Daily Current Affairs 1 October 2019

Current Of Today Are

1) NITI Aayog releases School Education Quality Index (SEQI) Kerala tops in it

School Education Quality Index (SEQI) was developed by NITI Aayog to evaluate the performance of States and Union Territories (UTs) in the school education sector. The index aims to bring an ‘outcomes’ focus on the education policy by providing States and UTs with a platform to identify their strengths and weaknesses and undertake requisite course corrections or policy interventions.

Developed through a collaborative process, including key stakeholders such as the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD), the World Bank and sector experts, the index consists of 30 critical indicators that assess the delivery of quality education. These indicators are categorized as below:

• Category 1: Outcomes

1. Domain 1: Learning outcomes
2. Domain 2: Access outcomes
3. Domain 3: Infrastructure and facilities for outcomes
4. Domain 4: Equity outcomes

• Category 2: Governance processes aiding outcomes

Of the 20 Large States, 10 perform better on the Outcomes category, with the most noticeable performance differences observed in the cases of Karnataka, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh. The other Large States perform better on the Governance Processes Aiding Outcomes category, with the most noticeable performance differences observed in the cases of Odisha, Punjab, and Haryana.

Of the eight Small States, seven perform better on the Outcomes category, with the most noticeable performance differences observe

d in the cases of Manipur, Tripura, and Goa. Sikkim is the only Small State that performs better on the Governance Processes Aiding Outcomes category.

Of the seven UTs, four perform better on the Outcomes category, with the most noticeable performance differences observed in Dadra & Nagar Haveli. Delhi, Daman & Diu and Lakshadweep perform better on the Governance Processes Aiding Outcomes category

2) Center pledges 560 crores to State Governments to promote demand-driven, industry-linked skill development

The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), UnionMinister Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey announced the Center’s commitment of INR 560 crores to the State Governments to promote demand-driven, industry-linked skill development at the ground level

MSDE signed MoUs with states with mutual consent on achieving particular apprenticeship numbers to further reinforceMSDE’s association with state Industries and apprentices.

What is Apprenticeship?

Apprenticeship has been recognized as an effective way to empower young people to smoothly shift from school & college to work whilst at the same time improving links between industry and training institutions. The National Apprenticeship Programme plays a large part in the task of up-skilling India’s workforce

3) MNRE to organize the Global Student Solar Assembly to commemorate the 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy in association with IIT Bombay is organizing the Global Student Solar Assembly on 2nd October 2019. The day-long event scheduled at Indira Gandhi Stadium Complex, New Delhi will see the participation of over 10,000 students from across the institutions from the National Capital Region and Delhi. These students will be accompanied by their trainers who would provide them hands-on training on how to assemble their own solar study lamps.

Two Guinness world records will be attempted during this workshop, (a) sustainability lessons to the largest number of participants at a single place (b) largest number of solar lamps lit together.

4) National e-Governance Division (NeGD), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) signed an MoU with The National Law Institute University (NLIU), Bhopal

National eGovernance Division (NeGD), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) & The National Law Institute University (NLIU), Bhopal have signed an MoU at New Delhi

to implement an ‘Online Capacity Building Programme on Cyber Law, Crime Investigation and Digital Forensics through NeGD Learning Management System (LMS).'

Objective

The goal of this program is to enable Police Officers, State Cyber Cells, Law Enforcement Agencies, Prosecutors and Judicial Officers to acquire the requisite skills to deal with Cyber Forensics cases efficiently & effectively as per the Indian Cyber Law while adopting global best practices, standards, and guidelines.  NeGD, under the Digital India Programme in collaboration with NLIU Bhopal, has taken this initiative to offer 9 months Online PG Diploma Course in Cyber Law, Crime Investigation & Digital Forensics to 1000 officials through its Learning Management System (LMS).

5) BRAHMOS Supersonic Cruise Missile, with major indigenous systems, successfully test-fired

BRAHMOS supersonic cruise missile featuring Indian propulsion system, airframe, power supply, and other major indigenous components, was successfully test-fired at ITR, Chandipur in Odisha. The missile was successfully test-fired for its full range of 290-km during the launch jointly conducted by DRDO and BrahMos Aerospace. 

Jointly developed by India and Russia, the versatile BRAHMOS has been operationalized in the Indian Armed Forces with all the three services.

6) Pakistan has stops postal exchange with India 

The ongoing tension between India and Pakistan following the scrapping of special status for Jammu & Kashmir, Islamabad now stopped the postal mail exchange between the two countries. The people in Punjab on the Indian side have stopped receiving regular emails such as magazines, publications, and even letters which they used to get regularly earlier from Pakistan via post. The postal mails going to other countries from India are handled through Foreign Post Offices (FPOs) of the Department of Post (DoP) under the central Ministry of Communications.

7) 2I/Borisov the second interstellar object that was discovered in the solar system by astronomer Gennady Borisov from MARGO observatory

According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a second interstellar object named 2I/Borisov has been discovered in the solar system. It was discovered by amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov from MARGO observatory, Crimea on August 30, 2019, which looked like a comet from a 0.65-meter telescope built on his own. The first interstellar object was 1I/Oumuamua.

8) Dr. Harsh Vardhan inaugurates ‘Arogya Manthan'

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, today inaugurated the ‘Arogya Manthan’, a 2-day national workshop organized by National Health Authority (NHA) to mark the first year anniversary of Ayushman Bharat PMJAY, which was launched on 23rd September last year at Ranchi by the Hon. Prime Minister.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan released an Annual Report of the NHA and a document on ‘Best Practices and Innovation’. He also presided over the exchange of MoU between NHA and Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) hospitals. He also felicitated Shri Ashit Kumar Modi, producer of Tarak Mehta ka Ulta Chasma, for highlighting PMJAY in one of its episodes.

9) Karnataka government partnered with Nasscom for Statement of Intent and entered a strategic collaboration

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) signed a Statement of Intent and entered a strategic collaboration with the Department of IT & BT, Government of Karnataka (KITS). The partnership would entail both driving their efforts towards initiatives that promote, enable and position Karnataka as the Global ER&D destination'

10) Goa and Madhya Pradesh was conferred with Adventure tourism award

Goa and Madhya Pradesh were conferred with the Adventure tourism award during World Tourism Day(WTD) 2019 and Andhra Pradesh was conferred with Best state award.