Assam Current Affairs – July 29 – 31, 2020

Posted on by admin 
Assam Current Affairs & GK – July 29 - 31, 2020

( Covers all important Assam Current Affairs & GK topics for the week of July 29 – 31, 2020 )

July 2020 Current Affairs Monthly PDF  |  Assam 2020 Yearbook  | July 2020 Quiz Monthly PDF

Go To Assam Current Affairs                      Go To Assam Current Affairs Quiz

 

July 29, 2020

HRD Minister launches ‘India Report on Digital Education 2020’
  • Union Minister for HRD Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ virtually launched India Report on Digital Education, 2020, which elaborates on the innovative methods adopted by Ministry of HRD, Education Departments of States and Union Territories for ensuring accessible and inclusive education to children at home and reducing learning gaps.
  • Ministry of Human Resource Development has initiated many projects like DIKSHA platform, Swayam Prabha TV Channel, Online MOOC courses, On Air – Shiksha Vani,   DAISY by NIOS for differently-abled, e-PathShala, National Repository of Open Educational Resources to develop e-content and energized books, telecast through TV channels, E-learning portals , webinars and other digital initiatives along with State/ UT Governments.
  • The report has been prepared by Digital Education Division of MHRD in consultation with Education Departments of States and UTs.
  • School Education is envisaged as a comprehensive and convergent programme committed to universalize digital education across the wide spectrum of schools from pre-nursery to higher secondary classes.
  • Various State and Union Territories Governments have also managed the critical task of providing digital education at the doorstep of the students, social media tools like WhatsApp Group, Online classes through YouTube channel and Google meet.
  • States and UTs have also distributed textbooks at children’s doorsteps.
India can be major agro products exporter with effective policy
  • A study conducted by MVIRDC World Trade Center Mumbai shows that India can emerge as top five exporters of agro commodities in the world, if governments take effective measures to handhold farmers.
  • Through focused intervention in capacity building, India can enhance its agro export to surpass Thailand and Indonesia and become the fifth largest exporter in the world.
  • The government should re-orient the role of its extension centres, Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), to handhold farmers in growing those varieties of crops that are demanded in the global market.
  • KVKs should guide farmers on prudential use of pesticides and other agro chemicals so that they conform to the global quality standards, so that India’s export consignments are rejected because of presence of higher level of pesticides.
  • India has made remarkable progress in export of niche products such as capsicum chilly, castor oil, tobacco extracts; and also made considerable progress in export of basmati rice, meat and marine products.
  • As per latest WTO data, India ranks eighth with annual agro exports of $39 billion, after EU, USA, Brazil, China, Canada, Indonesia and Thailand.
  • As per FAO data, India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world but its share in world exports is 1.7-1.8 per cent.
IRCTC, SBI Card launch new Co-branded contactless Credit Card
  • IRCTC and SBI Card together launched their new Co-branded Contactless Credit Card on RuPay Platform.
  • The new RuPay credit card is equipped with Near Field Communication (NFC), with which, users can expedite their transactions at the POS machines by just tapping the card on the machines.
Hetero launches generic Covid-19 drug Favivir
  • Drug firm Hetero has launched genericoral antiviral drug Favipiravir used for treatment of patients with mild to moderate Covid-19, in India under the brand name ‘Favivir’ at Rs 59 per tablet.
  • The company has been granted the manufacturing and marketing approval for Favipiravir from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI).
  • Favivir is the second drug developed by Hetero after Covifor (Remdesivir) used in the treatment of Covid-19.
  • This medication has demonstrated positive clinical outcomes, it improves treatment accessibility to a significant amount of Covid-19 patient population, which have mild to moderate symptoms.

July 30, 2020

Union Cabinet approves National Education Policy 2020
  • The Union Cabinet approved the National Education Policy 2020, with large scale, transformational reforms in both school and higher education sectors in the country.
  • This education policy will replace the thirty-four year old National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986.
  • Built on the foundational pillars of Access, Equity, Quality, Affordability and Accountability, this policy is aligned to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and aims to transform India into a vibrant knowledge society and global knowledge superpower by making both education more holistic, flexible, multidisciplinary, suited to present needs.
  • New Education Policy aims for Universalization of Education from pre-school to secondary level with 100 % Gross Enrolment Rate (GER) in school education by 2030, by bringing 2 crore out of school children back into the main stream.
  • It proposes new 5+3+3+4 school curriculum with 12 years of schooling and 3 years of Anganwadi/ Pre-schooling. It also emphasis on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, no rigid separation between academic streams, extracurricular, vocational streams in schools. And teaching upto at least Grade 5 to be in mother tongue/ regional language.
  • GER in higher education to be raised to 50 % by 2035 ;  and additional 3.5 crore seats to be added in higher education. Higher Education curriculum is also to have more flexibility of Subjects, with multiple entry / exit to be allowed with appropriate certification.
  • Academic Bank of Credits to be established to facilitate Transfer of Credits.
  • National Research Foundation to be established to foster a strong research culture
  • Light but Tight Regulation of Higher Education, single regulator with four separate verticals for different functions
  • Affiliation System to be phased out with graded autonomy to colleges.
  • The new policy also advocates increased use of technology with equity; and for these purpose a National Educational Technology Forum to be created.
  • NEP 2020 promotes Multilingualism in both schools and HEs; National Institute for Pali, Persian and Prakrit , Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation to be set up.
Earth Sciences Ministry announces National Awards for excellence in Earth System Science
  • Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) announced National Awards for excellence in Earth System Science. The Life Time Excellence Award is being awarded to Professor Ashok Sahni for his significant contribution in the field of Geology, Vertebrate Paleontology and Biostratigraphy.
  • The National Award for Ocean Science and technology is being awarded to Dr. V. V. S. S. Sarma, Senior Principal Scientist, CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Vishakapatnam and Dr. M. Ravichandran, Director, National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, Goa. Dr. S. Suresh Babu will be awarded the National Award for Atmospheric Science and Technology.
  • The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) provides the nation with the best possible services for weather, climate, ocean, coastal and natural hazards, for the Public Safety and socio-economic benefits. It also deals with exploration and sustainable harnessing of ocean resources – living and non-living.
MoES-Knowledge Resource Centre Network launched
  • Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has launched the “MoES-Knowledge Resource Centre Network (KRCNet)” under the Digital India initiative of Government of India.
  • The Ministry aims to develop a World-Class Knowledge Resource Centre Network (KRCNet). The traditional libraries of the MoES system will be upgraded into a top-notch Knowledge Resource Centres (KRC).
  • KRCs will be interconnected and integrated into the KRCNet portal. It will be a single point entry to the intellectual assets of the ministry.

 Salient objectives of the MoES-Knowledge Resource Centre Network (KRCNet)

  • Establish a Total Quality Management (TQM) system by securing ISO certification for documenting MoESknowledge resources, its maintenance, easy retrieval and dissemination.
  • Collect, collate, analyze, index, store and disseminate the intellectual resources, products and project outputs available in MoES headquarter and its institutes.
  • Develop and maintain an up-to-date meta-data of the print & digital resources available in MoES headquarter and MoES institutes, including MoES services.
  • Provide 24X7 access to the subscribed knowledge contents through the KRCNet portal.
  • Application of information analytical tools & techniques like bibliometrics, scientometrics, big-data analytics, social media analytics etc., for policy formulation, report preparation and information dissemination.
  • Periodically organize training workshops to popularize usage of electronic journals, databases, digital products, data analytics etc.
Haryana engages Garuda Aerospace for drone-based anti-locust spraying
  • Drone-as-a-Service (DAAS) provider Garuda Aerospace has bagged a contract from the Haryana government for spraying anti-locust pesticide in the state.
  • Haryana is the third state after Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan to have contracted Garuda Aerospace for drone-based anti-locust operations.
  • The Ministry of Civil Aviation gave conditional exemption to the Haryana government for use of remotely piloted systems for anti-locust operations.
  • Garuda Aerospace has been carrying out drone-based anti-coronavirus sanitation orders from several municipal corporations and smart cities like Varanasi, Rourkela, Raipur, Chennai and Hyderabad.

July 2020 Current Affairs Monthly PDF  |  Assam 2020 Yearbook  | July 2020 Quiz Monthly PDF

 

July 31, 2020

‘BANDICOOT’ robot to clean manholes in Guwahati
  • Guwahati Development Department (GDD) Minister Siddhartha Bhattacharya inaugurated the first-ever manhole cleaning robot to end manual scavenging.
  • The robot named ‘BANDICOOT’ has been procured by the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) along with six Skid Steer Loaders from JCB and six Backhoe Loaders from CASE and BOBCAT companies each.
  • The BANDICOOT robot is also the first of its kind in the world that was developed by a Start-up India company called Genrobotics under the Make in India initiative, funded by CSR of Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL).
  • Guwahati is the third city in the entire country to procure this innovative technology to clean manholes after Gurugram and Coimbatore.
Hardik Satishchandra Shah appointed Private Secretary to PM Modi
  • IAS officer Hardik Satishchandra Shah has been appointed the Private Secretary (PS) to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Shah is a 2010-batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre, is currently serving as a Deputy Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

FACTFILE – Prime Minister’s Office (PMO)

  • The Prime Minister’s Office consists of the immediate staff of the Prime Minister of India, as well as multiple levels of support staff reporting to the Prime Minister.
  • The PMO is headed by the Principal Secretary, currently PK Misra.
  • It was originally called the Prime Minister’s Secretariat until 1977, when it was renamed during the Prime Ministership of Morarji Desai ministry.
PM Modi inaugurated the Supreme Court building of Mauritius
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Supreme Court building of Mauritius with his counterpart Pravind K. Jugnauth via video conference, in presence of senior members of judiciary from Mauritius and other dignitaries from both the countries.
  • Prime Minister Modi said India and Mauritius jointly celebrated yet another landmark as a symbol of special friendship between the two countries.
  • The Supreme Court building of Mauritius has been constructed with Indian grant assistance and will be the first India-assisted infrastructure project within the capital city of Port Louis after Covid-19.
  • This project is one of the five projects being implemented under the ‘Special Economic Package’ of $353 million extended by the Government of India to Mauritius in 2016.
Union cabinet approval for remaining HRD Ministry as Ministry of Education
  • The Union Cabinet has approved the change of name of the Ministry of Human Resource Development as Ministry of Education.
  • The name change was done as per the recommendation of the draft New Education Policy 2020. The HRD ministry name was adopted in 1985, during the tenure of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, before that it was the Ministry of Education.

FACTFILE – Ministry of Education (MoE)

  • The Ministry of Education (MoE) is responsible for the implementation and formulation of the National Policy on Education approved by Union cabinet of India and to ensure that it is implemented in letter and spirit.
  • Planned development, including expanding access and improving quality of the educational institutions throughout the country, including in the regions where people do not have easy access to education.
  • The Ministry is divided into two departments – (1) Department of School Education and Literacy, which deals with primary, secondary and higher secondary education, adult education and literacy, and (2) Department of Higher Education, which deals with a university education, technical education, scholarship, etc.
Power Finance Corporation signs agreement with IIT- Kanpur
  • Power Finance Corporation (PFC), a PSU under Ministry of Power and country’s leading NBFC, signed a MoA with Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT-K) for Training, Research, and Entrepreneurship Development in Smart Grid Technology.
  • As per the MoA, PFC will provide financial assistance of Rs. 2.38 Crore to IIT-K under its CSR initiative.
  • PFD will provide support to IIT-K in developing infrastructure for research and development on smart grid technology. And IIT-K will provide training on smart grid technology to 90 participants and provide fellowship to 9 selected candidates for development of ideas on Smart Grid Technology. The fellows will be assisted by Start-up Innovation and Incubation Centre (SIIC) of IIT-K and encouraged to take up entrepreneurial activities.
Punjab launches immunity boosting milk ‘Verka haldi’
  • Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh launched a nutritional drink ‘Verka haldi’ or turmeric milk, produced by Milkfed to boost people’s immunity amid the Covid-19 pandemic, with the hope that this milk would soon emerge as a popular drink among consumers, to stay healthy and boost their immunity in the fight against coronavirus.
  • The Verka milk had been prepared by using a unique ‘haldi’ formulation, that had been developed and patented by Department of Biotechnology of Punjabi University in Patiala.
  • Verka Haldi Dudh has been launched, as part of Mission Fateh, at a price of Rs 25 for 200 ml which is within the reach of all sections of society and will be beneficial for health of young and old alike.

July 2020 Current Affairs Monthly PDF  |  Assam 2020 Yearbook  | July 2020 Quiz Monthly PDF

Go To Assam Current Affairs                      Go To Assam Current Affairs Quiz