National
SECL Plans to Develop Solar Power Projects of 600 MW
⇒ South Eastern Coalfields Ltd (SECL), one of the largest coal-producing subsidiaries of Coal India Ltd, will be developing rooftop and ground mounted solar power projects of 600 MW capacity in the coming years as part of the company’s strategy to expand and diversify its business and achieve the “Net Zero Energy” goal.
Key Points:
- The strategy is in line with the larger goal of “Panchamrit” announced by Prime Minster Shri Narendra Modi at CoP-26 to achieve Net Zero Emissions by 2070.
- SECL, the Miniratna PSU, is planning to develop the above projects at a cost of more than Rs 1000 crores.
- Some of these projects would be implemented in RESCO (Renewable Energy Service Company)/BOO (Build-Own-Operate) mode.
Other Points:
- Solar power projects of more than 180 MW are already in various phases of development in the operational areas of SECL spread over Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. It has recently commissioned rooftop solar projects of 580 kWp capacity in Johilla, Jamuna-Kotma and Kusmunda Areas.
- At Johilla Area, the commissioned capacity is about 280 kWp which is the highest capacity rooftop solar project in the entire company.
- Coal India Ltd has set an ambitious target of achieving net-zero status by installing 3000 MW capacity renewable energy projects by 2026 as part of a broader plan to reduce the company’s carbon footprint and move towards a more sustainable future.
Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D) for the year 2020-21 & 2021-22
⇒ The Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSE&L), Ministry of Education released the Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D) combined report for 2020-21 & 2021-22 in July 2023.
- The report assesses the performance of school education system at the District level by creating an index for comprehensive analysis.
The Indian Education System is one of the largest in the world with about 14.9 lakh schools, 95 lakh teachers, and nearly 26.5 crore students from varied socio-economic backgrounds.
Devised by:
Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSE&L) devised Performance Grading Index (PGI) for States and released report for the reference years 2017-18 to 2020-21.
» Based on the success of State PGI, 83-indicator based PGI for District (PGI-D) has been designed to grade the performance of all districts in school education. The data is filled by districts through online portal.
- The PGI-D is expected to help the state education departments to identify gaps at the district level and improve their performance in a decentralized manner. The indicator-wise PGI score shows the areas where a district needs to improve.
- PGI-D report for 2018-19 and 2019-20 has been released so far, the current one is combined report for 2020-21 & 2021-22.
Structure of PGI-D:
The PGI-D structure comprises of total weight age of 600 points across 83 indicators, which are grouped under 6 categories viz.,
- Outcomes
- Effective Classroom Transaction
- Infrastructure Facilities & Student’s Entitlements
- School Safety & Child Protection
- Digital Learning
- Governance Process
These categories are further divided into 12 domains, viz.-
- Learning Outcomes and Quality (LO)
- Access Outcomes (AO)
- Teacher Availability and Professional Development Outcomes (TAPDO)
- Learning Management (LM)
- Learning Enrichment Activities (LEA)
- Infrastructure, Facilities, Student Entitlements (IF&SE)
- School Safety and Child Protection (SS&CP)
- Digital Learning (DL)
- Funds convergence and utilization (FCV)
- Enhancing CRCs Performance (CRCP)
- Attendance Monitoring Systems (AMS)
- School Leadership Development (SLD)
PGI-D grades the districts into ten grades viz.-
- The highest achievable Grade is Daksh, which is for Districts scoring more than 90% of the total points in that category or overall.
- The lowest grade in PGI-D is called Akanshi-3 which is for scores upto10% of the total points.
Objective:
Ultimate objective of PGI-D is to help the Districts to priorities areas for intervention in school education and thus improve to reach the highest grade.
International
HAL’s Regional Office in Kuala Lumpur
⇒ Recognising defence exports as a key pillar of sustainable growth of the Indian defence industry, Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh inaugurated the Regional Office of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on July 11, 2023.
- This Regional Office will facilitate close defence industrial collaboration between India and Malaysia.
- It will also serve as a hub for the HAL’s engagement with the wider South-East Asian region and act as a window for other Indian Defense PSUs.
Malaysia is home to the second largest members of the Persons of Indian Origin and has a significant presence of the NRI community.
Sports
2023 World Archery Youth Championships
⇒ The 2023 World Archery Youth Championships was held in Limerick, Ireland from 1-9 July 2023.
- It was the 17th edition of World Youth Archery Championships. The event was organised by World Archery.
- The World Archery Youth Championships 2023 had events for men’s and women’s recurve and compound archers in the under-21 (Junior) and under-18 (Cadet) age categories.
» South Korea topped the medal tally with 11 medals (6 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze).
Performance of India:
» India sent 12 archers each in the U21 and U18 age groups. India’s junior and cadet archers won 11 medals (6 gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze) and finished second in the medal tally at the 2023 World Archery Youth Championships.
- Of the 11 medals India won, 6 were bagged in the U21 category – 4 gold and 2 bronze. The remaining 5 medals were claimed in the U21 category – 2 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze.
Indian Medal Winners:
World Archery Youth Championships 2023 U21 Category:
Gold:
- Priyansh- Compound Men’s Individual
- Parth Suhant Salunkhe- Recurve Men’s Individual
- Avneet Kaur, Parneet Kaur and Pragati- Compound Women’s Team
- Avneet Kaur and Priyansh- Compound Mixed Team
Bronze:
- Bhajan Kaur- Recurve Women’s Individual
- Parth Salunkhe and Ridhi- Recurve Mixed Team
World Archery Youth Championships 2023 U18 Category:
Gold:
- Aditi Gopichand Swami- Compound Women Individual
- Aishwarya Sharma, Aditi Gopichand Swami and Ekta Rani- Compound Women’s Team
Silver:
- Manav Ganeshrao Jadhao, Pawan Gat and Ganesh Mani Ratnam Thirumuru- Compound Men’s Team
Bronze:
- Ujjwal Dhama, Goldi Mishra and Agastay Singh- Recurve Men’s Team
- Aishwarya Sharma and Manav Ganeshrao Jadhao- Compound Mixed Team
» At the last edition of the World Archery Youth Championships held in 2021 in Wroclaw, Poland, India won 15 medals, including eight golds.