11.09.21

Kongthong among 3 Indian entries for UNWTO ‘Best Village Contest’: Meghalaya CM

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Meghalaya’s whistling village Kongthong in East Khasi Hills district has been selected as one of three India entries for the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) ‘Best Tourism Village’, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said.

Kongthong a small village is nestled in the Khat-ar Shnong area on way to Sohra in East Khasi Hills, about 60 km to the south from Shillong. It is famous for its panoramic view, unique culture and virgin beauty.

The UNWTO is looking for the best examples of rural villages harnessing the power of tourism to provide opportunity and safeguard their communities, local traditions and heritage.

Best Tourism Villages by UNWTO’ aims to maximise the contribution of the sector to reducing regional inequalities and fighting against rural depopulation.

Key decisions of Assam Cabinet

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Key decisions taken at the Cabinet Meeting chaired by Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma on 09.09.2021.

1. The Cabinet mourned the tragic incident of boat accident at Nimati Ghat and extended condolences to the families of those who lost their lives.

2. Cabinet entrusted Finance Minister Ajanta Neog with the responsibility to constantly monitor the construction of Jorhat-Majuli connecting bridge and find gaps, if any. The will provide any additional support required in this regard.

3. Reciprocating militant organisation Dimasa National Liberation Army’s unilateral ceasefire for six months, the Cabinet decided that the State Govt would also stop its operations against the outfit for one month. During this time, members of the militant outfit cannot carry arms and make extortion demands.

4. From now onwards, Police verification would not be required for those selected for appointment in government jobs. They would have to provide self-declaration which would be uploaded on a portal. If self-declarations are disputed with facts, appropriate steps would be taken against the candidate.

5. For government construction works, the royalty payable to Forest Dept for using construction materials like sand, stones etc would now be deducted from the contractors’ bill and submitted in treasury. For private construction in urban areas, the fixed royalty can be paid in four instalments at the treasury.

6.Reservation for specially abled candidates in government jobs would be increased from 3% to 4%.

7. Degrees, diplomas issued by government approved distance Learning institutes would now be considered at par with on-campus courses for government jobs. 8. Cabinet decided to constitute Assam State Organic Mission Agency (ASOMA). Mission Organic Value Chain Development, Assam and National Beekeeping & Honey Mission (NBHM), Assam would work under ASOMA.

Odisha takes top spot in curbing vaccine wastage

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Odishahas topped in the country in terms of curbingvaccine wastage. The state has so far saved 12.2 lakh doses and thus registered -5.5 per cent misuse. This means the state administered 105 doses and saved five for every 100 doses allotted.

The state till Wednesday administered 2.45 crore doses, which include 12.2 lakh saved doses. The capitals entire Population can be vaccinated with at least the first jab with the saved doses.

While Odisha achieved 58 per cent coverage of the first dose, seven districts have less than 50 per cent coverage. Districts with less than 60 per cent of second dose coverage against the due target are Malkangiri (50 per cent), Nabarangpur (55 per cent), Boudh (57 per cent) and Kandhamal (58 per cent). Nine districts are yet to cross the 1-lakh mark in terms of administering the second dose.

32 Tamil Nadu colleges among top 100 in NIRF ranks

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Five state universities slipped in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings 2021 released on Thursday. While Anna University slipped by four places in both university category and engineering category to be ranked 16 and 18 respectively,University of Madrasslipped six ranks from 22 to 28.

In the colleges category, Loyola College was ranked the third best college in the country, moving up three places. But, Presidency College slipped two ranks to 7th. As many as 32 colleges from Nadu featured among the top 100, the same as last year.

Bharathiar University from Coimbatore slipped from 13 to 14 while Bharathidasan University in Trichy came down from 53 to 57 in the university category. Madurai Kamaraj University also slipped from 60 to 63.

However, Alagappa University in Karaikudi have moved up from 36 to 33 andPeriyar Universityin Salem jumped 10 places from 83 to 73.

Kerala universities slip in NIRF rankings

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The ministry of Education released National Institutional Ranking Frameworks (NIRF) rankings of educational institutions for 2021 on Thursday. Though four universities in state continued to secure a position in the list of top 100 universities in India, the rankings of three fell compared to the 2020 list.

KeralaUniversity (KU), Thiruvananthapuram, came first in state by securing 27th rank followed by Mahatma Gandhi University (MGU), Kottayam (31), Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat, Kochi (44) and Calicut University (CU), Malappuram (60). While Cusat improved its rank (62 in 2020); the rank of KU (23), MGU (30) and CU (54) dipped.
In overall rankings of educational institutions KU topped with 43rd rank (42 in 2020). While MGU secured 52nd rank (49 in 2020), Cusat secured 65th rank (89 in 2020) and CU secured 95th rank (76 in 2020).

In the list of top 200 engineering institutes, Amrita School of Engineering (Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham) secured 16th rank. While NIT-Calicut secured 25th rank IIST, Thiruvananthapuram secured 40th rank and College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram secured 95th rank. Government Engineering College, Thrissur secured 156th rank.
In management category, IIM-Kozhikode, which improved its rank to 4 from 6, is the only institute from Kerala in the top 75 list. In pharmacy ranking, Amrita School of Pharmacy (AVV), Ernakulam secured 12th rank.

IISc top university, three Karnataka colleges in NIRF top 100

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Continuing its good run for the third year in a row, IIT-Madras has topped the India Rankings 2021 released by the ministry of Education on Thursday, while Karnataka has improved its performance with one Mangaluru and two Bengaluru colleges breaking into the list of top 100 colleges.

The three colleges which have made the cut are Bengalurus MS Ramaiah College of Arts, Science and Commerce (No. 62) and St Josephs College of Commerce (74) and Mangalurus St Aloysius College (95).

This is the sixth edition of India Rankings instituted by theNational Institutional Ranking Framework(NIRF) by the ministry of education, which now ranks higher education institutions in 11 categories.

IIT-Madras retained top position in the engineering and overall categories. Among the universities, IISc-Bangalore is ranked number one, followed by JNU. In the research category introduced this year, IISc-Bangalore emerged topper and IIT-Madras second.

Region-wise, Nadu has 19 institutions in top 100 universities, followed by Maharashtra with 12 and 10 from Karnataka. Karnatakas star institutions aced their respective domains: In law,National Law School of India Universitycontinued to be no. 1 and IIM-Bangalore was ranked no. 2 in management.

Telangana institutes slide further in NIRF rankings

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Several higher educational institutions from slipped in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2021rankings, released virtually by the union minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday. Only seven engineering institutions from Telangana figured in the top 200 compared to 11 in last years rankings. The figure stood at 16 in 2019.

In a first, the Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (IIT-H) secured 15th rank in the research category, while improving its overall ranking to 16th from last years 17th rank. In the engineering category, the IIT-H retained its eighth position for the third consecutive year.

The University of Hyderabad (UoH) ranked 25th in the research category. However, in the overall rankings, the university slipped from 15th to 17th rank this year. In the universitys category, the varsity, which was granted the Institution of Eminence tag two years back by the ministry of education, has slipped from the sixth to ninth rank.

Andhra Pradesh govt to develop portal for sale of movie tickets

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The plans to sellmovie ticketsonline soon.
An online portal is in the final stages of development through which the government wants to make tickets available for filmgoers.

The government has already constituted a high-level committee to execute the task of developing the portal and linking all theatres in the state to the portal.

The state government earlier issued orders fixing movie ticket prices across the state for non-AC and AC theatres and multiplex screens.
The intervention was to avoid indiscriminate hike by the theatres during the release of big banner films.

Initiative to protect water bodies from pollution

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Initiatives to set up a system to collect waste during Ganesh Chaturthi festival help in channelising its proper disposal. Towards this end, Neura village was provided bins at Ganesh idol immersion points.

Under a drive, Swaccha Goa, Swaccha Neura by Kala Academy Goas College of Theatre Arts, the special bins were distributed in coordination with Neura panchayat for collecting Ganesha puja waste (nirmalya) and for other waste separately.

Low patent & research scores keep Pune colleges out of top NIRF ranks

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Savitribai Phule Pune University(SPPU) slipped a spot yet again to finish 20th in the list of top 100 institutes overall in the country. The rankings were declared by the ministry of educationsNational Institutional Ranking Framework(NIRF).

The university retained its position as the number one state university fromMaharashtrawith Mumbai University coming second at 96. Compared with last year, there has been a mixed response as many institutes slipped, while some climbed in the rankings.

Parameters such as perception, patents-filed, financial Resources and their utilisation for students among others pulled most of the institutes in the city down.

Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed Universitys College of Engineering at the 96th rank among engineering colleges said that the competition is increasing every year as more colleges are participating every year.