Investing in human capital is an investment in productivity and prosperity of the nation - Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman
“One nation , one digital platform” and “one class one channel” will ensure reach of quality education to farthest corners of the country: HRD Minister Posted On: 18 MAY 2020 4:06PM by PIB Delhi
Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman has announced several initiatives to boost education sector,on 17th May in New Delhi. The Minister said that investing in the human capital is equivalent to an investment in productivity and prosperity of the nation. The present pandemic situation has presented new challenges and several opportunities for our education system.
The Minister highlighted that the education sector has taken this opportunity to plan several interventions, particularly in the area of adopting innovative curriculum and pedagogies, concentrating energies on the gap areas, being more inclusive and integrating technology at every stage, to usher in a new era of focussed investment in the human capital.
Finance Minister further said that the government is committed to ensuring learning for all, with equity, so as to cover all students at all levels of education and in all geographical locations, even in the remotest parts of the country.
Union Human Resource Development Minister ‘Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank’ expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for giving priority to education sector. He also thanked Union Finance Minister for the initiatives and hoped that they will transform the education system and bring out holistic development of students of the country.
Shri Pokhriyal said that the “One nation , one digital platform” and “one class one channel” will ensure that quality education material will reach the students present in farthest areas of the country. He said that the initiatives will boost the access and equity in education and improve the gross enrolment ratio in the times to come. He also said that due consideration is being given to the Divyang children also and the measures will usher in a new paradigm in the creation of New India.
Union Finance Minister announced the immediate set of initiatives in this direction includes: A comprehensive initiative called PM e-VIDYA will be launched which unifies all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education. This will enable multi-mode access to education, and includes: DIKSHA (one nation-one digital platform) which will now become the nation’s digital infrastructure for providing quality e-content in school education for all the states/UTs; TV (one class-one channel) where one dedicated channel per grade for each of the classes 1 to 12 will provide access to quality educational material:
SWAYAM online courses in MOOCS format for school and higher education; IITPAL for IITJEE/NEET preparation; Air through Community radio and CBSE Shiksha Vani podcast; and study material for the differently abled developed on Digitally Accessible Information System (DAISY) and in sign language on NIOS website/ YouTube. This will benefit nearly 25 crore school going children across the country.
In this time of global pandemic, it is vital that we provide psychosocial support to students, teachers and families for mental health and emotional wellbeing. The Manodarpan initiative is being launched to provide such support through a website, a toll-free helpline, national directory of counselors, interactive chat platform, etc. This initiative will benefit all school going children in the country, along with their parents, teachers and the community of stakeholders in school education.
Government is expanding e-learning in higher education – by liberalizing open, distance and online education regulatory framework. Top 100 universities will start online courses. Also, online component in conventional Universities and ODL programmes will also be raised from present 20% to 40%. This will provide enhanced learning opportunities to nearly 7 crore students across different colleges and Universities.
There is a need to promote critical thinking, creative and communication skills, along with experiential and joyful learning for the students focussing on learning outcomes. The curriculum must be rooted in the Indian ethos and integrated with global skill requirements. Therefore, it has been decided to prepare a new National Curriculum and Pedagogical Framework for school education, teacher education and early childhood stage to prepare students and future teachers as per global benchmarks.
A National Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Mission will be launched, for ensuring that every child in the country necessarily attains foundational literacy and numeracy in Grade 3 by 202 For this, teacher capacity building, a robust curricular framework, engaging learning material – both online and offline, learning outcomes and their measurement indices, assessment techniques, tracking of learning progress, etc. will be designed to take it forward in a systematic fashion. This mission will cover the learning needs of nearly 4 crore children in the age group of 3 to 11 years.
Cyclone ‘AMPHAN’ has developed into a super cyclone in the Bay of Bengal today. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi reviewed the preparedness of States and Central Ministries/Agencies concerned to deal with the situation arising out of the Super Cyclonic Storm ‘AMPHAN’. Union Minister for Home Affairs, Shri Amit Shah was present, along with senior officers of Government of India and officers of IMD, NDMA and NDRF.
Government has accepted and implemented three important recommendations of Committee of Experts (CoE) under the Chairmanship of Lt General D B Shekatkar (Retd) relating to border Infrastructure. These were related to speeding up road construction, leading to socio economic development in the border areas.
On the matter related to creating border infrastructure, the Government has implemented recommendation of CoE to outsource road construction work beyond optimal capacity of Border Roads Organisation (BRO). It has been made mandatory to adopt Engineering Procurement Contract (EPC) mode for execution of all works costing more than Rs 100 crore.
The other recommendation relating to introduction of modern construction plants, equipment and machinery has been implemented by delegating enhanced procurement powers from Rs 7.5 crore to Rs 100 crore to BRO, for domestic and foreign procurements. Border Roads has recently inducted Hot-Mix Plant 20/30 TPH for speedier laying of roads, remote operated hydraulic Rock Drills DC-400 R for hard rock cutting, a range of F-90 series of self-propelled snow-cutters/blowers for speedier snow clearance.
New Technology like blasting technology for precision blasting, use of Geo-Textiles for soil stabilisation, cementitious base for pavements, plastic coated aggregates for surfacing, is also being used to enhance the pace of construction. With the empowerment of field officers through enhanced delegation of financial and administrative powers, there has been significant improvement in faster financial closure of works.
The land acquisition and all statutory clearances like forest and environmental clearance are also made part of approval of Detailed Project Report (DPR). Further, with the adoption of EPC mode of execution, it is mandatory to award work only when 90 per cent of the statutory clearances have been obtained, implementing the recommendation of CoE regarding obtaining prior clearances before the commencement of the project.
Posted On: 18 MAY 2020 8:03PM by PIB Delhi
Development of Museums and Cultural Spaces, Ministry of Culture, Government of India hosted a webinar on “Revitalising Museums and Cultural Spaces” today to celebrate the International Museum Day
Highlights: Legal services institutions have intervened to release 42,529 undertrial prisoners as well as 16,391 convicts on parole to de-congest prisons during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The highest number of undertrial prisoners released was 9,977 in Uttar Pradesh, followed by 5,460 in Rajasthan and 4,547 in Tamil Nadu, 3,698 in Punjab and 3,400 in Maharashtra.
Background: There are 1,339 prisons with approximately 4,66,084 inmates. The rate of occupancy at Indian prisons at 117.6%.
Need: The Supreme Court observed in March that physical distancing, an effective measure to check the spread of the novel coronavirus, would be difficult in prisons.
Further, the court issued guidelines, formed committees and asked the legal services authorities to work together and release undertrial prisoners and those on bail and parole to bring the prison population down.
About NALSA: NALSA has been constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, to provide free legal services to weaker sections of society.
The aim is to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reasons of economic or other disabilities. ‘Nyaya Deep’ is the official newsletter of NALSA.
Composition: As per section 3(2) of Legal Service Authorities Act, the Chief Justice of India shall be the Patron-in-Chief. Second senior-most judge of Supreme Court of India is the Executive-Chairman.
Important functions performed by NALSA: Organise Lok Adalats for amicable settlement of disputes. Identify specific categories of the marginalised and excluded groups and formulates various schemes for the implementation of preventive and strategic legal service programmes.
Provide free legal aid in civil and criminal matters for the poor and marginalised people who cannot afford the services of a lawyer in any court or tribunal.
State and district legal services authorities: In every State, State Legal Services Authority has been constituted to give effect to the policies and directions of the NALSA and to give free legal services to the people and conduct Lok Adalats in the State. The State Legal Services Authority is headed by Hon’ble the Chief Justice of the respective High Court who is the Patron-in-Chief of the State Legal Services Authority.
In every District, District Legal Services Authority has been constituted to implement Legal Services Programmes in the District. The District Legal Services Authority is situated in the District Courts Complex in every District and chaired by the District Judge of the respective district.
Need- Constitutional basis: Article 39A of the Constitution of India provides that State shall secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity, and shall in particular, provide free legal aid, by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disability.
Articles 14 and 22(1) also make it obligatory for the State to ensure equality before law and a legal system which promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity to all. Legal aid strives to ensure that constitutional pledge is fulfilled in its letter and spirit and equal justice is made available to the poor, downtrodden and weaker sections of the society.
The resolutionwill be tabled in the 74th World Health Assembly to be convened by the WHO.
What the resolution demands? Tough action against and transparency on the response to the coronavirus outbreak by China. Address questions raised about the World Health Organization (WHO) as an organisation and its response to the pandemic.
An “impartial”, “independent” and “comprehensive” evaluation to review lessons learnt from the WHO-coordinated response. The “effectiveness” of mechanisms at WHO’s disposal — namely the 2005 International Health Regulations.
What is IHR? The International Health Regulations, or IHR (2005), represent an agreement between 196 countries including all WHO Member States to work together for global health security.
Through IHR, countries have agreed to build their capacities to detect, assess and report public health events. WHO plays the coordinating role in IHR and, together with its partners, helps countries to build capacities.
IHR also includes specific measures at ports, airports and ground crossings to limit the spread of health risks to neighbouring countries, and to prevent unwarranted travel and trade restrictions so that traffic and trade disruption is kept to a minimum.
Criticisms surrounding WHO’s response in the wake of pandemic: WHO was late in declaring not only human-to-human transmission but also global health emergency and then the pandemic.
Till as late as February, the WHO did not support countries for imposing travel restrictions to China.
The WHO has come under sharp criticism not just from the United States but other quarters as well for its response being ‘China-centric’.
Why India didn’t sign? India’s trade deficit with the RCEP nations is $105 billion, of which China alone accounts for $54 billion. Further relaxations would enhance the deficit.
The worry is also over Chinese manufactured goods and dairy products from New Zealand flooding Indian markets, hurting domestic interests. The trade agreement was also seen as being detrimental to the government’s Make in India initiative.
India was looking for specific rules of origin to ensure the trade pact wasn’t abused by non-partner countries and an auto-trigger mechanism to protect it from a surge in imports.
Ecommerce and trade remedies were among other key areas of concern that failed to find satisfactory redressal.
India has expressed its concerns over lowering and elimination of tariffs on products from other countries, as it would negatively affect the domestic agricultural and industrial sector. India was also worried about keeping 2014 as the base year for tariff reductions.
Relevance of RCEP post Coronavirus: If anything the COVID-19 experience, and the experience of countries that have been overly dependent on imports from China or one country would have reinforced and revalidated the decision to stay out of RCEP.
But, how and why India should utilise this opportunity? If India did want to rejoin the RCEP negotiations, there would be no better time than now, because it would send a signal to the world that not only is India an attractive place to invest, but also, its potential of being a global manufacturing hub.
India could also use the RCEP to generate “optimism” amongst Indian companies, given the uncertainty over demand and consumption due to the pandemic. Right now, businesses have very little to look forward to, and a major free trade area like the RCEP would be a good lodestar for them to revive optimism.
What is the RCEP? The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership is a free trade agreement originally devised to consist of 16 countries across the Asia-Pacific region.
The pact looks to drop tariffs and duties between the members so that goods and services can flow freely between them.
Composition: At the RCEP’s administrative core is ASEAN: an intergovernmental grouping of 10 Southeast Asian countries – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
It was proposed that the ASEAN bloc will be joined with five dialogue partners: China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
4th Tranche of measures are aimed at reforms in the eight sectors of Coal, Minerals, Defence production, Civil Aviation, Power Sector, Social Infrastructure, Space and Atomic energy.
Private sector will be allowed to use ISRO facilities and other relevant assets to improve their capacities.
Research reactor in PPP mode for production of medical isotopes shall be established. Facilities in PPP mode to use irradiation technology for food preservation shall also be established.
For boosting private sector investment, Government will enhance the quantum of Viability Gap Funding (VGF) upto 30% each of Total Project Cost as VGF by the Centre and State/Statutory Bodies.
Restrictions on utilisation of the Indian Air Space will be eased so that civilian flying becomes more efficient. India to become a global hub for Aircraft Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO).
A Composite exploration-cum-mining-cum-production regime for minerals to be announced for enhancing Private Investments in the Mineral Sector. The distinction between captive and non-captive mines to allow transfer of mining leases and sale of surplus unused minerals production shall be removed.
Commercial Mining in Coal Sector on revenue sharing basis instead of regime of fixed Rupee/tonne to be introduced. Coal Bed Methane (CBM) extraction rights will be auctioned from Coal India Limited’s (CIL) coal mines.
FDI limit in the Defence manufacturing under automatic route will be raised from 49% to 74%. A list of weapons/platforms for ban on import will be notified. Corporatisation of Ordnance Factory Board to be implemented for improving autonomy and efficiency in Ordnance Supplies. Power Departments / Utilities in Union Territories will be privatised.
5th and last Tranche of measures! An additional Rs 40,000 crore under MGNREGS to provide employment boost. The new Public Sector Enterprise Policy promotes the entry of private companies into every sector of industry, while limiting public sector enterprises to only strategic sectors.
In strategic sectors, at least one enterprise will remain in the public sector but private sector will also be allowed. In other sectors, PSEs will be privatized.
Decriminalisation of Companies Act violations involving minor technical and procedural defaults such as shortcomings in CSR reporting, delay in holding of AGM etc. to de-clog the criminal courts and NCLT.
State governments have been given more fiscal room in the current crisis with the hiking of their borrowing limits from 3% to 5% of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP). However, the hiked limits will be conditional on States implementing reforms related to ration portability, ease of doing business, power distribution, and urban local bodies.
Public Expenditure on Health will be increased by investing in grass root health institutions and ramping up Health and Wellness Centres in rural and urban areas. Infectious Diseases Hospital Blocks to be setup in all districts.
PM eVIDYA, a programme for multi-mode access to digital/online education to be launched immediately. Manodarpan, an initiative for psycho-social support for students, teachers and families for mental health and emotional well-being to be launched immediately as well.
National Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Mission for ensuring that every child attains Learning levels and outcomes in grade 5 by 2025 will be launched by December 2020.
Further enhancement of Ease of Doing Minimum threshold to initiate insolvency proceedings has been raised to Rs. 1 crore (from Rs. 1 lakh, which largely insulates MSMEs).
Suspension of fresh initiation of insolvency proceedings up to one year, depending upon the pandemic situation. Central Government to be empowered to exclude COVID 19 related debt from the definition of “default” under the Code for the purpose of triggering insolvency proceedings.
Direct listing of securities by Indian public companies in permissible foreign jurisdictions. Private companies which list NCDs on stock exchanges not to be regarded as listed companies.
Background: It has been celebrated annually on 17 May since 1969, marking the founding of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention in 1865.
About International Telecommunication Union (ITU): It is an agency of the United Nations (UN) whose purpose is to coordinate telecommunication operations and services throughout the world.
Originally founded in 1865, as the International Telegraph Union, the ITU is the oldest existing international organization.
Headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. The ITU consists of three sectors: Radiocommunication (ITU-R) — ensures optimal, fair and rational use of the radio frequency (RF) spectrum.
Telecommunication Standardization (ITU-T) — formulates recommendations for standardizing telecommunication operations worldwide. Telecommunication Development (ITU-D) — assists countries in developing and maintaining internal communication operations.
Membership: There are 193 Member States of the ITU, including all UN member states except the Republic of Palau, plus the Vatican City.
Membership of ITU is open to only UN members, which may join the Union as Member States, as well as to private organizations like carriers, equipment manufacturers, funding bodies, research and development organizations and international and regional telecommunication organizations, which may join ITU as non-voting Sector Members.
Functions: The ITU sets and publishes regulations and standards relevant to electronic communication and broadcasting technologies of all kinds including radio, television, satellite, telephone and the Internet.
The organization conducts working parties, study groups and meetings to address current and future issues and to resolve disputes. The ITU organizes and holds an exhibition and forum known as the Global TELECOM every four years.
Another important aspect of the ITU’s mandate is helping emerging countries to establish and develop telecommunication systems of their own.
Although the recommendations of the ITU are non-binding, most countries adhere to them in the interest of maintaining an effective international electronic communication environment.
India and the ITU: India has been an active member of the ITU since 1869 and has been a regular member of the ITU Council since 1952. In November 2018, India was elected as a Member of the ITU Council for another 4-year term (2019-2022).
This is part of the first tranche to combat the economic disruption from the coronavirus lockdown, that has worsened the already precarious finances of power discoms.
How this works? State-owned Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) will infuse the liquidity by raising an amount of about ₹90,000 crore from the market against the receivables of discoms. The state governments will provide a guarantee.
This one-time time liquidity infusion will be used to pay the central public sector power generation companies, transmission companies, independent power producers and renewable energy generators.
Why this was necessary? Energy consumption, especially electricity and refinery products, is usually linked to overall demand in the economy.
With at least 10 states losing about a third of the power supplied to their consumers in distribution losses, their overdues have not only hit power producers, but have also contributed to stress in the banking sector.
Besides, the electricity demand load shifted to homes during the lockdown, resulting in lower realizations. With peak electricity demand coming down, commercial and industrial power demand has taken a hit after many factories shut down.
How the power sector works? It is a three-stage process: First stage: Electricity is generated at thermal, hydro or renewable energy power plants, which are operated by either state-owned companies or private companies.
Second stage: The generated electricity then moves through a complex transmission grid system comprising electricity substations, transformers, and power lines that connect electricity producers and the end-consumers. Further, each state has a State Transmission Utility (STU) along with private transmission companies which are responsible for setting up intra-state transmission projects.
Third stage: This last mile link is where discoms come in, operated largely by state governments. However, in cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Kolkata, private entities own the entire distribution business or parts of it.
Discoms essentially purchase power from generation companies through power purchase agreements (PPAs), and then supply it to their consumers (in their area of distribution).
But, why financial situation of state discoms is in poor condition? In India, electricity price for certain segments such as agriculture and the domestic category is cross-subsidised by the industries and the commercial sector. This affects the competitiveness of industry.
There is also the problem of AT&C (aggregate transmission and distribution losses), which is a technical term that stands for the gap between the cost of the electricity that a discom gets from the generating company, the bills that it raises and the final realisation from the collection process from end-consumers.
They are non-coding molecules, meaning that they do not translate into protein.
They are part of our line of attack against a viral infection.
They fight the virus by latching on to the virus’s genetic material (RNA) and cutting it.
The scheme offers a loan of up to Rs 1 lakh for a period of three years to small entrepreneurs and self-employed workers.
The scheme also aims to cover domestic helps, vegetable vendors, construction workers, and others who have lost their incomes in the Covid-19 lockdown.
Eligibility: Applicants to the scheme will need guarantors to help push their case before credit societies and urban and district cooperative banks that will hand out Rs 5,000 crore worth of collateral-free loans. They will also need to be aware of the penalties in case of a default.
The United Nations marks the International Day of Light (IDL) — an annual initiative held globally to raise awareness on the critical role played by light-based technologies in everyday life — on May 16.
May 16 was selected for the occasion as it marks the anniversary of the first successful operation of the laser in 1960 by physicist and engineer Theodore Maiman.
The IDL is administered from the International Basic Science Programme (IBSP) of UNESCO, and its Secretariat is located at the Abdus Salam International Centre of Theoretical Physics (ICTP) at Trieste, Italy.
It is a central online repository on Migrant Workers to facilitate their seamless movement across States.
Developed by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).
It has additional advantages like contact tracing, which may be useful in overall COVID-19 response work.
A new species has just been discovered using a Twitter image and thus has been named as Troglomyces twitteri.
It is a type of parasitic fungus. It belongs to an order called Laboulbeniales — tiny fungal parasites that attack insects and millipedes.