BIHAR
- School education: Bihar 19th among 20 states
Bihar has emerged as the second lowest in the ‘School Education Quality Index’ (SEQI) report released by NITI Aayog. The neighbouring Jharkhand has bagged the last rank. The ranking, which was released on Monday, evaluated all states and Union territories (UTs) on the basis of two categories — outcomes and governance processing aiding outcome.
The state has maintained its 19th position by scoring 37.3% among 20 other large states, while five states have improved in overall performance score between 2015-16 and 2016-17.
According to the figures released by NITI Ayog, Bihar has witnessed a slight improvement of 7.3% in 2016-17 in the overall performance when compared with 30% in 2015-16.
- Ministry of human resource development (MHRD), World Bank and education experts conducted the survey and decided the rankings. The outcome category is based on parameters like learning, access of students to school, infrastructure and facilities and equity outcomes (treating students equally).
In infrastructure and facilities, Bihar has secured second last position with 10.9% while Haryana has topped with 79%. Bihar has scored 42.9%, 41% and 57.7% in access to schools, learning outcomes and equity, respectively. - As per the rankings, Bihar has witnessed a sharp decline of 9.3% in access to schools category.
- Bihar has achieved 35.2% in governance processing aiding outcome, which is primarily driven by scores for school leadership, teacher availability and transparency in teacher/school leader recruitment. When compared with the figures of 2015-16, it has shown a slight improvement of 10.6% in 2016-17.
Around 35.9% children are still out of school in Bihar when compared with 50.3% in 2015-16.
INTERNATIONAL
- Indo Maldives joint Exercise ‘Ekuverin – 19’
The tenth edition of the Joint Military Exercise ‘Ekuverin’ between the Indian Army and the Maldives National Defence Force will be organised from 07 to 20 October 2019 at Aundh Military Station in Pune, Maharashtra.
The Indian Army and the Maldives National Defence Forces have been conducting Exercise Ekuverin meaning ‘Friends’ in the Dhivehi language since 2009.
The 14 days Joint Exercise held alternatively in India and Maldives.
The last exercise was held in 2018 at Northern Area Headquarters, Lh Maafilaafushi of Maldives.
- Indo-Mongolian Joint Exercise Nomadic Elephant 2019
14th edition of Indo-Mongolian joint military training, Exercise Nomadic Elephant-XIV, being conducted over a period of 14 days, will commence from 05 Oct 2019.
The exercise will be conducted from 05 Oct 19 to 18 Oct 19 at Bakloh in Himachal Pradesh.
The Mongolian Army is being represented by officers and troops of the elite 084 Air Borne Special Task Battalion while Indian Army is being represented by a contingent of a battalion of Rajputana Rifles.
The Joint Exercise will enhance defence co-operation and military relations between the two nations.
It is an ideal platform for the armies of both nations to share their experiences & best practices and gain mutually during the joint training.
NATIONAL
● India gets its first Floating Basketball Court
India got its first-ever Floating Basketball Court in the Arabian Sea near Bandra Worli Sealink. It was installed by the National Basketball Association on 2 October.
On 20 December 2018, NBA India had announced that the first-ever NBA game would be organized in the country in October in Mumbai. The NBA India Games 2019 has been prepared to feature the Sacramento Kings and Indiana Pacers, who will play two pre-season games on October 4 and 5 at the Dome, NSCI, SVP Stadium.
- ISRO to celebrate ‘World Space Week’
As a part of World Space Week program, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has joined hands with seven academic institutions across Karnataka to spread information and knowledge about the benefits of space science and technologies to the student community.
The programme will start on October 4 and will continue till October 10.
The one day program consists of various competitions for students, an exhibition of satellite models, posters, videos and talks depicting the past, present, and future of Indian space program.
Over the years, World Space Week has emerged as the largest space event with thousands of programs being organised all over the world.
● MietY launched automated real time performance Smart board
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) unveiled an Automated Real-Time Performance Smart-board for effective monitoring of the key programmes of the government including Digital India, Aadhaar, Digital Payments, etc. The smart-board is in line with PM’s vision for a New Digital India.
The smart-board was launched by the Minister of electronics and IT, communication and law and justice. The Smart-board was developed by MeitY. He also inaugurated the Digital Charkha, a grand art installation at MeitY.
The performance Smart-board is aimed to be single window access for the Central govt., State govt. or District for specific projects implemented by MeitY.
The smart-board will provide real-time, dynamic analytical project monitoring for critical and high priority Programme of the ministry.