National
National Steering Committee (NSC) for NIPUN Bharat Mission
⇒ The Department of School Education and Literacy had launched the National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy, NIPUN Bharat Mission on 5th July, 2021.
The aim of NIPUN Bharat Mission is to achieve the goal of universal proficiency in foundational literacy and numeracy for every child by grade 3, as envisaged by National Education Policy 2020.
As prescribed in the Mission guidelines:
Government has sets up a National Steering Committee (NSC) for implementation of the NIPUN Bharat Mission on 25th October, 2021.
A National Steering Committee has been constituted under the chairpersonship of the Union Education Minister, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan along with other members.
- Vice Chairpersonship of NSC: Minister of State for Education, Smt Annpurna Devi
Roles and Responsibilities of NSC for the NIUPN Bharat Mission:
- To oversee the progress of National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy and provide guidance on policy issues.
- To arrive at the target to be achieved nationally in 2026-27.
- To disseminate tools for measurement of yearly progress in the form of guidelines.
- To prepare and approve a National Action Plan (based on the State’s Action Plans) with KRAs for every State/UT vis-à-vis factors attributable for the gaps.
- To review programmatic and financial norms periodically to ensure they are synchronised with targets to be achieved.
- To develop methodology of assessment to analyse the progress and provide feedback to States/UTs.
New Market Segment, 'Green Day Ahead Market' (GDAM)
⇒ Shri R K Singh, Union Minister of Power & New and Renewable Energy, launched the new market segment, Green Day Ahead Market (GDAM) on 25 October 2021.
Nodal Agency:
National Load Despatch Centre (NLDC), POSOCO, as the Nodal Agency, has set up the latest technologies and communication infrastructure for facilitating the Green Day Ahead Market.
Significance:
The launch of the green day-ahead market will deepen the green market and will provide competitive price signals, besides offering an opportunity to the market participants to trade in green energy, in the most transparent, flexible, competitive, and efficient manner.
Key Points:
» India is the only large electricity market in the world to implement a Green Day Ahead Market (GDAM) exclusively for renewable energy.
» The introduction of GDAM is expected to create a domino effect that will lead to a gradual shift from PPA based contract to market-based models which will build and deepen the markets to the next level.
» GDAM is aligned to India’s aspiration of achieving 450 GW of green Capacity by 2030.
» The Green Day-ahead market will operate in an integrated way with the conventional day-ahead market.
National Film Awards for the year 2019
⇒ The Vice President of India, Shri M Venkaiah Naidu conferred National Film Awards for the year 2019 in various categories at its 67th edition along with the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke Award on 25 October 2021.
Dadasaheb Phalke Award 2019:
The Vice President presented the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke award to popular actor Shri Rajnikanth for the year 2019. This was the 51st Dadasaheb Phalke Award.
67th National Film Awards
International
Women's Prize for Fiction 2021
⇒ Author Susanna Clarke won the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2021 for her novel ‘Piranesi’ on September 8, 2021. The winner was announced at an awards ceremony in Bedford Square Gardens, London.
Novelist and Booker-winner Bernardine Evaristo chaired the Women’s Prize judging panel this year.
About Prize:
- The Women’s Prize for Fiction was founded in 1996.
- The Women’s Prize for Fiction – one of the greatest annual, international celebrations of women’s creativity, now in its 26th year – honours outstanding, ambitious, original fiction written in English by women from anywhere in the world.
Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogue (IPRD) 2021
⇒ The Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogue (IPRD) 2021 was held as a three-day online event on 27, 28, and 29 October 2021.
This year’s IPRD focused on eight specific sub-themes under the broad theme of “Evolution in Maritime Strategy during the 21st Century: Imperatives, Challenges, and, Way Ahead”.
The eight sub-themes are:
- Evolving Maritime Strategies within the Indo-Pacific: Convergences, Divergences, Expectations and Apprehensions.
- Adaptive Strategies to Address the Impact of Climate Change upon Maritime Security.
- Port-led Regional Maritime Connectivity and Development Strategies.
- Cooperative Maritime Domain Awareness Strategies.
- Impact of the Increasing Recourse to Lawfare upon a Rules-based Indo-Pacific Maritime Order.
- Strategies to Promote Regional Public-Private Maritime Partnerships.
- Energy-Insecurity and Mitigating Strategies.
- Strategies to Address the Manned-Unmanned Conundrum at Sea.
About IPRD:
- First conducted in 2018, the Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogue (IPRD) is the apex international annual conference of the Indian Navy, and is the principal manifestation of the navy’s engagement at the strategic-level.
- The National Maritime Foundation is the navy’s knowledge partner and chief organiser of each edition of this annual event.
- The aim of each successive edition of the IPRD is to review both opportunities and challenges that arise within the Indo-Pacific.
Loan signed between Govt of India and Asian Development Bank
⇒ The Government of India and the Asian Development Bank signed a $4.5 million project readiness financing (PRF) loan to support project preparation and design activities to improve urban mobility in Aizawl, the capital city of the northeastern state of Mizoram on 26 October 2021.
The PRF supports the development of long-term solutions to improve urban mobility in Aizawl by identifying high-priority urban transport investments for the ensuing project and enhance its readiness by supporting due diligence and other preparatory activities.