For the first time in the 140 year long Census exercise in India, data is proposed to be collected through a mobile app, officials of Registrar General of India said at the conference of data users here today to finalize the strategy and questionnaire for the Census 2021. They said enumerators would be encouraged to use their own mobile phone for which they would be paid appropriate remuneration or else there is also option to collect and record the data through paper schedules which will eventually be submitted electronically by them.
Describing the Census 2021 as the world’s largest such exercise, Union Home Secretary Shri Rajiv Gauba informed the conference that 33 lakh enumerators would be mobilized for data collection for which notification has already been issued. The reference date is 1st October 2020 for Jammu & Kashmir and snow bound areas of Himachal Pradesh & Uttarakhand while for the rest of country the reference date is 1st March 2021. Shri Gauba said Census is not just an exercise of head count but also provides invaluable socio-economic data which forms credible basis for informed policy formulation and allocation of resources. The changing demographics and socio economic parameters reflected by the census helps in reformulation of country’s plans for the economic development and welfare schemes for its people, he added.
Besides, census data caters to the Constitutional requirement of delimitation of constituencies and reservation of seats for SCs & STs, Shri Gauba said.
He urged caution while using technology for data collection in Census 2021 and stressed that data confidentiality should be maintained. He asked the participants – representatives from Ministries of Central and State governments, academic institutions and international organizations-- to deliberate on the strategy and questionnaire for the census to maximize the benefits from this exercise.
Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner Shri Vivek Joshi in his welcome address said that Census 2021 will be conducted in two phases. In the first phase House Listing Operations would be conducted in any two months chosen by the States between April-September 2020. In the second phase, actual population enumeration would be done during 9th – 28th February 2021, followed by the Revision round from 1st – 5th March 2021. Shri Joshi said in Jammu and Kashmir and snow bound areas of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, population enumeration would be conducted during 11th- 30th September 2020, followed by the Revision round from 1st – 5th October 2020.
The data users conference is the first formal interaction of the census organization with various stakeholders. The two day conference is expected to have intensive deliberations on the proposed Strategy and the draft Questionnaire for the 2021 Census. The results of deliberations will form the basis for finalizing the questions and the methodology for the census.
Why is it Celebrated? The World Homoeopathy Day 2019 will be observed across the world on April 10, 2019 to commemorate the birth anniversary of the founder of Homoeopathy, Dr. Christian Fredrich Samuel Hahnemann.
Who was Samuel Hahnemann? Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician, a great scholar, linguist and an acclaimed scientist, is known as the Father of Homeopathy, Father of Human Pharmacology, Father of Nano Medicine and the Father of Infinite Dilution concept in Chemistry.
Need of hour: There is an imminent need to focus on improving the quality of education and enhancing the success rate of an average practitioner. There is also a need to ensure the production and availability of high quality homeopathic drugs in the market.
Top 5 Engineering Institutions in India-2019: Indian Institute of Technology, Madras Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
Top 5 Universities: Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad Calcutta University, Kolkata
Top 5 Colleges: Miranda House, Delhi Hindu College, Delhi Presidency College, Chennai Stephen’s College, Delhi Lady Shri Ram College for Women, New Delhi
About NIRF: Started in 2015, NIRF outlines a methodology to rank educational institutions across the country. The parameters used for ranking broadly cover teaching, learning and resources, research and professional practices, graduation outcome, outreach and inclusivity, and perception. From 2017, besides being ranked under specific disciplines, large institutions were also given a common overall rank. This year as well, educational institutions across the country were ranked in nine categories – overall, universities, engineering, colleges, management, pharmacy, medical, architecture and law.
Significance of NIRF: Ranking promotes competition among the Universities and drive them to strive for excellence. The rankings assume significance as performance of institutions has been linked with “Institutions of Eminence” scheme.
What is Institutions of Eminence scheme? The institutes of eminence scheme under the Union human resource development (HRD) ministry aims to project Indian institutes to global recognition.
Key features: The 20 selected institutes will enjoy complete academic and administrative autonomy. The government will run 10 of these and they will receive special funding. The selection shall be made through challenge method mode by the Empowered Expert Committee constituted for the purpose.
Only higher education institutions currently placed in the top 500 of global rankings or top 50 of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) are eligible to apply for the eminence tag. The private Institutions of Eminence can also come up as greenfield ventures provided the sponsoring organisation submits a convincing perspective plan for 15 years.
Highlights: In this white paper, the UK government called for an internet regulator with the power to issue fine, to block access to websites if necessary, and to make individual executives legally liable for harmful content spread on their platforms.
The government will establish a new statutory duty of care to make companies take more responsibility for the safety of their users and tackle harm caused by content or activity on their services. Compliance with this duty of care will be overseen and enforced by an independent regulator.
Companies must fulfil their new legal duties. The regulator will set out how to do this in codes of practice. If companies want to fulfil these duties in a manner not set out in the codes, they will have to explain and justify to the regulator how their alternative approach will effectively deliver the same or greater level of impact.
The regulator will have the power to require annual transparency reports from companies in scope, outlining the prevalence of harmful content on their platforms and what measures they are taking to address this. These reports will be published online by the regulator, so that users and parents can make informed decisions about online use.
Why was it required? Illegal and unacceptable content and activity is widespread online. The impact of harmful content and activity can be particularly damaging for children and young people, and there are growing concerns about the potential impact on their mental health and wellbeing.
As per Online Harms White Paper, Tackling illegal and harmful content and activity online is one part of the UK’s wider mission to develop rules and norms for the internet, including protecting personal data, supporting competition in digital markets and promoting responsible digital design.
The move could have widespread implications for U.S. personnel and policy in the Middle East and elsewhere. This will mark the first such designation by any American administration of an entire foreign government entity.
Implications: The designation comes with sanctions, including freezes on some assets and a ban on Americans doing business with the group. The “unprecedented” move “recognises the reality that Iran is not only a state sponsor of terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft.”
Businesses and banks around the world now have a clear duty to ensure that companies with which they conduct financial transactions are not conducted with the IRGC in any material way.
The measure would criminalise contact with the Guards and enable the prosecutors to bring charges to those that bring material support to the IRGC. Russia and China may start designating U.S. agencies for punitive actions. Iraq could be caught in a double bind, as it purchases electricity from Iran, including from entities tied to the IRGC.
The designation is likely to complicate U.S. actions in Iraq, where U.S. troops work to prevent the resurgence of the Islamic State and where Shiite militias tied to the IRGC operate close by. The IRGC is also tied to Hezbollah in Lebanon, where the political wing of the terrorist group is part of the government.
The designation puts further distance between Trump’s policies toward Iran and those of European allies who remain a part of the nuclear deal.
Background: The move continues the administration’s aggressive posture toward Iran, which includes U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran. The administration had previously named the IRGC as a supporter of terrorism conducted by militias it supports, but stopped short of listing it as a foreign terrorist organization in 2017. In 2018, Trump withdrew the United States from the international nuclear deal with Iran.
About Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was formed after the 1979 Islamic revolution with a mission to defend the clerical regime. It is a military unit originally set up as security for Iran’s clerical rulers.
It has grown to be the country’s most powerful security organization, with nearly unchecked political influence and interests in business, real estate and other areas of the economy.