1)The Union Government launched a dedicated web portal ShaGun (http://ssashagun.nic.in) for monitoring the progress of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). The portal was developed by World Bank in collaboration with Union Ministry of Human Resource Development.
Its name has been derived from the words Shala (means schools) and Gun (i.e. Gunvatta meaning Quality).
ShaGun portal was developed with a twin track approach to monitor schools under the SSA and also the quality of education imparted by them.
2)The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) was officially launched at World Economic Forum (WEF) Davos after it received $460-million to develop vaccines against 3 emerging highly-contagious and fatal diseases.
These three diseases are Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)-coronavirus, Lassa fever, and Nipah virus. CEPI will use this fund to contain outbreaks these 3 diseases before they become global health emergencies.
About Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) :
CEPI is a public-private alliance to finance and coordinate the development of new vaccines to prevent and contain infectious disease epidemics.
It is being funded by the Wellcome Trust, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, World Economic Forum (WEF), Governments of Norway, Japan, India (Department of Biotechnology) and Germany.3)Physicists from Austria have created new form of Hydrogen i.e. negatively charged hydrogen clusters.
4)Delhi Police Commissioner and Senior IPS officer Alok Kumar Verma was appointed as new Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation. He will have tenure of two years.
Read More About CBI Here
5)The second edition of Ministry of External Affairs’ annual Raisina Dialogue was held in New Delhi with the theme “The New Normal: Multilateralism in a multipolar world”.
Read Everything About Raisina Dialogue
6)The Union Cabinet has given its approval to the proposal for India’s taking full membership of the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) Governing Council.
This decision involves payment of annual contribution of US $5,00,000 to the IVI (headquartered in Seoul, South Korea).
Read Everything About IVI
7)The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has approved a mission to explore 16 Psyche, an iron-rich asteroid.
As part of the mission, NASA craft will be launched in 2023, and will arrive at Psyche in 2030.
The mineral contents on the asteroids are worth over 100-thousand times the value of the entire world economy.
Read All about Psyche Asteroid
8)Union Railway Ministry has unveiled ‘Mission 41K’ to save Rs. 41,000 crore on the Indian Railways’ expenditure on energy consumption over the next 10 years.
This target of ‘Mission 41K will be achieved by taking a slew of measures which include moving 90% of traffic to electric traction over diesel from present 50% of the total rail traffic.
The railways will also procure more and more electricity at cheaper rates through open market instead of sourcing it through DISCOMs. Thereby it hopes to save as much as 25% on its energy expenses.
New technologies will be also explored to bring down electric consumption and change the energy mix of Indian Railways.
The Electrification Mission will help Indian Railways to reduce dependence on imported fuel, change energy mix, and rationalize the cost of energy for Railways.
9)India formally became an associate member of CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Now, India can take part in meetings of the CERN Council and its committees (Scientific Policy Committee and Finance Committee).
However India will not have voting rights on decisions of the council.
It will enhance participation of young scientists and engineers from India in various CERN projects and bring back knowledge for deployment in the domestic programmes.
It will open up new avenues for Indian scientists to engage with their counterparts in front line research in physics and engineering.
Also, Indian scientists will become eligible for staff appointments. It will help to boost India’s science credentials and give access to high end scientific technology.
Read All About CERN
MAINS QUESTION:
The Recent Ordinance by Centre to Allow Jalikattu is again a breach in the Pariamentary Sovereignty ? Discuss?
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