No state in top 5 grades of school performance index

Chandigarh made a comeback to join Punjab, which retained its top position, to be among the best performing states in the latest Performance Grading Index (PGI) report for school Education. Last years’ top performing states – Kerala and Maharashtra-are among the second best performing states/ UTs in the grading.

But none of the states/UTs could achieve the top five grades in the overall category, based on various domains like access, Learning outcomes, , Equity, teachers’ training and Governance processes. The education ministry on Friday released PGI-2021-22, an index for evidence-based comprehensive analysis of the school education system in India. PGI, revamped in 2021-22 in the wake of National Education Policy, has classified states/UTs into ten grades. The highest achievable grade is Daksh, which is for states/UT scoring more than 940 out of 1000 points. The subsequent grades areUtkarsh(881-940), Atti-Uttam (821-880),Uttam(761-820),Prachesta1 (701-760), Prachesta 2 (641-700), Prachesta 3 (581-640), Akanshi 1 (521-580), Akanshi 2 (461-520) and Akanshi 3 (401-460).

The two domains – access and equity- are the only ones where any state (Delhi) managed the top grade (Daksh). For learning outcomes, one of the key indicators of good performance, the top performers are Punjab, Chandigarh and Rajasthan while no states/ UTs could achieve the top grade for teacher education and training.

In 2019-20, Punjab, Chandigarh,Tamil Nadu, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Kerala topped the index, while the index during theCovidperiod (2020-21) recorded Kerala, Maharashtra and Punjab as the best performing states.

According to the education ministry, many of the indicators in the index had become redundant and hence were aligned with the new initiatives of NEP-2020 to include those relating to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The six domains in PGI 2.0 have 73 indicators relating to educational attainment of states/ UTs.

ISRO-NASA’s NISAR satellite reaches a significant milestone

TheNISAR satellitehas reached a significant milestone as its two major components have been integrated to form a single spacecraft in Bengaluru, the US space agencyNASAhas said in a release.

According to NASA, In June, engineers successfully united the spacecraft bus and radar instrument payload of the NISAR satellite in a clean room at theISROfacility in Bengaluru. The payload had been transported from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California earlier in March, while the spacecraft bus was constructed at the ISRO facility.
The satellites cylindrical radar instrument payload contains two radar systems and is about the size of an SUV and partially wrapped in gold-coloured thermal blanketing. The S-band radar is particularly useful for monitoring crop structure and the roughness of land and ice surfaces, while the L-band instrument can penetrate denser forest canopies to study the woody trunks of trees, among other observables, the release added.

The wavelengths of the S-band and L-band signals are about 4 inches (10 centimetres) and 10 inches (25 centimetres), respectively, and both sensors have the potential to see through clouds and collect data day and night.

NISAR, a collaborative project between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), stands for NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar. This advanced satellite is designed to track the movements of Earth’s land and ice sur

Aspirational Districts Programme – UNDP

The Aspirational Districts Programme was lauded in a UNDP report.

Highlights:

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) lauded India’s Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP) in the report, saying it should serve as a model for several other countries where regional disparities in development status persist for a variety of reasons.

According to the report, previously neglected districts, including those in remote locations and those affected by Left Wing Extremism, have experienced more Growth and development in the last three years than ever before as a result of concerted efforts under the ADP.

The Supreme Court has issued the Draft Model Rules for Court proceeding’s Live-Streaming and Recording. The Rules are part of the National Policy and Action Plan for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Implementation in the Judiciary.In Swapnil Tripathi v Supreme Court of India (2018), the Supreme Court ruled in favour of live-streaming the proceedings at the apex court. It determined that live streaming proceedings are part of the right to access guaranteed by Article 21.

Except for cases involving matrimonial disputes, gender-based violence, or minors, all proceedings in high courts can be televised.

Aerosol Pollution Urban Areas of India

Aerosol particles smaller than 3 nanometers can reach a size with Climate influence and are often formed in urban areas of India.

Highlights:

Scientists tracked the concentration, size and evolution of aerosol particles smaller than 3 nanometers in a city in India, and found that sub-3 nanometer aerosol particles are often formed in the .

This is critical because a significant proportion of these newly formed particles can reach the sizes of cloud condensation nuclei, where they have climatic consequences.

Aerosol nucleation refers to the formation of small molecular clusters of less than 3nm in size, and atmospheric new particle formation (NPF) refers to the subsequent Growth of these newly formed clusters to larger sizes.

Solar PLI Scheme IREDA

The IREDA has requested bids for a Rs. 4500 crore Solar PLI scheme.

Highlights:

The Indian Development Agency Ltd. (IREDA) has been designated as the scheme’s implementing agency by the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE).

The applicants must establish either a brownfield or a greenfield manufacturing facility for the entire capacity allotted under the scheme. Under the scheme, applicants are not permitted to build a facility that is both brownfield and greenfield.

As the domestic Industry has limited operational capacities of solar PV cells and modules, solar capacity addition currently relies heavily on imported solar PV cells and modules.

QS World University Rankings Released

Three Indian institutes are ranked among the top 200 in the QS World University Rankings 2022.

According to these rankings, IISc Bengaluru is ranked first in the world for research. The institute was ranked 186th in the universities ranking.

IIT Bombay was ranked 177th, while IIT Delhi was ranked 185th.

The QS World University Rankings is a university ranking published annually by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS).

Quacquarelli Symonds is a British firm that specialises in higher Education analysis higher education institutions.

World Day against Child Labour is on 12th June

World Day Against Child Labour is determined globally on twelfth June each year. By the ILO (International Labour Organization), there are about 152 million teenagers globally who are engaged in child labour, seventy-two millions of whom are in hazardous work.

The day Against Child Labour focuses on action taken for the 2021 International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour. The theme of this years World Day Against Child Labour is Act now: End child labour! It is the first World Day in view that the popular ratification of the ILOs Convention No. 182 on the bad Forms of Child Labour & takes vicinity at a time when the COVID-19 disaster threatens to reverse years of progress in tackling the problem.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) launched the World Day Against Child Labour in 2002 to focal point attention on the worldwide extent of youngster labour and consequently the motion and efforts wished to cast off it.

Forex reserves dip $6.1 billion to $593.48 billion

Indias Foreign Exchange reserves, which had been steadily increasing over the past few weeks, experienced a decline of $6.1 billion in the week ending on May 19, 2023. This pullback comes after three consecutive weekly increases and affects all components of the reserves, withforeign currency assets (FCA)being impacted the most, according to the latest data from the Reserve Bank Of India (RBI).

Indias total forex reserves reached $593.48 billion during the week ending on May 19, 2023, representing a decrease of $6.052 billion from the previous week. In the previous week, reserves had increased by $3.553 billion, bringing them close to the $600 billion mark at $599.53 billion. Before that, the reserves had surged by $7.196 billion. Notably, in the first week of May, reserves had jumped by $4.532 billion.

Mission Karmayogi: Annual Capacity Building Plan by MoHFW

Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare,Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, emphasized the significance ofCapacity Building Plansin promoting focused output by a competent workforce and fostering a Work culture within organizations. These plans serve as highways that enable individuals to work together as a team with shared goals and vision.

Dr. Mandaviyamade these remarks during the launch of the Annual Capacity Building Plan for civil servants of theMinistry of Health and Family Welfare. The event was attended byDr. Bharati Pravin Pawar, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, who joined virtually.

AI Supercomputer AIRAWAT puts India among top supercomputing league

TheInternational Supercomputing Conference (ISC 2023) in Germany,the AI SupercomputerAIRAWAT,situated at C-DAC, Pune, achieved an impressive global ranking of 75th on the esteemed Top 500 Global Supercomputing List. This accomplishment establishes India as a leading nation in the field of AI supercomputing. AIRAWAT is part of the Government of Indias National Program on AI and represents a significant stride forward in the countrys AI capabilities.

The AIRAWAT PoC of 200 AI Petaflops integrated with PARAM Siddhi AI of 210 AI Petaflops gives a total peak compute of 410 AI Petaflops Mixed Precision and sustained compute capacity of 8.5 Petaflops (Rmax) Double Precision. The peak compute capacity (Double Precision, Rpeak) is 13 Petaflops.