RAJASTHAN

Jhalawar district collector gets world education award.

In the category of innovation in the public sector, Sri Lankan Education Minister V. S. Radhakrishnan was honored with World Education Award in World Education Conference, 2017, New Delhi.

In the 10th World Education Conference, Jhalawar has been given the award for innovation in government sector through e-Knowledge Center, Shri V. S. Radhakrishnan, Minister of State for Education, Sri Lanka, gave this award to Jhalawar Collector Dr. Jitendra Kumar Soni.

It may be mentioned that the e-knowledge center was launched by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on July 21, 2016. This innovation was also included in the book New Beginning by the Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi on the Civil Service Day 2017. For this innovation, in February 2017 Telangana Government had awarded the Leadership Award for this innovative initiative to the Jhalawar District Collector in a program organized by the Telangana Government in Hyderabad. District collector Dr. Jitendra Kumar Soni has described the e-knowledge center as revolutionary step for the promotion of digital literacy and information technology in rural, backward and remote tribal areas.

Now, 100 schools in Rajasthan renamed after martyrs.

The state education department has completed a century of schools named after martyrs. The naming process introduced in 2016 has reached 100 schools with the naming of a school after Shaheed Chandram in Nagaur last month. Chandram attained martyrdom in 2016 while fighting terrorist in Jammu and Kashmir region.

The state has targeted to cover all the war heroes of 1965, 1971 and 1999 along with those who attained martyrdom during proxy wars.

Either a school in the native village of the martyr or the one close to their village should be chosen for the purpose. Maximum renaming of schools has been done in the Shekhawati region where youths have a special interest in the armed forces.

The scheme is also open for police officers who have shown the highest degree of courage while on duty. The State has around 68,500 government schools. The renaming process has been old in the state; however, the BJP-led government has formed a policy to make it regular.

INTERNATIONAL

New Species of Bat- ‘Yoda’

An unusual breed of fruit bat — previously nicknamed ‘Yoda’ due to its resemblance to the Jedi Master in the popular Star Wars movies — has now officially been registered as a new species.
Discovered in a remote rainforest of Papua New Guinea, the bat has been renamed the happy (Hamamas) tube-nosed fruit bat. Its unusual features saw it affectionately referred to as the ‘Yoda bat’.

NATIONAL

· Only govt. can take call on yoga in schools: SC

The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition for a direction to the government to make yoga education a compulsory part of the syllabus for Classes one to eight.
“We are nobody to say what is to be taught in schools,” a Bench, led by Justice Madan B. Lokur, orally observed.
The Bench denied any relief to petitioner and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, saying it was for the government to take the call on such issues.
His petition had sought a direction to the government to frame a National Yoga Policy, saying that right to health was part of the right to lead a dignified life under Article 21 of the Constitution.

India and Russia to hold Major Tri-Service ‘Indra’ Combat Exercise in October.

India and Russia for the first time are going to conductIndra tri-services exerciseinvolving their armies, navies and the air forces in October 2017 to establish military ties.
A total of 350 Indian Army personnel will participate in the mega exercise. The contingents by the Indian Navy and AirForce(IAF) will also be sizeable.
During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Russia in June 2017, both countries had decided to “upgrade and intensify” defense cooperation among them.

Railways detect ₹1.11 crore in fake currency notes in 10 years

The Railways have detected fake currency notes with a face value of ₹1.11 crore at its cash counters in the last 10 years, according to the report of a Parliamentary Standing Committee.

The Railways have recovered ₹66.2 lakh from the staff members responsible for taking the fake currency notes and are yet to get back the remaining ₹45.1 lakh in counterfeit currency notes.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture raised “concerns” about the fake currency notes detected at the railway cash counters and asked the Railways to procure fake currency detecting machines.

Indian Coast Guard ship ‘Shaurya’ commissioned in Goa.

Indian Coast Guard ship “Shaurya”, the fifth in the series of six 105-metre offshore patrol vessels (OPVs), was commissioned in Goa by Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan.

The ship will be based at Chennai and operate under the operational and administrative control of Commander Coast Guard Region (East) and will be deployed extensively for Exclusive Economic Zone surveillance, apart from safeguarding India’s maritime interests.

Presently, the Indian Coast Guard has a fleet of 129 ships and boats, and 72 ships and boats are at various stages of construction at different shipyards in India.

Prasoon Joshi replaces Pahlaj Nihalani as CBFC chief.

Veteran producer Pahlaj Nihalani was replaced by writer-lyricist-adman Prasoon Joshi as the head of the Central Board of Film Certification.

Nihalani, a filmmaker, was appointed head of CBFC in 2015 and his incomplete tenure has been mired in a number of controversies. Nicknamed ‘Sanskaari Nihalani’ on social media, he has often been criticised for his orthodox approach to censoring, and not necessarily certifying films.

Gk bit -CBFC

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) (often referred to as the Censor Board) is a statutory censorship and classification body under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. It is tasked with “regulating the public exhibition of films under the provisions of the Cinematograph Act 1952. The Board consist of 25 other non-official members and a Chairperson (all of whom are appointed by Central Government).

Films are certified under 4 categories.

U (Unrestricted Public Exhibition)

Films with the U certification are fit for unrestricted public exhibition, and are family friendly.

U/A (Parental Guidance for children below the age of 12 years)

Films with the U/A certification can contain moderate adult themes, that are not strong in nature and can be watched by a child under parental guidance.

A (Restricted to adults)

Films with the A certification are available for public exhibition, but with restriction to adults.

S (Restricted to any special class of persons)

Films with S certification should not be viewed by the public. Only people associated with it (Engineers, Doctors, Scientists, etc.)