Five things to watch out for today

Possession, transfer and distribution of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes a punishable offence after December 30. This follows the Union Cabinet clearing an Ordinance to this effect on Wednesday. There will be specified fines ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000 for continued possession of the demonetised notes. The fine will be a multiple of the number of notes found in possession beyond the permissible limit — 10 for souvenirs and 25 for the purpose of numismatics.

The Election Commission of India may announce dates for upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur on Friday. Preparations for Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur are in the last phase and the ECI could announce the schedule any time. It has been reported that the poll body will declare dates for assembly polls after holding a crucial meeting on December 30. It has been reported that the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections will be held in seven phases, while polls in the rest of the four states may take place in one phase.

The Maharashtra government has informed the Bombay High Court that it would take a decision at the next Cabinet meeting and appoint a new Advocate General by December 30.

The state has failed to appoint a new full-time Advocate General for almost nine months now.

The National Stock Exchange will introduce new interest rate futures (IRF) contracts from December 30 on six-year government bonds maturing in 2022. The IRF contract is based on 6.84 per cent central government security maturing on December 19, 2022, will be made available for trading from December 30, this year, NSE said in a circular. An IRF contract is an agreement to buy or sell a debt instrument at a specified future date at a pre-determined price.

Concrete works of the Polavaram Project spillway works are to be inaugurated by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on December 30. According to Collector K Bhaskar the concrete works of the project would conducted with modernised machines, which will speed up the work by 1,200 cubic meter per hour.