1. Union HRD
Ministry launched the 6th All India Survey on Higher Education
i. The Union Minister of Human Resource
Development Zubin Irani on 21 December 2015 launched the 6th All India Survey
on Higher Education (AISHE) in New Delhi.
ii. The survey covers all the Higher
Education (HE) institutions of the country including Universities, Colleges and
Stand-Alone institutions from 2010-11 to 2014-15.
iii. It brings out the correct and
complete picture of the higher education system so that relevant statistics are
available to the Central Government as well as State Governments in order to
devise future educational policies.
iv. The major findings of the AISHE
2014-15 included increase in overall enrolment from 27.5 million in 2010-11 to
33.3 million in 2014-15 and improvement in Gross Enrolment Ratio which is a
ratio of enrolment in higher education to population in the eligible age group
(18-23) years from 19.4 percent on 2010-11 to 23.6 percent in 2014-15.
2. Odisha
Government launched Anwesha scheme to provide free education to SC/ST students
i. The Odisha Government on 21 December
2015 launched Anwesha scheme to provide free education to scheduled caste and
scheduled tribe students. Under the scheme, 5000 SC and ST children will
annually be enrolled into Standard I in leading private schools in urban areas
of the state.
ii. State Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik
announced the scheme at Saragi Phul- a three day children's festival for ST, SC
children held at Adivasi Ground, Bhubaneswar.
iii. The government will bear all
expenses for education of the students under the scheme which will be
implemented in 17 districts. The expenses for fees, uniform, books, hostel
accommodation as well transportation will be sponsored by the government.
iv. The government aims to enrol a
total of 50000 SC and ST students in phases. Over 3.5 lakh ST and SC students
staying in hostels are to continue their education while 2 lakh more will avail
the facility soon. For each student, government will give 25000 rupees for
school fees per annum excluding hostel cost and scholarship.
v. Separate hostel will be constructed
for these children and counsellor will be appointed to help students in
self-studies in hostels.
3. Nepal Cabinet
decided to amend Constitution to address Madhesis' demands
i. Government of Nepal on 20 December
2015 decided to amend the Constitution to address two key demands of agitating
Madhesis regarding proportional representation and constituency delimitation.
ii. A decision in this regard was
approved at an emergency cabinet meeting held at Singha Durbar in Kathmandu.
The decision to amend the constitution assumes significance against the
backdrop of continuing agitation by Madhesis’, since the adoption of the
Constitution on 20 September 2015, which led to death of around 50 civilians.
iii. The Madhesi people inhabit the
flat southern region of Nepal known as the Madhesh. Their dissatisfaction with
the new Constitution was with the fact that the Pahadi or hill communities, who
constitute 50 percent of the population, got 100 seats in the parliament, while
Madhesis’ got only 65 seats.
iv. Madhesis’ were also fighting
against the Constitutional scheme related to proposed boundaries of the new
provinces. Unlike the earlier structure in which majority Madhesis’ were within
a single administrative region, the new schemes proposes its split in two and
force them to share their provinces with hill districts.
4. SpaceX
successfully launched and landed Falcon 9 rocket
i. American aerospace company SpaceX on
21 December 2015 achieved the historic feat of successfully launching and
landing Falcon 9 rocket.
ii. The Falcon 9 rocket was
successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida carrying 11 satellites to
low-Earth orbit and was also successfully landed after 10 minutes to the
Earth.
iii. It is the first time in the
history of rocketry that a rocket has returned back after delivering a
spacecraft to its orbit, so that it could potentially fly again. This exercise
of using reusable rockets will help in reducing the cost of access to space
making explorations a more realistic goal.
iv. The 230-foot Falcon 9 blasted off
from Launch Complex with 1.5 million pounds of thrust and carrying 11
commercial satellites. It marks the company's first flight since an accident in
June 2015 that destroyed a cargo ship bound for the International Space
Station.
v. Success of SpaceX's mission is
significant as the NASA is heavily relying on this private company for
transport to the International Space Station after the US Space Shuttle program
ended in 2011.
5. Delhi
Government appointed Gopal Subramanium Commission on DDCA scam
i. Delhi Government on 21 December 2015
appointed a one-member commission of inquiry on Delhi and District Cricket
Association (DDCA) scam. A decision in this regard was taken in a cabinet
committee meeting headed by the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
ii. The commission will be headed by former
Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium. It will probe the alleged financial
irregularities by the administrators of the DDCA.
iii. The commission was appointed on
the basis of recommendation of the three-member committee headed by Chetan
Sanghi. The committee was constituted to probe alleged financial irregularities
in DDCA after the Chief Minister’s office received serious complaints about its
functioning.
iv. The committee, which submitted its
report on 17 November 2015, suggested the Delhi Government to set up a
commission under the Commission of Enquiries Act 1952 to probe affairs of the
cricket administrators.
6. 10th WTO
Ministerial Conference adopted Nairobi Package
i. The five-day long 10th World Trade
Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference concluded on 19 December 2015 in
Nairobi, Kenya. The conference concluded with the adoption of the Nairobi
Package that is aimed at benefitting organization’s poorest members.
ii. The conference was attended by
trade ministers of 162 member countries of the WTO. India was represented by
Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Commerce & Industry Nirmala
Sitharaman. It is for the first such meeting hosted by an African nation.
iii. The Nairobi Package contains a
series of six Ministerial Decisions on agriculture, cotton and issues related
to least-developed countries.
iv. The conference agreed on the
timetable for implementing a landmark deal to eliminate tariffs on 201
information technology products valued at over 1.3 trillion US dollars per
year.
v. Negotiations on the expanded ITA
were conducted by 53 WTO members, including both developed and developing
countries, which account for approximately 90 per cent of world trade in these
products.
7. China launched
DAMPE satellite to shed light on mysterious dark matter
i. China on 17 December 2015 launched
the Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) Satellite to shed light on mysterious
dark matter.
ii. It was the country's first space
telescope and launched on a Long March 2-D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite
Launch Center.
ii. The purpose of the satellite is to
search for smoking-gun signals of dark matter, invisible material that
scientists say makes up most of the universe's mass.
iv. The satellite will be place in a
sun-synchronous orbit at a height of 500 kilometers to observe the direction,
energy and electric charge of high-energy particles in space.
v. The satellite was nicknamed
"Wukong" after the Monkey King with penetrating eyes in the Chinese
classical fiction Journey to the West.
8. National
Mathematics Day observed to commemorate birth anniversary of Srinivasa
Ramanujan
i. India on 22 December 2015 celebrated
National Mathematics Day. The day was observed to commemorate the birth
anniversary of great Indian Mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan.
ii. On this occasion, India and UNESCO
agreed to work jointly in spreading the joy of mathematics and knowledge to
students and learners across the world.
iii. To this end, Conferences on the
“Zero” at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, as well as at the Indian Institute of
Science, Bangalore were held in recognition of Aryabhata’s role in the
invention of zero. The conferences brought together academics, mathematicians
and teachers to explore and discuss key associated concepts.
iv. The declaration to observe 22
December as National Mathematics Day was made by former Prime Minister Dr.
Manmohan Singh on 26 February 2012 at Madras University on the occasion of
125th birth anniversary of Ramanujan.
v. Srinivasa Ramanujan was born on
22 December 1887 in Erode district of Tamil Nadu. He died at a young age of 32
years on 26 April 1920. Ramanujan made important contributions in number
theory, infinite series, mathematical analysis, and making formulas and
equations.
9. New Zealand cricket
captain Brendon McCullum announced retirement
i. New Zealand cricket captain Brendon
McCullum on 22 December 2015 announced retirement from all forms of
international cricket. He will retire after the two home test series against
Australia, which will begin in February 2016.
ii. At present, the batsman and
wicket-keeper, is New Zealand’s captain in all three forms of the international
game viz., tests, ODIs and twenty20.
iii. In ODIs, he made his debut as a
20-year-old batsman in 2001 against Australia at Sydney. He made his test debut
against South Africa in 2003 and has played 99 tests so far. He scored 6273
test runs with 11 hundreds, including the only triple century by a New Zealand
batsman, and 31 half-centuries at an average of 38.48. He scored double Test
Century against Pakistan in Sharjah in November 2014 and in the process scored
the fastest test century by a New Zealander.
iv. In ODIs, he scored 5909 runs from
254 matches. They include 5 centauries and 31 half-centauries. He is the first
and so far only player to have scored two Twenty20 International centuries and
2000 runs in T20 Internationals. In Indian Premier League, he played for
Chennai Super Kings in 2014 and 2015 and picked up by Rajkot for 2016 and 2017
editions. He successfully lead the team to their first ever ICC Cricket World
cup final in March 2015 in which Australia won by 7 wickets.
10. Andy Murray
won 2015 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award
i. Andy Murray of the UK on 20 December
2015 received the 2015 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award in London. The
Scottish tennis-player was presented the award by Irish boxing legend Barry
McGuigan.
ii. Murray was chosen for the award
after a public vote in which he received 361446 of the 1,009,498 votes cast.
The voting was based on performance of sports personalities in 2015.
iii. For Murray, it was the second
award in three years. He received the previous award in 2013. In November, he
led Great Britain's tennis team to a first Davis Cup victory after a gap of 79
years. He reached the final of the Australian Open and the semi-finals of both
Wimbledon and the French Open. He finished the year second in the world
rankings and won all 11 of his Davis Cup rubbers, including three in the final
against Belgium.
iv. BBC Sports Personality of the Year
Award is the annual sports award presented by the British Broadcasting
Corporation (BBC). The winner is the sportsperson, judged by a public vote, to
have achieved the most that year.
0 comments:
Post a Comment