GUJARAT

Assuring all support from the central government to rebuild all that suffered severe damage by cyclone Tauktae, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi announced financial assistance of Rs 1,000 crore for immediate relief activities inGujarat.

The PM surveyed the Union territory of Diu, Una taluka of Gir-Somnath district,Mahuvataluka of Bhavnagar and Jafrabad taluka of Amreli. He was accompanied by CM Vijay Rupani, chief secretary Anil Mukim and additional chief secretary, revenue, Pankaj Kumar.

This assistance will be applicable to people from all states that have been affected by the cyclone. The central government will shortly send an inter-ministerial team to visit Gujarat and assess the extent of damage, based on which further assistance will be given.

Data tabled by the Union Government in the Lok Sabha on Monday shows thatGujarathas the third highest number of ‘out of school children’ (OoSC) at the elementary level. The only two states that have higherOoSCnumbers areUttar PradeshandBihar.

While UP has the highest number of OoSC at 3,96,665, Bihar is second with 1,34,252. Gujarat ranks third with 1,06,885 children not admitted in any primary class.Under the Samagra Shiksha scheme of the Union government, all states and union territories (UTs) need to conduct household surveys for identification of OoSC. The department of school Education and Literacy has developed an online module for compiling data on OoSCs identified by each state and UT on the PRABANDH portal.

Revenue officials of the Ahmedabad collectorate have identified several anomalies arising from the recently announced increase in jantri rates, which were doubled for all areas across the state.

At a meeting of stakeholders which included revenue officials, a real estate association placed on record their objections with regard to the jantri rates.

Revenue officials also said that in certain villages, the jantri rate for agricultural land is higher than for non-agricultural land. Another matter was that rates of plots next to 60-foot roads were 30% higher than commercial rates in the same area.

Officials have also demanded clear demarcation of jantri rates for residential, commercial and industrial plots, which is not the case right now.

Beginning as early as the next academic year, the Class X board examination could be done away with in the state. TheGujaratgovernment has initiated an exercise to adopt theNational Education Policy(NEP) 2020 which recommends doing away with the Class X board examination system with the rationale of reducing the burden of board examinations that students face in X and XII standards.

Although the implications of this exercise are huge – and involves engagement with a wide range of stakeholders who will get impacted, sources in the government said that beingPM Narendra Modi‘s Home state, Gujarat aims to take the lead in implementing recommendations of the NE.

Instead of the existing 10 + 2 system (10 years of secondary and two years of higher secondary), the new NEP envisages a 5 + 3 + 3 + 3 structure. According to NEP 2020, the first five years will be considered foundational and will include class nursery to class 2. The next three years class 3 to 5 will be preparatory, the next three years class 6 to 8 will be middle and the last four classes 9th to 12th will be secondary.

The NEP recommends that children who are minimum of 4 years old should be admitted to nursery class. This will mean that students who appear for class XII examination will be 18 years old.

TheGujaratgovernment has decided to introduce Vedic Maths in Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) school curriculum from next year. Vedic maths is considered to be an easier and faster way to solve mathematics problems and helps in strengthening the foundation for students.

An ancient Indian method, Vedic maths simplifies mathematics by integrating arithmetic operations into 16 sutras or formulae. It will be rolled out in phases, beginning from Class 6 to Class 8 students in the academic year 2022-23, it said. Further, it will be introduced for Class 9 and Class 10 students in 2023-24, as per the notification.

While it is mandatory for the 20,000 schools under the Schools of Excellence (SoE) project to implement Vedic maths in a phased manner, other schools under the state board are to consider the local conditions and implement it voluntarily, it said.

TheGujaratgovernment has decided to provide financial assistance of up to Rs 1,500 to farmers in the state for purchasing a smartphone, as per a notification issued by the state Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture department.

The scheme is meant to encourage the farmers to buysmartphoneswhich could be used for various purposes towards increasing their farm income, at a time when the prevalence of digital Services in the field of agriculture is growing every day, it said.

The smartphone will make it easy for a farmer to access information regarding Weather forecast, possible pest infestation, various schemes of the agriculture department, modern farm techniques and expert opinion etc.

The university had formed an E-Waste committee. A team has surveyed all the faculties and institutions check the electronic instruments which are not in working condition. The new scrap policy has been given go ahead by the university’s syndicate as well.
Although the university had been purchasing electronic equipment for so many years, it did not have any policy to get rid of old and outdated equipment.