PM seeks minimum govt. intervention in education policy.
The
government’s intervention in the education policy should be “minimal”, Prime
Minister NarendraModi said on Monday, emphasising that the policy belonged to
the whole country, rather than to any particular government in power.
Mr.Modi
was addressing the inaugural session of the Governors’ conference on the
National Education Policy (NEP), which is being attended by State Education
Ministers and Vice-Chancellors.
The
focus of the conference is on the implementation of NEP.Mr. Modi said the NEP
2020 provided a vision for a new India of the 21st century, in line with its
aspirations to be a self-reliant power.
The
Prime Minister felt it would help transform the country into a “knowledge
economy” and tackle brain drain by paving the way to open local campuses of
global educational institutions.
The
policy would also prepare the country’s youth for the jobs of the future, in a
world where the nature of work was undergoing change.
Mr.Kovind
noted that such investment was only 0.7% of the GDP in India, in comparison to
2.8% in the U.S., 4.2% in South Korea and 4.3% in Israel.
“Education
is the most effective means of social justice and personal advancement. There
is no better investment than that in education to improve the future of
society,” he said.
SC
mandates states to set up committees on Content Regulation of Government
Advertisements
As
per directions of the Supreme Court, States are mandated to set up their three
member committees on Content Regulation of Government
Advertisements.State-level committees have already been constituted by
Karnataka, Goa, Mizoram and Nagaland.
Under
the Supreme Court’s guidelines dated 13th May, 2015, the content of Government
Advertisement should be relevant to the government’s constitutional and legal
obligations as well as the citizen’s right and entitlements.
The
Committee is empowered to address complaints from the general public on
violation of Supreme Court’s guidelines and make suitable recommendations.
The
CCRGA was of the view that some state governments’ delay in setting up the
state-level committees may be construed as contempt of Supreme Court’s order.
NIDHI-EIR
Brochure Featuring Entrepreneurs in Residence Launched
A Brochure Featuring Entrepreneurs in
Residence (EIR) under the National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing
Innovations (NIDHI) programme was launched by Department of Science and
Technology.
•
National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations (NIDHI) is an
umbrella programme conceived and developed by the Innovation &
Entrepreneurship division, Department of Science & Technology.
•
It would work in line with the national priorities and goals.
•
Its focus would be to build an innovation driven entrepreneurial ecosystem with
an objective of socio-economic development through wealth and job creation.
Aim:
•
To nurture ideas and innovations into Successful startups through Scouting,
Supporting and Scaling of Innovations.
Key Components of NIDHI:
•
NIDHI-GCC – Grand Challenges and Competitions for scouting innovations
•
(NIDHI-PRAYAS) -PRomotion and Acceleration of Young and Aspiring technology
entrepreneurs – Support from Idea to Prototype
•NIDHI-Entrepreneur
In Residence (NIDHI-EIR) – Support system to reduce risk.
•
Startup-NIDHI through Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Centres
(IEDCs) in academic institutions; encouraging Students to promote start-ups.
•
Start-up Centre in collaboration with MHRD; Inculcating a spirit of
entrepreneurship in National Institutions of Higher Learning.
•
NIDHI-Technology Business Incubator (TBI) – Converting Innovations to
start-ups.
•
NIDHI-Accelerator – Fast tracking a start-up through focused intervention
•
NIDHI-Seed Support System (NIDHI-SSS)– Providing early stage investment.
•
NIDHI Centres of Excellence (NIDHI-CoE) – A World class facility to help
startups go Global.
NIDHI-EIR
programme:
•
The NIDHI-EIR programme provides tremendous opportunities for innovative entrepreneurs
to expand their networks and get critical feedback on their ventures in order
to promote their entrepreneurial career goals and aspirations.
•
Two editions of the EIR program has shown overwhelming impacts and has resulted
in 65% conversion into startups.
•
Objectives :
✓ To encourage
graduating student to take to entrepreneurship by providing support as a
fellowship.
✓ To provide a
prestigious forum for deserving and budding entrepreneurs to pursue their
ventures without any additional risks involved in technology based businesses.
✓ To create, nurture and
strengthen a pipeline of entrepreneurs for incubators.
✓ To make pursuing
entrepreneurship related to a technology business idea more attractive among
options available career options.
✓ To enable creation of
new start-ups by entrepreneurs and significant progress towards raising funding
or investment.
•Expected Outcome of the NIDHI-EIR:
✓ Conversion of at least
30 % of the support recipient’s ideas into start-up companies.
✓ At least 10% support
recipient raising funds or investment for his or her company within 18 months
of NIDHI-EIR support.
Quad
should Ensure Freedom of Navigation in Indian Ocean.
Chief
of Defence Staff (CDS) of India said that India wants the Quad to become a
system to “ensure Freedom of Navigation (FoN) and Freedom of Navigation
Operations (FONOPS)” in the Indian Ocean, while highlighting the threat of a
combined challenge from Pakistan and China on two fronts.
Quad Grouping:
•
The full form of ‘Quad’ is Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.
•
It is an informal strategic dialogue between four countries i.e. United States,
Japan,Australia and India.
•
The idea of Quad or Quadrilateral Grouping was first proposed by Japanese prime
minister in 2007.
Why the Grouping Stopped Working
and When?
•
Quad was ceased following the withdrawal of Australia. However, during the 2017
ASEAN Summits, all four former members rejoined in negotiations to revive the
Quadrilateral Alliance.
Significance of Quad:
•
It underlines the rising significance of maritime geopolitics in an
increasingly integrated world.
•
The Quad grouping is regarded as an answer to China’s Belt and Road Initiative,
which is establishing a China-centric trade route.
•
All the four countries share a vision for increased prosperity and security in
the Indo-Pacific region and wants to work together to ensure that the Indo- Pacific
remains free and open.
National
Training Academy for Rural Self-Employment Training Institutes.
Ministry
of Rural Development laid e-Foundation stone laying ceremony of new training
Institute of National Academy of RUDSETI (NAR) at Bengaluru.
•
The NAR undertakes monitoring, mentoring and capacity building of the Rural
Self-Employment Training Institutes staff, State/UT Rural Livelihood Mission
staff and the concerned Bank officials on behalf of the Ministry of Rural
Development.
•
At present, these trainings are conducted in rented premises in Bengaluru or
different premises in States/UTs.
Rural Development &
Self-Employment Training Institute (RUDSETI):
•
It is society established jointly by three agencies i.e. Syndicate Bank, Canara
Bank and SDME Trust (Sri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara Education Trust) based
at Ujire in Karnataka.
• The Initiative was taken way back in 1982.
Government
of India, Ministry of Rural Development (MORD) has recognized RUDSETI approach
of promoting micro enterprises as an effective model for addressing
unemployment problem & creation of sustainable livelihood.
Rural Self-Employment Training
Institutes (RSETIs):
•
RSETIs are unique initiative where State Governments, the Union Govt. and the commercial
Banks are working together to address the issue of rural poverty.
•
The institutions designed as to ensure necessary skill training and skill up
gradation of the rural BPL youth to mitigate the unemployment problem.
•
RSETI concept is based on RUDSETI (Rural Development and Self- Employment
Training Institute).
•
One RSETI is established in every district in the country. Concerned bank is
the lead bank in the district takes responsibility for creating and managing
it.
•
Government of India will provide one – time grant assistance, up to a maximum
of Rs. 1 crore for meeting the expenditure on construction of building and
other infrastructure.
Objectives:
•
Rural BPL youth will be identified and trained for self-employment.
•
The trainings offered will be demand driven.
•
Area in which training will be provided to the trainee will be decided after
assessment the candidate’s aptitude.
•
Hand holding support will be provided for assured credit linkage with banks.
•
Escort services will be provided for at least for two years soon to ensure
sustainability of micro enterprise trainees.
•
The trainees will be provided intensive short-term residential self-employment
training programmes with free food and accommodation.
•
Programme Structure under RSETIs
✓ Agricultural
Programmes
✓ Product Programmes
✓ Process Programmes
✓ General Programmes –
Skill Development Programmes for Women etc.
✓ Other Programmes –
related to sectors like Leather, Construction, Hospitality and Other.
Saudi
demands fair solution of Palestinian cause.
Saudi
Arabia supports a “fair” solution for the Palestinian cause, King Salman has
told Donald Trump in a phone call, as the U.S. President praised the kingdom
for opening its airspace to Israel-UAE flights.
Saudi
Arabia has said it will not follow the United Arab Emirates, which announced
last month it would establish diplomatic ties with Israel, until the Jewish
state has signed a peace accord with the Palestinians.
In
a phone call to Mr. Trump on Sunday, King Salman affirmed the “kingdom’s
keenness to reach a lasting and fair solution to the Palestinian cause to bring
peace”, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.
Last
week, Saudi Arabia agreed to permit Israeli-UAE flights to “all countries” to
overfly the kingdom.
Chair
protest held in Berlin over migrants cause.
Activists
are setting up thousands of chairs outside the German parliament in Berlin to
underline their calls to take in migrants from an overcrowded camp on a Greek
island.
The
13,000 chairs being set up in front of the Reichstag building today are meant
to symbolize the inhabitants of the Moria camp on the Greek island of Lesbos,
as well the readiness of some German cities and states to take migrants in.
Sea-rescue
activist groups say that the first confirmed coronavirus case at Moria adds
urgency to long-standing calls for the camp's evacuation.
RBI
brings in norms for resolution of COVID-19 related stressed assets
The
Reserve Bank on Monday specified five financial ratios and sector-specific
thresholds for resolution of COVID-19 related stressed assets in 26 sectors,
including auto components, aviation, and tourism.
The
key financial ratios suggested by the K.V. Kamathcommittee are total outside
liabilities/adjusted tangible networth; total debt/EBITDA; current ratio, which
is current assets divided by current liabilities; debt service coverage ratio;
and average debt service coverage ratio.
The
26 sectors specified by the RBI include automobiles, power, tourism, cement,
chemicals, gems and jewellery, logistics, mining, manufacturing, real estate,
and shipping among others.
The
RBI said the ratios prescribed “are intended as floors or ceilings, as the case
may be, but the resolution plans shall take into account the pre-COVID-19
operating and financial performance of the borrower and impact of COVID-19 on
its operating and financial performance at the time of finalising the
resolution plan, to assess the cashflows in subsequent years, while stipulating
appropriate ratios in each case.”
It
also said lending institutions may, at their discretion, adopt a graded
approach depending on the severity of the impact on borrowers while implementing
the resolution plan.
Government
plans to align agri planning with change in climate and rainfall patterns.
The
government plans to review crop planting across the country to align
agricultural planning with changes in climate and rainfall patterns.
The
focus of this exercise is to move towards precision agriculture with optimum
water and nutrient use through drip, fertigation, conservation agriculture,
mechanization.
The
plan for each zone broadly will deal with the necessary diversification of
crops with relation to climate change, farm mechanisation, adoption of
agro-forestry systems including medicinal plants with integration of animal
husbandry in arid region, export promotion and maximising farmers’ income of
that region through scientific interventions.
“Climate
changes are happening across the globe. We need to realign our crop planning as
per the changes in climate and monsoon pattern. This will increase our
productivity and help select right crop to plant,” said agriculture commisioner
S K Malhotra.
Project
Dolphin.
Recently,Indian
PM Modi has Announced the government’s plan to implement a Project Dolphin
which he announced in his recent Independence Day Speech (15thAugust 2020).
About Project Dolphin:
•
It will be on the lines of Project Tiger, which has helped increase the tiger
population.
•
It got in-principle approval in December 2019, at the first meeting of the
National Ganga Council (NGC), headed by the Prime Minister.
•
It is expected to be implemented by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and
Climate Change.
•
Special Conservation program needs to be taken up for Gangetic Dolphin which is
a national aquatic animal and also indicator species for the river Ganga spread
over several states. As the Gangetic dolphin is at the top of the food chain, protecting
the species and its habitat will ensure conservation of aquatic lives of the
river.
•
The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), which implements the government’s
flagshipscheme Namami Gange, has been taking some initiatives for saving
dolphins.
Gangetic Dolphin:
•
Its Scientific Name is Platanista gangetica.
•
These are generally blind and catch their prey in a unique manner. They emit an
ultrasonic sound which reaches the prey. These are also called susu.
•
It is found mainly in the Indian subcontinent, particularly in
Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems. It is also found
in the Ganga’s tributaries.
•
It is protected in the First Schedule of the Indian Wildlife (Protection), Act
1972 and listed as Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation
of Nature (IUCN).
•
Appendix I (most endangered) of the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species (CITES).
•
Appendix II (migratory species that need conservation and management or would
significantly benefit from international co-operation) of the Convention on
Migratory Species (CMS).
DRDO
test fires hypersonic scramjet technology
The
hypersonic air-breathing scramjet technology was successfully demonstrated by
the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Monday with a
flight test of the hypersonic technology demonstrator vehicle (HSTDV), which
will lead to the development of hypersonic cruise missiles and vehicles in
future.
With
this technology, cruise missiles could now travel at hypersonic speeds, a
defence source said. “Scramjet engine is a major breakthrough. Air goes inside
the engine at supersonic speed and comes out at hypersonic speeds,” the source
noted.
The
vehicle reaches a certain altitude, then cruises and also reaches very high
temperatures, up to 1,000°-2,000° Celsius, during re-entry. “After the
Anti-Satellite Test, this is the biggest achievement recently,” the source
pointed out.
Moplah
Rioters’ not Freedom Fighters: Report.
A
report submitted to the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) in 2016 had
recommended the de-listing of Wagon Tragedy victims and Malabar Rebellion
leaders Ali Musliyar, Variamkunnath Ahmad Haji, and the latter’s two brothers
from a book on martyrs of India’s freedom struggle.
About the News:
•
The book, Dictionary of Martyrs: India’s Freedom Struggle 1857-1947, was
released by Indian PM Modi in 2019.
•
The dictionary had left the Sangh Parivar leaders red-faced when the Moplah
leaders, whom they believe killed hundreds of Hindus and converted many to
Islam, found place on the list of freedom fighters.
•
C.I. Issac, an ICHR member, had submitted the 2016 report to the council when
the fifth volume covering martyrs of freedom struggle from south India came up
for review.
•
The review report noted that “almost all the Moplah outrages were communal.
They were against the Hindu society and done out of sheer intolerance. Thus the
following names should be deleted from the yet-to-be published project.
About Moplah Rebellion:
•
The Moplah Rebellion, also known as the Moplah Riots of 1921 was the
culmination of a series of riots by Mappila Muslims of Kerala in the 19th and
early 20th centuries against the British and the Hindu landlords in Malabar
(Northern Kerala).
•
It was an armed revolt led by Variyamkunnath Kunjahammed Haji.
Background
of Moplah Rebellion:
•
Muslims had arrived in Kerala in the 7th century AD as traders via the Arabian
Sea even before north India was invaded by Muslim armies from the west.
•
They were given permission to carry on trade and settle by the native rulers.
Many of them married local women and their descendants came to be called
Moplahs (which means son-in-law in Malayalam).
•
Before Tipu Sultan’s attack on Malabar, in the traditional land system in
Malabar, the Jenmi or the landlord held the land which was let out to others
for farming. There were mainly three hierarchical levels of ownership including
the cultivator, and each of them took a share of the produce.
•
The Moplahs were mostly cultivators of the land under this system and the
Jenmis were upper caste Hindus.
•
Many Hindu landlords fled Malabar to neighbouring areas to avoid persecution
and forced conversions.
•
During this time, the Moplah tenants were accorded ownership rights to the
lands.
•
After the death of Tipu Sultan in 1799 in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, Malabar
came under British authority as part of the Madras Presidency.
•
The British set out to restore ownership rights to the Jenmis who had earlier
fled the region.
•
Jenmis were now given absolute ownership rights of the land which was not the
case previously.
•
The peasants were now facing high rents and a lack of security of tenure.
•
This caused a series of riots by the Moplahs starting from 1836. Between 1836
and 1896, they killed many government officers and Hindu landlords.
The
course of Moplah Rebellion:
•
The Khilafat Movement had started in 1919 in India in support of the
restoration of the caliphate in Turkey. The Indian National Congress (INC) was
aligned with it.
•
The Khilafat meetings in Malabar incited communal feelings among the Moplahs
and it became a movement directed against the British as well as the Hindu
landlords of Malabar.
•
There was large-scale violence which saw systematic persecution of Hindus and
British officials. Many homes and temples were destroyed.
•
The prominent leaders of the rebellion were Ali Musaliyar and Variyankunnath Kunjahammed
Haji.
•
From August 1921 till about the end of the year, the rebels had under their
control large parts of Malabar.
•
By the end of the year, the rebellion was crushed by the British who had raised
a special battalion, the Malabar Special Force for the riot.
•
In November 1921, 67 Moplah prisoners were killed when they were being
transported in a closed freight wagon from Tirur to the Central Prison in
Podanur. They died of suffocation.
This
event is called the Wagon Tragedy.
Consequences of Moplah Rebellion:
•
The Moplah Rebellion is often considered as one of the first cases of
nationalist uprisings in Southern India. However, it is widely debated as a few
experts mention the Moplah revolt to have a communal touch. Some say that it
has to be considered as the struggle against British supremacy while some
mention that it culminated in an Anti -Hindu movement.
•
The brutal violence, widespread forceful conversions, and destruction of
property suggest that the motive went beyond what could have arisen from class
conflict and took on religious colours.
•
Sir C Shankaran Nair, a former President of the INC, criticised Gandhi’s
support of the Khilafat Movement as one of the causes of the violence.
