National
Central Universities (Amendment) Bill 2022
⇒ Parliament has passed the Central Universities (Amendment) Bill 2022 with the Rajya Sabha approving it on 08 August 2022 with a voice vote. Lok Sabha passed Central Universities (Amendment), Bill 2022 on 03 August 2022.
The Bill seeks to amend the Central Universities Act, 2009, which provides for establishing central universities in various states. It also seeks to convert the National Rail and Transportation Institute (NRTI), a Deemed to be University at Vadodara into the Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya (GSV) which will be a central university.
- The National Rail and Transportation Institute was declared a deemed university. The Bill provides that Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya will take measures to provide quality teaching, research and skill development in disciplines related to transportation, technology and management.
- Gati Shakti university will be a world-class, multi-disciplinary, multi-dimensional, futuristic institution for the transport sectors.
Experiential Learning for 21st Century Programme for EMRS Principals and Teachers
⇒ NESTS, Ministry of Tribal Affairs and CBSE in collaboration with TATA trusts, TISS and MGIS launched Experiential Learning for 21st Century Programme for Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS) Principals and Teachers virtually on 03 August 2022.
Shri Asit Gopal, Commissioner, National Education Society for Tribal Students (NESTS), Ministry of Tribal Affairs inaugurated the programme and announced formal launch of course-2 for EMRS teachers & teacher leaders.
First phase:
In first phase, the program was launched on 20th November, 2021 for 350 teachers from CBSE and Eklavya Model Residential Schools located in 6 States, namely Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh.
Second phase:
In the second phase, the 8-week professional development training programme was targeted to include 300 teachers from EMRSs across the states including Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana and Uttarakhand besides previously included states.
Key Points:
- The Experiential Learning for 21st Century Programme has been conceptualized as an online programme for educators ie teachers and principals to help them adapt classroom learning to real life experiences.
- The program was offered free of cost to all the selected teachers and principals from November, 2021 till April, 2022.
- The selected teachers were trained as “Teacher Leaders” who shall be espousing the Experiential Learning Pedagogy to all EMRS teaching fraternity in a phased manner.
- The course was curated in consultation with the faculty from TISS and MGIS to incorporate theoretical and practitioner perspectives of experiential learning for teachers.
- It was an 8-week program covering 4 modules supported with virtual webinars to discuss the teachers’ understandings and assist them along the course learnings.
Commemorative publications & stamps of Indian Oil Refineries
⇒ Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Housing and Urban Affairs Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, released publications on Diamond Jubilee milestone of Indian Oil’s Guwahati Refinery & Golden Jubilee celebrations of Bongaigaon Refinery on 03 August 2022.
- The celebrations were also marked with release of My Stamps by the dignitaries. My Stamps have been issued by Indian Postal Department.
- The publications showcase landmark achievements of IndianOil, signifying the zeal of the Corporation towards meeting the fuel demands of the country through continuous technology upgradation.
About:
- Indian Oil’s Guwahati Refinery, the first Public Sector Refinery of the country and Bongaigaon Refinery have been meeting the energy needs of the north-east region of India, and the neighbouring regions.
- The refining capacity of all the three refineries of IndianOil in the north-east region shall be increased by 2030 under the Government of India’s North-East Vision.
International
Cabinet approves India’s Updated Nationally Determined Contribution
⇒ The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved India’s updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to be communicated to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Objective:
The updated NDC seeks to enhance India’s contributions towards achievement of the strengthening of global response to the threat of climate change, as agreed under the Paris Agreement. Such action will also help India usher in low emissions growth pathways. It would protect the interests of the country and safeguard its future development needs based on the principles and provisions of the UNFCCC.
Background:
India at the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Glasgow, United Kingdom, expressed to intensify its climate action by presenting to the world five nectar elements (Panchamrit) of India’s climate action.
- This update to India’s existing NDC translates the ‘Panchamrit’ announced at COP 26 into enhanced climate targets. The update is also a step towards achieving India’s long-term goal of reaching net-zero by 2070.
Earlier:
India submitted its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to UNFCCC on October 2, 2015. The 2015 NDC comprised eight goals; three of these have quantitative targets upto 2030 namely, cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil sources to reach 40%; reduce the emissions intensity of GDP by 33 to 35 percent compared to 2005 levels and creation of additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover.
As per the updated NDC:
India now stands committed to reduce Emissions Intensity of its GDP by 45 percent by 2030, from 2005 level and achieve about 50 percent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030.
Sports
4th ONGC Para Games 2022
⇒ Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Housing and Urban Affairs Shri Hardeep Singh Puri inaugurated the fourth ONGC Para Games in Thyagaraj Sports Complex in New Delhi on 02 August 2022.
Organized by:
The 4th ONGC Para Games was organized by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) during 2-4 August 2022.
Participation:
275 Persons with Disabilities (PwD) – employees of eight central oil and gas public enterprises – participated in the 4th ONGC Para Games.
ONGC conceptualized and started this Para Games in 2017, to mainstream the especially-abled persons on their rolls.
- To widen the scope of the games, ONGC roped in athletes from IOCL, BPCL, HPCL, EIL, OIL and GAIL to be part of the grand 3rd edition of ONGC Para Games at Gandhinagar.
- In this current 4th edition, apart from the 192 ONGCians, seven other Public enterprises participated viz IOCL (21), GAIL (15), BPCL (13), MRPL (11), EIL (9), OIL (8) and HPCL (6).
» ONGC organizes the Para Games on an international format from its very first edition in 2017 with the help of the Paralympic Committee of India, where 120 ONGC PwD employees participated in games like athletics, badminton, table tennis and wheelchair race.