Arogya Manthan
Context : “Arogya Manthan” is a two-day event organized by the National Health Authority, to mark the completion of one year of Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY.
Purpose :
The purpose of the Arogya Manthan is to provide a platform to meet for all the important stakeholders of PM-JAY to meet and discuss the challenges faced in the implementation of the scheme in the past year and to forge new understanding and pathways to improving implementation.
Programmes launched at Arogya Manthan:
- Prime Minister launched a new mobile application for the Ayushman Bharat, the world’s largest health insurance scheme.
- Also launched the ‘Ayushman Bharat Start-Up Grand Challenge’ and released a commemorative stamp on the occasion.
The Gandhian Challenge
Context:
On the 150th birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, AIM, NITI Aayog’s Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) and UNICEF India, including Generation Unlimited, have launched ‘The Gandhian Challenge’.
Objective :
To provides a platform for every child across India to ideate innovative solutions for a sustainable India of their dreams, using Gandhi’s principles.
The winners of The Gandhian Challenge will be awarded by NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission and UNICEF on the occasion of Children’s Day in November. The contest – open for every child in India from 2 October to 20 October – also celebrates 70 years of partnership between Government of India and UNICEF India to enable Every Right for Every Child.
About AIM:
AIM is the Government of India’s flagship initiative to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country. AIM’s objective is to develop new programmes and policies for fostering innovation in different sectors of the economy.
Six major initiatives of AIM:
- Atal Tinkering Labs-Creating problem-solving mindset across schools in India.
- Atal Incubation Centers-Fostering world class start-ups and adding a new dimension to the incubator model.
- Atal New India Challenges-Fostering product innovations and aligning them to the needs of various sectors/ministries.
- Mentor India Campaign- A national Mentor network in collaboration with public sector, corporates and institutions, to support all the initiatives of the mission.
- Atal Community Innovation Center- To stimulate community centric innovation and ideas in the unserved /underserved regions of the country including Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
- ARISE-To stimulate innovation and research in the MSME industry.
About UNICEF India and Generation Unlimited:
UNICEF, an integral part of the United Nations, works with governments, communities, civil society organizations, the private sector, and other partners worldwide to advance children’s rights, and is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
UNGA 2019
Context:
The 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is currently on at the UN headquarters in New York.
What is UNGA?
Popularly known as the parliament of the world, where all the 193 UN member states are represented, the UNGA is the deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the UN.
Roles and functions:
- Takes a decision on important matters such as peace and security, discusses various global issues and budgetary matters.
- Decides on matters such as the admission of new members.
- Decisions are taken through a vote. Admission of new members and budgetary matters require a two-thirds majority, while the decision on other issues are taken by a simple majority.
- Each sovereign state gets one vote and the votes are not binding on the membership, except in budgetary matters.
- The Assembly has no binding votes or veto powers like the UN Security Council.
- The UNGA can express world opinion, promote international cooperation in various fields and make recommendations to the UNSC and elect the Security Council’s non-permanent members.
Which countries are not a part of UNGA?
Among the world’s 196 countries, 193 are UN member states and three nations- Palestine, the Vatican City and Taiwan are not a part of the international organization as their country status is not recognized globally due to political and religious reasons.
According to the Charter of the United Nations, the General Assembly may:
- Consider and approve the United Nations budget and establish the financial assessments of Member States;
- Elect the non-permanent members of the Security Council and the members of other United Nations councils and organs and, on the recommendation of the Security Council, appoint the Secretary-General;
- Consider and make recommendations on the general principles of cooperation for maintaining international peace and security, including disarmament;
- Discuss any question relating to international peace and security and, except where a dispute or situation is currently being discussed by the Security Council, make recommendations on it;
- Discuss, with the same exception, and make recommendations on any questions within the scope of the Charter or affecting the powers and functions of any organ of the United Nations;
- Initiate studies and make recommendations to promote international political cooperation, the development and codification of international law, the realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and international collaboration in the economic, social, humanitarian, cultural, educational and health fields;
- Make recommendations for the peaceful settlement of any situation that might impair friendly relations among countries;
- Consider reports from the Security Council and other United Nations organs.
School Education Quality Index (SEQI)
Context: NITI Aayog releases the first edition of School Education Quality Index (SEQI).
About the School Education Quality Index (SEQI):
- Developed by NITI Aayog to evaluate the performance of States and Union Territories (UTs) in the school education sector.
- Aim: To bring an ‘outcomes’ focus to education policy by providing States and UTs with a platform to identify their strengths and weaknesses and undertake requisite course corrections or policy interventions.
- The index is developed through a collaborative process, including key stakeholders such as Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD), the World Bank and sector experts.
It consists of 30 critical indicators that assess the delivery of quality education. These indicators are categorized as below:
Category 1: Outcomes;
- Domain 1: Learning outcomes
- Domain 2: Access outcomes
- Domain 3: Infrastructure and facilities for outcomes
- Domain 4: Equity outcomes
Category 2: Governance processes aiding outcomes.
Significance of the index:
Schooling should result in successful learning outcomes. In this regard, SEQI acts as a credible system of assessment and helps to design necessary remedial actions.
How are they ranked?
- To facilitate a like-for-like comparison, States and UTs have been grouped as Large States, Small States and UTs.
- States’ and UTs’ performance on Learning Outcomes is driven by their results on the National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2017.
- Their performance on Access Outcomes is primarily driven by enrolment ratios at the secondary level and transition rates from upper-primary to secondary level.
- In terms of Infrastructure & Facilities for Outcomes, States’ and UTs’ performance is strongly linked to the presence of Computer Aided-Learning (CAL) at the elementary level and vocational education at the secondary and senior-secondary level.
Performance of various states:
- Kerala has emerged on top among 20 large states in terms of quality of school education, followed by Rajasthan and Karnataka, while the most-populous Uttar Pradesh was ranked at the bottom position during 2016-17.
- Among 20 large states in the country 18 have improved their overall performance between 2015-2016 and 2016-2017, which is otherwise referred to as the incremental performance in the report.
- The highest incremental performance has been recorded in Kerala. As against 77.6% score in 2015-2016, the state has recorded 82.2% in 2016-2017.
- The overall performance has declined in Karnataka and Uttarakhand.
- All seven union territories have shown an improvement in their overall performance scores.
- The performance and ranks have decreased in Mizoram, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
Paleochannel
In News
- The Union Water Ministry has excavated an old, dried-up river in Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad) that linked the Ganga and Yamuna rivers.
- The discovery was made last December by a team of scientists from the CSIR-NGRI (National Geophysical Research Institute) and the Central Groundwater Board.
- A palaeochannel is a remnant of an inactive river or stream channel that has been filled or buried by younger sediment.
- Paleochannels typically act as pathways for groundwater movement and provide a potential source of groundwater. Their presence can be helpful in identifying areas suitable for recharge.