HIMACHAL PRADESH

 

 

• Good show in school edu, but state ranking slips

 

The hill state with vast educational infrastructure has slipped one place in the overall performance and rank in the first School Education Quality Index (SEQI) survey conducted by NITI Aayog in spite of better performance under key parameters.

Among the 20 large states, 18 improved their overall performance between 2015-16 and 2016-17 and the average improvement in the 18 states is 8.6 per cent. Many states improved their overall performance score but showed a decline in rank points because the states like Haryana, Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha improved their overall performance score by 18.5, 16.8, 13.7 and 12.4 percentage points, outpacing the others.

Himachal improved its performance from 58.1 per cent to 62.8 per cent but slipped from fourth to fifth place. Only Karnataka and Uttarakhand experienced a decline in their overall performance score and rank between 2015-16 and 2016-17. The base year for the study was 2015-16 while 2016-17 was taken as the reference year.

 

INTERNATIONAL

●      France launches postage stamp with image of Mahatma Gandhi

A postage stamp bearing the image of Mahatma Gandhi issued by Franch postal service company La Poste to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of the Mahatma.

Indian Embassy partnered LaPoste of #France in launching a postage stamp today with an image of #MahatmaGandhi to commemorate 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi @MEAIndia @PMOIndia @DrSJaishankar @IndAmbFrance @GroupeLaPoste

Similar postage stamps are issued in Uzbekistan, Turkey, Palestine and other countries around the globe on Gandhi Jayanti.

●      India and USA to launch new initiative for clean energy

India and America will launch a new initiative for clean energy to fuel economic growth in the strategically-important Indo-Pacific region where China has been trying to expand its sphere of influence.
The US has been pushing for a broader role by India in the Indo-Pacific region in the backdrop of China’s rising military maneuvering in the region.

China trying to expand its military presence in the biogeographic region, comprising the Indian Ocean and the western and central Pacific Ocean, including the South China Sea.

 

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) partners from US department of energy and the US agency for international development.

 

NATIONAL

• Telangana district tops rural Swachhta survey, Faridabad jumps 69 places to rank no 2

 

Peddapalli in Telangana has jumped two places in the annual sanitation survey to become the cleanest district replacing Satara in Maharashtra. However, the most remarkable improvement was recorded by Faridabad which jumped to the second rank in the 2019 rural swachhta survey findings from a lowly 71 a year back. Rewari, again from Haryana, was placed third in the survey which covered 690 districts in India.

 

 

This time the Swachhta Survey was carried out in 17,200 villages in these 690 districts and ranks were allocated based on quantitative and qualitative sanitation (swachhata) parameters, which included feedback from people, direct observation by third party assessors and service level progress by local administration.

 

• Ministry of Tourism launches Audio Guide facility App ‘Audio Odigos’ for 12 sites of India

 

Ministry of Tourism launched the Audio Guide facility Audio Odigos for 12 sites of India (including Iconic Sites).

 

Audio guide Odigo offers Government of India verified content, with visuals & voice over support.

 

With Audio Odigos, tourists will now enjoy a more enriching experience and take back historical insights of the Indian culture and heritage.

 

The Audio Odigos app contains an inbuilt map of the site for smooth navigation during the tour.

 

Listeners will be offered various versions of history like Synopsis, detailed history and odcasts.

 

• CSIR comes up with improved formulations for green crackers

 

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has come up with new and improved formulations in the manufacture of sound-emitting crackers and other fireworks keeping in view the pollution hazard and health risks.

 

New formulations for reduced emission light and sound emitting crackers with a 30 per cent reduction in particulate matter using Potassium Nitrate as an oxidant.

 

 

• Harmanpreet Kaur becomes first Indian to reach 100 T20Is

 

Harmanpreet Kaur became the first Indian to play 100 T20 International matches.

 

 

Harmanpreet, who captains India in the shortest format of the game, turned up for the team in their sixth T20I against South Africa in Surat.