HANUKKAH
Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted the people of Israel on the festival of Chag Hanukkah Sameach.
About:
- Hanukkah is also known as Chanukah.
- It is an eight-day Jewish celebration that marks the rededication during the second century BC of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, where according to legend, Jews had risen up against their Greek-Syrian oppressors in the Maccabean Revolt.
SWAHID DIWAS
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has paid homage to the martyrs of the Assam Movement on Swahid Diwas (December 10).
About:
- Assam has been paying tribute to the martyrs who had made supreme sacrifice in the historic Assam Movement from 1979 to 1985.
- The Assam Movement (1979-1985) was an popular uprising in Assam, that demanded the Government of India to detect illegal immigrants, delete their names from electoral rolls and deport them.
- The movement ended in 1985 with the Assam Accord.
- It was led by All Assam Students Union and All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad, an umbrella organization of different political groups. The agitation leaders formed a political party, Asom Gana Parishad. It came to power in the state of Assam in the Assembly elections of 1985 and later in 1996.
SUBMARINE DAY
The Indian Navy celebrated Submarine Day on December 8.
About:
- It was on December 8 that the Indian Naval Ensign was unfurled on INS Kalvari, the first submarine to be inducted in the Indian Navy, at Riga in Latvia, the erstwhile USSR, in 1967.
- INS Kalvari was a diesel-electric submarine of the Foxtrot Class from the erstwhile USSR.
- Kalvari is the Malayalam name for Tiger Shark, a predator in the Indian Ocean. The Kalvari was decommissioned in 1996 after 29 years of service.
POLICY ON SCHOOL BAG 2020
School bags should not be more than 10% of the body weight of students across classes I to X and there should be no homework till class II.
About:
- The new 'Policy on School Bag 2020' of the Union ministry of education also recommends that the weight of the bag needs to be monitored on a regular basis in schools.
- They should be light-weight with two padded and adjustable straps that can squarely fit on both shoulders and no wheeled carriers should be allowed.
- The policy even recommends that the weight of each textbook may come printed on them by the publishers.
- The recommendations have been arrived based on various surveys and studies conducted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
- The 'Policy on School Bag 2020' made 11 recommendations on the weight of the bags, including adequate good quality mid-day meal and potable water to all the students so that they need not carry lunch boxes or water bottles.
- The policy said there should be no bags in pre-primary. For classes I and II the bag weight range should be between 1.6 kg to 2.2 kg. Like-wise it should be 1.7 kg to 2.5 kg, 2 kg to 3 kg, 2.5 to 4 kg, 2.5 kg to 4.5 kg and 3.5 kg to 5 kg for classes III to V, classes VI and VII, class VIII, classes IX and X and classes XI and XII respectively.
AMBA APPLICATION AND ENROLMENT REPORT 2020
India added more women students to its business schools in the last two years, but it was nowhere near enough to escape the tag of worst gender ratio in management classrooms, said a study.
About:
- Data collected from 223 business schools around the world showed management colleges in India have the highest proportion of men.
- “India had the most unequal cohorts for gender — only 19% of both applicants and enrollees in 2019 were female,” said the AMBA Application and Enrolment Report 2020.
- China topped the charts as the only region to report an equal proportion of men and women in their management programmes. “China (including Hong Kong) is the world’s most gender-balanced region. Oceania was next with 45% of enrollees being female.
- In fact, the proportion of women applying for AMBA (Association of MBAs)-accredited programmes rose by two percentage points between 2018 and 2019, and that of enrolment by one percentage point. Globally, 40% of those applying and 38% of those enrolling into MBA programmes in 2019 were women.
BETTER THAN CASH ALLIANCE
India and UN-Based Better Than Cash Alliance organized a joint Peer learning exchange on fintech solutions for responsible digital payments at the last mile.
About:
- Based at the United Nations, the Better Than Cash Alliance is a partnership of governments, companies and international organizations that accelerates the transition from cash to responsible digital payments.
- The Alliance has 75 members which are committed to digitizing payments.
- The Alliance Secretariat works with members on their journey to digitize payments by:
- Providing advisory services based on their priorities.
- Sharing action-oriented research and fostering peer learning on responsible practices.
- Conducting advocacy at national, regional and global level.
- Providing advisory services based on their priorities.
- It was created in 2012. It was launched by the United Nations Capital Development Fund, the United States Agency for International Development, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Citigroup, the Ford Foundation, the Omidyar Network, and Visa Inc..
COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM DEVELOPMENT PLAN (CTDP) FOR NORTH EASTERN REGION (NER)
The Union Cabinet has approved for provision of a Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) Scheme for providing Mobile Coverage in Arunachal Pradesh and two Districts of Assam, namely Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao, under the Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan (CTDP) for North Eastern Region (NER).
About:
- The project envisages to provide mobile coverage to 2374 uncovered villages (1683 in Arunachal Pradesh and 691 in two districts of Assam) at an estimated cost of implementation about Rs.2,029 crore including operational expenses for five years.
- The project would be funded by Universal Service Obligation Fund. The project is targeted to be completed by December, 2022.
- The work related to provision of 4G mobile services in identified uncovered villages will be awarded through open competitive bidding process as per extant USOF procedures.
PM-WANI
The Union Cabinet has given its approval for the proposal of DoT for setting up of Public Wi-Fi Networks by Public Data Office Aggregators (PDOAs) to provide public Wi-Fi service through Public Data Offices (PDOs) spread across the country to accelerate proliferation of Broadband Internet services through Public Wi-Fi network.
Salient Features:
- This Public Wi-Fi Access Network Interface will be known as PM-WANI.
- PM-WANI eco-system will be operated by different players as described herein under:
- Public Data Office (PDO): It will establish, maintain, and operate only WANI compliant Wi-Fi Access Points and deliver broadband services to subscribers.
- Public Data Office Aggregator (PDOA): It will be an aggregator of PDOs and perform the functions relating to Authorization and Accounting.
- App Provider: It will develop an App to register users and discover WANI compliant Wi-Fi hotspots in the nearby area and display the same within the App for accessing the internet service.
- Central Registry: It will maintain the details of App Providers, PDOAs, and PDOs. To begin with, the Central Registry will be maintained by C-DoT.
- Public Data Office (PDO): It will establish, maintain, and operate only WANI compliant Wi-Fi Access Points and deliver broadband services to subscribers.
- While no registration would be required for PDOs, PDOAs and App Providers will get themselves registered with DoT through online registration portal (SARALSANCHAR;) of DoT, without paying any registration fee.
- There shall be no license fee for providing Broadband Internet through these public Wi-Fi networks.
- The proposal will promote the growth of Public Wi-Fi Networks in the country and, in turn, will help in proliferation of Broadband Internet, enhancement of income and employment and empowerment of people.
ATMANIRBHAR BHARAT ROJGAR YOJANA (ABRY)
The Union Cabinet has given its approval for Atmanirbhar Bharat RojgarYojana (ABRY) to boost employment in formal sector and incentivize creation of new employment opportunities during the Covid recovery phase under Atmanirbhar Bharat Package 3.0.
The salient features of the Scheme are as under:
- Government of India will provide subsidy for two years in respect of new employees engaged on or after 1st October, 2020 and upto 30th June, 2021.
- Government of India will pay both 12% employees' contribution and 12% employers' contribution i.e. 24% of wages towards Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) in respect of new employees in establishments employing upto 1000 employees for two years.
- Government of India will pay only employees' share of EPF contribution i.e. 12% of wages in respect of new employees in establishments employing more than 1000 employee for two years.
- An employee drawing monthly wage of less than Rs. 15000/- who was not working in any establishment registered with the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) before 1st October, 2020 and did not have a Universal Account Number or EPF Member account number prior to 1stOctober 2020 will be eligible for the benefit.
- Any EPF member possessing Universal Account Number (UAN) drawing monthly wage of less than Rs. 15000/- who made exit from employment during Covid pandemic from 01.03.2020 to 30.09.2020 and did not join employment in any EPF covered establishment up to 30.09.2020 will also be eligible to avail benefit.
KLI PROJECT
The Union Cabinet has given its approval for Provision of Submarine Optical Fibre Cable Connectivity between Mainland (Kochi) and Lakshadweep Islands (KLI Project).
About:
- The Project envisages provision of a direct communication link through a dedicated submarine Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) between Kochi and 11 Islands of Lakshadweep viz. Kavaratti, Kalpeni, Agati, Amini, Androth, Minicoy, Bangaram, Bitra, Chetlat, Kiltan & Kadmat.
- Financial implications: The estimated cost of implementation is about Rs. 1072 crore including operational expenses for 5 years. The Project would be funded by Universal Service Obligation Fund.
- Impact: The project will vastly improve telecommunication facility in the Lakshadweep Islands by providing large bandwidth.
- Target: The project is targeted to be completed by May 2023.
- Implementation Strategy:
- Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) has been nominated as Project Execution Agency and Telecommunications Consultant India Ltd. (TCIL) as the Technical Consultant of the Project to assist Universal Service Obligation Fund, Department of Telecommunications.
- The ownership of the asset under the project will rest with USOF, the funding agency, under DoT.
DEPARTMENT OF INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE
Ministry of AYUSH and AIIMS have decided to initiate work on setting up a Department of Integrative Medicine at AIIMS.
About:
- This was decided in a joint visit and review by Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, AYUSH and Dr. Randeep Guleria, Director, AIIMS of the Centre for Integrative Medicine and Research (CIMR) at AIIMS, New Delhi.
- The CIMR receives notable support through the Centre of Excellence Scheme of the Ministry of AYUSH.
- It was decided that the Centre for Integrative Medicine and Research, CIMR, AIIMS may develop an integrated protocol with Ayurveda and Yoga for study on Post COVID treatment.
MARGARET KEENAN
Margaret Keenan, a 90-year-old grandmother from Britain, has become the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine outside of a trial following its rapid clinical approval.
About:
- Britain began rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.
- The mass inoculation will fuel hope that the world may be turning a corner in the fight against a pandemic that has crushed economies and killed more than 1.5 million.
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