BIHAR
Bihar education department to reduce school syllabus
The state education department has decided to reduce the syllabus from Class I to XII, for the academic year 2020-21, in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. The State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) which frames the syllabus for government schools are revising it.
The state education department is yet to take decision on reopening of schools in Bihar amid the Covid pandemic.
INTERNATIONAL
QUAD Foreign Ministers of India, USA, Japan, Australia meet in Tokyo
Quad Countries’ Foreign Minister meet held in Tokyo, Japan.
All four Quad countries the United States, Japan, India and Australia to hold bilateral discussions over “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” (FOIP) initiative amid the coronavirus pandemic.
This is the second Quad FM meeting. The first was held in 2019.
The Quad FM meeting was represented by External Affairs Minister of India S Jaishankar, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne, and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi.
They discussed the post-COVID-19 international order and the need for a coordinated response to the various challenges emerging from the pandemic.
Russia successfully tests new hypersonic TSIRKON missile
Russia says it has successfully tested a new hypersonic anti-ship cruise missile in TSIRKON (Zircon) Hypersonic Cruise missile.
The Tsirkon test comes amid tensions over arms control between Russia and the United States.
The strike was carried out from the Admiral Gorshkov vessel which was located in the White Sea in northern Russia.
The missile hit its target at a distance of 450 kilometres (280 miles) in four and a half minutes after reaching hypersonic speeds of more than Mach 8.
World Post Day: 9 October
World Post Day is observed on 9th October every year.
The main aim of World Post Day is to create awareness of the role of the postal sector in people’s and businesses’ everyday lives and its contribution to the social and economic development of countries.
09 October marks the anniversary of the establishment of the Universal Postal Union in 1874 in the Swiss Capital, Bern.
NATIONAL
ISLRTC, NCERT sign MoU to convert educational materials into Indian Sign Language
A historic Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Indian Sign Language Research and Training Center and NCERT to make education materials accessible for Deaf children in their preferred format of communication, Indian Sign Language.
The signing of this MoU is a historic step as availability of NCERT textbooks in Indian Sign Language will ensure that Hearing Impaired children can also now access educational resources in Indian Sign Language.
It will be a useful and much needed resource for Hearing Impaired students, teachers, teacher educators and parents.
The Minister said that this MoU is a step towards achieving the common goal of fulfilling needs of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 and New Education Policy, 2020.
Conviction rate for crimes under IPC improved marginally in 2019
The all-India chargesheeting rate for crimes under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that were investigated in 2019 was 67.2%, a slight dip from 68.1% in 2018, while the conviction rate improved marginally to 50.4% from 50% in 2018.
In Uttar Pradesh, which is in the news due to Hathras atrocity, the conviction rate for IPC crimes was 59.2% in 2019, while the conviction rate for crimes against women was 55.2%, best among the bigger states and also higher than the all-India average of 23.7%.
As per the ‘Crime in India’ data for 2019 released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on Tuesday, disposal of crimes registered under the special and local laws (SLL) – such as Dowry Prohibition Act, Excise Act, Arms Act and POCSO Act – in 2019 was better than in IPC crimes with 93.3% all-India chargesheeting rate, up from 92.2% in 2018, and 80.3% conviction rate, down from 81.8% in 2018.
Among the states, the conviction rate for all IPC crimes was highest in Kerala (85.1%), followed by Tamil Nadu (63.2%). The states with a low conviction rate in 2019 were Bihar (6.1%) and West Bengal (13.4%), though the figure for West Bengal pertains to 2018 as the 2019 data was not submitted to NCRB by the state.
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