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IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-01

Assam: NRC authorities to delete names of ‘ineligible persons’ from citizens register

News

• Authorities of the National Register of Citizens(NRC) in Assam have ordered the deletion of “ineligible” names from the prepared register, a step coming on the heels of the state government’s persistent stand that a 10-20 per cent re-verification of all included names is necessary in order to get a “correct” register.

Deletion of ineligible

• The NRC, published in last year under the direct supervision of the Supreme Court, excluded 19 lakh-odd applicants out of around 3.3 crore applicants.
• As per the laws governing the preparation of the NRC, persons falling in the above categories need to be kept out of the NRC.
• A centralised database which will streamline databases of people declared or suspected to be “foreigners” by parallel processes, like the status of cases at Foreigners Tribunals and investigations by the Border branch of the state police.
• The Assam government has reiterated that it sticks to its demand of re-verification 20% in border districts and 10% elsewhere of the included names in the final NRC.
• The NRC process has hit a stonewall as of now since the rejection orders to the 19 lakh excluded persons–which will allow them to appeal against the exclusion in the Foreigners’ Tribunals –is yet to be issued.

Intense, frequent cold wave to sweep country this winter: IMD

News

• This year’s winter is likely to be cooler with intense and more frequent coldwave events likely to sweep over India.

Impact-based forecasts

• Starting this year, IMD will introduce impact-based forecasts for sectors that would be affected by severe cold conditions.
• The key sectors for which tailored forecasts will be issued include energy, power, health, transport and agriculture.
• The forecasts are aimed at guiding policy makers to plan adequate measures well in advance of an event of coldwave, which could trigger a spike in power and energy consumption or cause health-related problems among other host of issues.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

MoU between India and Australia

Source: PIB india

News

• Cabinet approves MoU between India and Australia for collaboration in capacity building, research and development and making impact for sustainable groundwater management

Promote cooperation

• The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister, was apprised of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga rejuvenation, India and Managing Aquifer Recharge and Sustaining Groundwater use through village-level intervention (MARVI) PARTNERS, Australia.
• The MoU has been signed to promote cooperation in surface and groundwater training, education and research to achieve water security for agricultural, urban, industrial and environmental purposes.

Cabinet approves Rs. 5718 crore World Bank aided project STARS

Source: PIB india

News

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister has approved the Rs. 5718 crore World Bank aided project.

New projects                                

• Implementation of the Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States (STARS) project with a total project cost of Rs 5718 crore with the financial support of World Bank amounting to US $ 500 million (approximately Rs. 3700 crore).
• STARS project would be implemented as a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme under Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education. (MOE)
• Setting up and support to the National Assessment Centre, PARAKH as an independent and autonomous institution under Department of School Education and Literacy, MOE.

Aim: The STARS project also aims to focus on initiatives of PM e-Vidya, Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Mission and National Curricular and Pedagogical Framework for Early Childhood Care and Education as part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.

• The project covers 6 States. The identified States will be supported tor various interventions for improving the quality of education. Besides this project, it is also envisaged to implement a similar ADB funded project in 5 states. All states will partner with one other state for sharing their experiences and best practices.
• The STARS project seeks to support the states in developing, implementing, evaluating and improving interventions with direct linkages to improved education outcomes and school to work transition strategies for improved labour market outcomes.
• The overall focus and components of the STARS project are aligned with the objectives of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 of Quality Based Learning Outcomes.
• The Project envisions improving the overall monitoring and measurement activities in the Indian School Education System through interventions in selected states.
• The project shifts focus from the provision of inputs and maintaining of outputs to actual outcomes by linking the receipt and disbursement of funds to these outcomes. 

The STARS Project has two major components

1. At the national level

• To strengthen MOE’s national data systems to capture robust and authentic data on retention, transition and completion rates of students.
• To support MOE in improving states PGI scores by incentivizing states governance reform agenda through SIG (State Incentive Grants).
• To support the strengthening of learning assessment systems.
• To support MOE’s efforts to establish a National Assessment Center (PARAKH).  Among the tasks of such a center would be to leverage the experiences of states selected for the operation by collecting, curating and sharing these experiences with other states through online portals (e.g. Shagun and DIKSHA), social and other media engagement, technical workshops, state visits and conferences.

2 . At the State level,

• Strengthening Early Childhood Education and Foundational Learning
• Improving Learning Assessment Systems
• Strengthening classroom instruction and remediation through teacher development and school leadership
• Governance and Decentralized Management for Improved Service Delivery.
• Strengthening Vocational education in schools through mainstreaming, career guidance and counselling, internships and coverage of out of school children

Some of the measurable outcomes of the project are Increase in students achieving minimum proficiency in grade 3 language in selected states, Improvement in secondary school completion rate, Improvement in governance index scores, Strengthened learning assessment systems, Partnerships developed to facilitate cross-learning between states, and improvement in the State level service delivery such as Strengthening planning and management capacities for decentralized management by training of BRCs and CRCs, Strengthened school management by training of Head Teachers and Principals for improved education service delivery.

Cabinet approves  Special Package for UT of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission

Source: PIB india

News

• The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister, has approved a Special Package worth Rs. 520 crore in the UTs of J&K and Ladakh for a period of five years till FY 2023-24 and ensure funding of DeendayalAntyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) in the UTs of Jammu and Kashmir & Ladakh on a demand driven basis without linking allocation with poverty ratio during this extended period.

Special Package

• This will ensure sufficient funds under the Mission, as per need to the UTs and is also in line with Government of India’s aim to universalize all centrally sponsored beneficiary-oriented schemes in the UTs of J&K and Ladakh in a time bound manner.
• This is based on the outcomes of the evaluation pointing to potential of the Mission to improve the quality of life of rural households and women’s empowerment and given the changed circumstances in the UTs of J&K and Ladakh.
• DeendayalAntyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) is a centrally sponsored programme that aims at eliminating rural poverty through promotion of multiple livelihoods for the rural poor households across the country.
• The Mission involves working with the community institutions through community professionals in the spirit of self-help. This is the unique proposition of DAY-NRLM and that is how it is different from the previous poverty eradication programmes.
• The other distinguishing features of the programme is that it is implemented in a Mission mode by special purpose vehicles (autonomous state societies) with dedicated implementation support units at the national, state, district and block levels, using professional human resources in order to provide continuous and long-term handholding support to each rural poor family.

India and France re-elected as President and Co- President of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) at the third assembly of the ISA

News

• The Third Assembly of the International Solar Alliance has been attended by 34 ISA Members ministers. 53 Member countries and 5 Signatory and Prospective Member countries participated to the Assembly.
• India and France were re-elected as the President and Co- President of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) for a term of two years at the virtual meeting of the Third Assembly held on 14 October.

International Solar Alliance

• • The membership of the ISA has continued to grow since the Second Assembly in 2019. The ISA is now proudly supported by 68 member countries, and a further 20 countries are in the process of becoming members.
  • The ISA has recently signed a tripartite agreement with the World Bank and the Government of India and is now actively involved in preparing a vision and implementation plan for One Sun One World One Grid Initiative to harness the power of inter-connected grids for enabling energy transition to a low-carbon world.
  • In 2020, the ISA Secretariat has focussed on operationalising the ISA Solar Technology and Application Resource Centre (ISA STAR C) network, working with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) to do so.
  • The ISA is an initiative that was launched by the Prime Minister of India and the President of France on 30 November 2015 at Paris, France on the side-lines of the COP-21. The overarching objective of the ISA is to collectively address key common challenges to the scaling up of solar energy in ISA member countries.
  • It also aims to undertake joint efforts required to reduce the cost of finance and the cost of technology, mobilize investments needed for massive deployment of solar energy, and pave the way for future technologies adapted to the needs.
  • ISA has been positioned to help create the conditions that would make funding, developing and deploying solar applications on a large scale a reality.
  • ISA is perceived as a key organisation working towards achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and objectives of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

Indian team studies 8,000 galaxies, says star formation could cease in two billion years

News

• A team of Indian astronomers has calculated the amount of hydrogen gas that contributed to star formation in the universe 10 billion years ago. It has also concluded that there is just enough hydrogen gas available to support star formation for another two billion years.

Hydrogen gas

• Hydrogen gas in galaxies condenses to form stars. Earlier studies had shown that the rate of star formation in the universe was at its peak between eight and 10 billion years ago, a period known as the ‘epoch of galaxy assembly’, but fell sharply thereafter.
• To understand why, scientists used the upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT) in Junnar to study the rate of star formation in 8,000 galaxies based on the available hydrogen gas.
• The mass of the remnant hydrogen in the galaxies suggest that star formation would not go beyond another one or two billion years from now.
• Unlike stars that can be detected in optical wavelengths, atomic hydrogen signals are captured only using highly sensitive radio telescopes when tuned to 21 cm wavelengths.

Gurgaon to set up ‘Air lab’ to monitor air quality as pollution level increases

News

• As pollution levels begin to rise in the National Capital Region, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has started working towards setting up an “Air Lab” for day to day air quality monitoring and to ensure compliance of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).

Air Lab

• The lab, set up under the Environment and Sustainability Wing, will be responsible for compiling and analysing all the data related to enforcement of the GRAP.
• It will also be responsible for monitoring the SAMEER application and complaints received on social media regarding air pollution in order to ensure that all complaints related to garbage burning, garbage dumping, and other environment related issues are resolved within a given time frame.
• The civic body also issued orders regarding enforcement of GRAP, and allotting responsibilities for the same in the district.
• The measures include identifying road stretches that have high dust generation and increasing the frequency of mechanized cleaning along these as well as carrying out regular sprinkling of water on roads.
• Construction projects will be checked and penalized for any violation of Environmental Norms, and compliance of these will also be ensured on “road construction/Storm Water Drain construction/sewage line etc. being carried out by the MCG.
• A focus will be maintained on checking and stopping burning of ”rubber/plastic waste/cloth waste” in public area, with teams also being constituted for stoppage of garbage burning and biomass burning.