1% of the US population of 330 million.
• The group of Indian lawmakers are informally known as Samosa Caucus.
• The five Indian American members of the Congress are Pramila jaypal, Ro Khanna, Raja Krishnamorthy, Ami Bera and Shri thanedaar.

# India – China trade

• Trade between India and China touched an all time high of $136 billion in 2022, overtaking the $225 billion mark last year earlier.
• New Delhi’s trade deficit with Beijing crossed the $100 billion mark for the first time despite border tensions.