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New Education Policy to come in effect soon, to give right direction to youth: Pokhriyal

New Delhi:  The New Education Policy (NEP), which is being brought after 33 years will be true representative of Indian culture and values gelling with the needs of 21st century, Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ has said, adding the the Policy will come in effect soon.

The NEP will give right direction to the youth,  Pokhriyal said while laying the foundation stone of the new integrated campus of CBSE at Dwarka, on Friday. He further said that the draft NEP was prepared after long deliberation, suggestions and comments received from general public and its stakeholders.

Draft National Education Policy 2019 aims to universalise the pre-primary education by 2025 and provide foundational literacy/numeracy for all by 2025. The Draft National Education Policy, 2019 is out in the public domain. Drawing inputs from the T.S.R. Subramanian Committee report and the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), the K. Kasturirangan Committee has produced the policy document.

Pokhriyal said India was a young country and CBSE could play a crucial role to nurture and guide the children to lead the world again.

While addressing the gathering the HRD Minister said, “As per the vision of our Prime Minister to save the environment, MHRD is discouraging the use of single use plastic in the Ministry as well as its affiliated organisations and autonomous bodies”.
The Ministry has also been running One Student – One Tree campaign to increase green cover of the country and save one litre of water daily to preserve water resources for future generations and students were participating enthusiastically in these campaigns, he said.
Present on the occasion was CBSE Chairperson Anita Karwal and other senior officials.
The new integrated campus of CBSE at Dwarka will be a state-of-the-art building while fulfilling the green building norms.

The Minister said, ” The new building must not be merely a building of concrete but a centre of vision for betterment of education which should be reflected through this building”.

The 12,000 sqm building was estimated to be completed in two years time.
The complex would include installation of efficient building management system that would facilitate energy conservation. Solar panels would be installed on the roof of the building that would produce 300 KWH of electricity.

Moreover, a sewage treatment plan had also been proposed for flushing in toilets and reuse of gray water in landscaping. These facilities being included in the integrated campus would also contribute towards environmental protection. Besides, latest security features have been taken care of in the design of the building.

In order to maintain better coordination among various branches and units of the Board in Delhi and to meet the increasing challenges due to increase in number of CBSE affiliated schools, the Board had earlier proposed to create an integrated office complex in Delhi and for this purpose, a plot of three acres was purchased from the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) at Sector-23, Dwarka in the National capital.

Apart from providing diverse types of training to the teachers and principals of its affiliated schools through functioning centers of excellence, the Board has established 16 Regional Offices at Ajmer, Allahabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi East, Delhi West, Dehradun, Guwahati, Noida, Patna, Panchkula, Pune and Thiruvananthapuram.

Besides, the headquarters in Delhi, the CBSE has a vocational examination unit at Preet Vihar, Academic and Skills Education Unit at Rouse Avenue and Regional Office and CTET Unit at Patparganj, Delhi.

PM plogs at Mamallapuram beach

PM plog
PM plogs at a beach in Mamallapuram. (File Photo)

New Delhi: Leading by example as the foremost ambassador of ’Swachh Bharat’ (Clean India) mission, Prime Minister Narendra Modi plogged at a beach in Mamallapuram for over 30 minutes during his morning stroll on October 12.

Prime Minister was taking a morning stroll along the shores of Mamallapuram during which he collected strewn plastic and garbage along the way.

He later tweeted, “Plogging at a beach in Mamallapuram this morning. It lasted for over 30 minutes. Also handed over my ‘collection’ to Jeyaraj, who is a part of the hotel staff. Let us ensure our public places are clean and tidy! Let us also ensure we remain fit and healthy.”

Indo-Bangla joint Naval exercise concludes

INDO - BANGLA
India and Bangladesh concluded joint naval exercise 'CORPAT'

New Delhi: Deepening their military and maritime relations, India and Bangladesh concluded the second edition of bilateral naval exercise ‘Coordinated Patrol (CORPAT)’ in Northern Bay of Bengal on October 10.

The two-day CORPAT will be followed by the maiden edition of IN-BN bilateral exercise at Visakhapatnam from 12 to 16.

“INS Ranvijay, a guided-missile destroyer and INS Kuthar, an indigenously built missile Corvette will be participating in the CORPAT along with BNS Ali Haider, a Type 053 frigate and BNS Shadinota, a Type 056 stealth guided missile corvette,” said an official statement.

The IN-BN CORPAT which commenced back in 2018, is aimed at upgrading to a bilateral exercise with the navies engaging in seamanship evolutions, flying exercises with integral helicopters and maritime patrol aircraft at sea.

Additionally, exercises entailing the development of mutual communication and sharing of best practices would also be undertaken, adding a new dimension to the Indo – Bangladesh maritime relations.

“With a common territorial boundary of over 4000 km and a maritime boundary, navies of both the countries aim to practice and hone their mutual cooperation whilst patrolling near the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) during the current edition of CORPAT,” the statement said.

It further added, “The sea phase would be followed by harbour phase that would include professional interaction between the navies, visits to the Indian Naval training and maintenance facilities at Visakhapatnam. The exercise would also include air familiarisation of BN aircrew towards a better understanding of MPA operations at INS Dega and a ten-day training exercise between IN Marine Commandos and BN SWADS.”

35% of under-five children in India are stunted, says national survey

Unicef India
File Photo: Courtesy Unicef India

NEW DELHI: In India 35 per cent of children under five are stunted, 17 per cent are wasted and 33 per cent are underweight, as per the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS). 

India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) this week released the results of the nation’s first ever Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS), conducted from 2016-18 in 30 states/Union Territories across the country.

The survey was conducted with the technical support by UNICEF. And through the generous financial support from Aditya and Megha Mittal, the United Kingdom-based philanthropists.

The groundbreaking national study is one of the largest micronutrient surveys ever conducted globally covering anthropometric assessments of 112,000 children from 0-19 years of age, including more than 51,000 biological samples for children’s micronutrient status and risk factors for non-communicable diseases.

According to the CNNS, For the first time, this study provides national-scale evidence and information on a broad set of indicators for all children and adolescents 0-19 years old which can be used to target scaled up nationwide solutions.

The CNNS survey shows that there is some progress in reduction in malnutrition, as well as effective reach of Government programmes to prevent Vitamin A and iodine deficiency in children 1-4 years. At the same time, the survey highlights that overweight and obesity increasingly begin in childhood with a growing threat of non-communicable diseases like diabetes (10 per cent) in school-aged children and adolescents.

The release of the survey has stimulated a national discussion about how to analyse this data to target effective programmes combatting child malnutrition and non-communicable diseases.

Health Minister, Dr. Harsh Vardhan commented on the release of the national survey, “The CNNS gives us the first comprehensive national set of data about child and adolescents nutrition, including the 5-14 year age group for the first time. This will help the Government accelerate progress using evidence-based policies and programmes to combat malnutrition and non-communicable diseases like diabetes in children and adolescents.”

US important and trusted partner of India: Rajnath

rajnath ted
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh with US Senators Ted Cruz and Maggie Hassan

New Delhi: US Senators Ted Cruz from Texas and Maggie Hassan from New Hampshire called on Defence Minister Rajnath Singh here on October 11. During the meeting,  Rajnath expressed satisfaction over the progress made in the partnership between India and US and discussed ways to further strengthen the bilateral defence relationship.

Defence Minister termed the US as the world’s oldest democracy and one of the most important and trusted partners of India. And India – US cooperation has seen tremendous growth in the last five years, and he expressed hope that the strategic partnership will expand and flourish further in the coming years.

Rajnath appreciated the role played by the US in countering terrorism. He reiterated the Government of India’s commitment to work with the international community in combating the menace plaguing the world.

US Ambassador to India Mr Kenneth Juster and officials of Ministry of Defence were also present during the meet.

EESL, BSNL sign MoU to install 100 public charging stations in Punjab

BSNL
EESL and BSNL signed MoU to boost e-mobility in Punjab

New Delhi: Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) a joint venture of four National Public Sector Enterprises under Ministry of Power, Government of India has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with BSNL to boost e-mobility in Punjab by installing 100 public charging stations. 

Both EESL and BSNL have entered into this 10-year MOU with the objective of building an electric vehicle infrastructure in BSNL (Punjab Telecom Circle),  an Indian state-owned telecommunications company and explore synergy for further promoting electric vehicles (EVs), including electric two-wheelers in the state.

Under the MoU, EESL will make the entire upfront investment on services pertaining to the MoU, along with the operation and maintenance of the public charging infrastructure by using qualified personnel. BSNL would be responsible for providing the requisite space and power connections for installing the charging infrastructure.

Talking about EESL’s mission to build a robust EV infrastructure, Venkatesh Dwivedi, Director (Projects), EESL said, “Developing a strong supporting EV infrastructure is the key to cultivating consumer confidence in electric vehicles and would significantly enhance consumer convenience as well. EESL is leading initiatives to promote EV adoption in India under its national e-mobility programme. We are glad to partner with BSNL for synergistic action on setting up public charging infrastructure and services in Chandigarh.”

Several states in India have released policies for promoting local adoption of EVs. Installation of public charging stations would help in gaining considerable strides towards creating a sustainable EV ecosystem in the states. With installation of public charging stations, the range anxiety among residents will reduce considerably, which would spur the proliferation of e-mobility. This would help meet the state level targets of increasing EV adoption as well and will help bring down emission levels.

Taking forward the vision of the National Electric Mobility Programme, EESL has commissioned 300 AC and 170 DC chargers across India, with 65 public charging points currently operational in Delhi NCR. In pursuit of increasing the charging infrastructure penetration, EESL has also signed MoUs with Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), Noida Authority, Chennai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (CMRCL), Jaipur Metro Rail Corporation (JMRCL), Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and Commissioner and Director of Municipal Administration (CDMA) for development of Public Charging Stations (PCS) in their respective areas.

With its innovative model of demand aggregation and bulk procurement, EESL receives electric vehicles and chargers at a significantly discounted rate vis-à-vis the actual market value. Further, with access to low cost funds, it is able to discover the most competitive project costs. Using this approach, EESL has established a sustainable business model, which makes EVs affordable for the end-consumers.

13 new buildings of KVs inaugurated, foundation stone of 6 laid

kvs
Union HRD Minister inaugurated 13 newly constructed buildings and laid down the foundation stones of 6 KVs

New Delhi: Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ inaugurated 13 newly constructed buildings and laid down the foundation stones of 6 Kendriya Vidyalayas located in 12 states through Video Conferencing in here on 11th october 2019.

More than 20 thousand students will be benefited with this huge completion of work having a cost investment of more than Rs. 350 crore.

Addressing the 19 locations through video conferencing, the union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ said that KVs has become an institution of excellence within the government system and has now been recognized on international platforms. He extended his warm greetings to the concerned Principals, Staff, Parents and Students and local MPs, MLAs and other people’s representatives and stressed that keeping in view this pace KVs will soon become a world class institution.

kvs 2

     Here is the detailed information about the new KV buildings.

List of 13 KVs where new buildings have been inaugurated:

S.No. Kendriya Vidyalaya District State/UT
1.   KV Golaghat Golaghat Assam
1.   KV Haflong Dima Hasao Assam
1.   KV Tamulpur Baksa Assam
1.   KV Araria Araria Bihar
1.   KV Jaitpur Rajkot Gujarat
1.   KV Viramgaon Ahmedabad Gujarat
1.   KV Kodagu Kodagu Karnataka
1.   KV No. 2 Satna Satna Madhya Pradesh
1.   KV Baitul Baitul Madhya Pradesh
1.   KV Sambalpur Sambalpur Odisha
1.   KV Shivgarh Raibareli Uttar Pradesh
1.   KV Perambalur Perambalur Tamil Nadu
1.   KV Miryalguda Nalgonda Telangana

 

List of 06 KVs where foundation stone has been laid:

S.No. Kendriya Vidyalaya District State
1.   KV Longding Longding Arunachal Pradesh
1.   KV Kavardha Kabirdham Chhattisgarh
1.   KV Girdih Girdih Jharkhand
1.   KV Chennapatna Ramnagar Karnataka
1.   KV Jagatsinghpur Jagatsinghpur Odisha
1.   KV Nizamabad Nizamabad Telangana

 

 

India slams Turkey’s action in Syria

raveesh kumar
MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar

New Delhi: India has condemned the unilateral military offensive by Turkey in north-east Syria, saying it will undermine stability in the region and fight against terrorism.

India said Turkey’s action has the potential for causing humanitarian and civilian distress, a concern echoed by the International Red Cross Society (ICRC) which said civilian infrastructure should not be targeted.

“India is deeply concerned at the unilateral military offensive by Turkey in north-east Syria. Turkey’s actions can undermine stability in the region and the fight against terrorism,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a statement.

“We call upon Turkey to exercise restraint and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria. We urge the peaceful settlement of all issues through dialogue and discussion,” he added.

India’s statement against Turkey’s action assumes significance as Istanbul has been criticizing the developments in Jammu and Kashmir.

Meanwhile, the International Red Cross Society (ICRC), in a statement on October 11, said “Those who are taking part in the fighting in Syria are reminded that they are obliged by law to spare civilians and all others not taking part in the hostilities, including detainees and all those fleeing from the fighting.”

“All zones should be safe for civilians and anyone else not directly taking part in the fighting. That’s a basic tenet of international humanitarian law,” said Fabrizio Carboni, the ICRC’s director for the Near and Middle East.

Civilian infrastructure must not be targeted during hostilities. Unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief, including medical services, must be granted. Humanitarian and medical personnel, including those displaying the Red Cross or Red Crescent emblem, must be protected and respected. And all detainees must be treated humanely.

With thousands of people fleeing areas affected by hostilities, the ICRC is now trying to assess and respond to new needs that have emerged.

In the north-east of Syria (Hassakeh, Raqqa and Deir Ezzor governorates), more than 100,000 displaced people are currently being hosted in camps. There are over 68,000 people living in Al Hol camp alone—two thirds of whom are children— where the ICRC jointly runs a field hospital along with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent with support of the Norwegian Red Cross.

The ICRC has been visiting people in camps and detention places — Syrians, Iraqis and other third-country nationals – while doing its best to support this population in dire need of humanitarian services. Some of the camps visited in the northeast of Syria contain large numbers of foreign women and children.

India’s economic woes continue, industrial output falls by 1.1% in August

Business

New Delhi: India’s economic woes continued unabated as the country’s industrial output fell by -1.1 per cent month-on-month (MoM) in August while exports contracted 1.7 per cent for April-June period, according to the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data released by the government.

Manufacturing output, which accounts for more than three-fourths of the entire index, fell to -1.2 per cent in August, in contrast to a 4.2 percent rise in July. Mining grew 0.1 percent in August against a growth of 4.9 per cent in July. 3.   In terms of industries, 15 out of the 23 industry groups in the manufacturing sector have shown negative growth during the month of August 2019 as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year (Statement II), the data shows.

For the April-June period, the eight infrastructure sectors averaged 3.6 per cent growth.

It may be recalled that India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the March quarter slowed to a five-year low of 5.8 per cent, down from 6.6 percent in the December quarter. Annual GDP growth slowed to 6.8 per cent for the year that ended on March 31 from 7.2 percent in the previous year.

Earlier this year, the International Monetary Fund cut India’s gross domestic product growth forecast for 2019-20 by 20 basis points to 7.3 percent, following similar action by the Asian Development Bank and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

This was its first such contraction in 21 months, showing declining momentum of both investment and consumption. Even core industries productions of steel, electricity, coal and cement are falling or have been stagnant in recent quarters.

According to the latest data, the industry group ‘Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers’ has shown the highest negative growth of (-) 23.1 per cent followed by (-) 21.7 per cent in ‘Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c.’ and (-) 18.0 percent in ‘Other manufacturing’.On the other hand, the industry group ‘Manufacture of basic metals’ has shown the highest positive growth of 11.8 per cent followed by 11.3 percent in ‘Manufacture of wood and products of wood and cork, except furniture; manufacture of articles of straw and plaiting materials’ and 10.3 percent in ‘Manufacture of wearing apparel’.

Release of the Index for September 2019 will be on Monday, 11 November 2019.

 

Directed by PM, nodal officers take new lessons in disaster management

sensitization
MHA , NDMA organized a workshop on sensitization of Nodal Officers dealing with disaster management

New Delhi: On the directions of PM Narendra Modi, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) organized a two-day workshop on sensitization of Nodal Officers dealing with disaster management in Central Ministries/Departments, here on October 11.

Around 120 senior level officers attended the workshop. This included representatives of Ministries/Departments of the Central Government, disaster management specialists, technical institutions and premium training institutes including NDMA, National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).

The objectives of this workshop was to sensitize the Nodal Officers on disaster management framework for disaster risk reduction; coherence between Sendai Framework, Sustainable Development Goals and Paris agreement; Global Perspective on Disaster Risk Reduction and preparation of disaster management plans of Ministry/Departments. These plans shall include measures for mitigation, preparedness capacity building and response for effective management of Disasters.

This is an important step towards supporting the initiative for promoting resilient infrastructure systems, which has been taken forward by India in form of Collision for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), recently launched by the Prime Minister during the Climate Action Summit at New York. Integrating disaster resilience into all facets of development is also a critical attribute towards the vision of ‘ease of living’ for all, and a 5 trillion economy by 2024.

In the post 2015 developmental agenda, India has undertaken a series of initiatives and is emerging as a global leader in the field of disaster management. Development and disasters need to go hand in hand and the prime concern be to build disaster resilience for all physical, social, economical and environmental infrastructures, without waiting for a disaster to strike.

All Nodal Officers of Ministries/Departments present in the workshop were encouraged to prepare and periodically update their Disaster Management Plan in line with the National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP) and also to inculcate suitable measures for effective implementing the DM Plan on ground.

With Government’s sustained efforts, significant improvement in the preparedness and response structure of the country to natural calamities has happened. Effective handling of all these disasters is a direct outcome of well coordinated efforts, policy initiatives, enhancement of early warning capabilities, advance preparation, training, capacity development and synergy between and amongst the Central Government Ministries/Departments with their counterparts in State Governments. There is a need to keep up these efforts on a continuous basis for further improvement of disaster risk reduction mechanism in our country. There is also a need of research and development programmes in collaboration with various academic and professional bodies.

Presentations and discussions by the Members and professionals of NDMA, NIDM and practitioners on different dimensions of disaster risk and resilience, tools and strategies, were aimed at enabling the Nodal Officers from various Ministries and Departments to understand the process of developing and implementing their Disaster Management Plans. Issues of climate change adaptation, ecosystem based resilience, housing and structural safety, man-made disasters, governance and financial instruments, participatory approach and integration of disaster management into plans and schemes of the government were discussed.

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