Current Affairs Today - July 29 for all Sarkari Exams

Current Affairs Today July 29, 2020 for all Sarkari Exams. Read below for details

The current affairs is the chief ingredient for preparing Sarkari Exams in India. Sarkari Exams in India includes the Banking Exam, SSC Exams, Railway Exams and Civil Services Exam. The most common eligibility criteria for all the Sarkari Exams is a graduate degree from any recognised university.

Current Affairs 2020 will be the key to drive the Sarkari exam preparation with full throttle. Current affairs will be relevant for the Sarkari exams of next year as well. Daily current affairs preparation will be indispensable to all the exam preparation.

Current Affairs Today July 29 for all Sarkari Exams

New National Education Policy approved by Union Cabinet

Union Cabinet approved the new National Education Policy (NEP) on July 29, 2020. As per the new policy, the Ministry of Human Resource Development will be renamed back to the Ministry of Education. The former minister of HRD and the present minister of HRD Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank jointly announced that there would be a single regulator for all the higher education institutions and the M.Phil degree, the precursor for the PhD, would be discontinued.

This is the first education policy of the 21st century and replaces the thirty-four-year-old National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986. Built on the foundational pillars of Access, Equity, Quality, Affordability and Accountability. NEP Policy aims to achieve 100% youth and adult literacy.

New Policy aims for Universalisation of Education from pre-school to secondary level with 100% Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in school education by 2030. NEP emphasis on foundational literacy and numeracy. There will be no rigid separation between academic streams, extracurricular, vocational streams in schools; Vocational Education to start from Class 6 with Internships.

The new policy proposed the reforms in the assessment pattern introducing the 360-degree Holistic Progress Card, tracking Student Progress for achieving Learning Outcomes. NEP is aimed to increase the GER in higher education, including vocational education from 26.3% (2018) to 50% by 2035. Multiple Entry / Exit to be allowed with appropriate certification.
The following announcements were made in the Press conference

School Education

1. Teaching up to at least Grade 5 to be in mother tongue/ regional language.

2. New 5+3+3+4 school curriculum with 12 years of schooling and 3 years of Anganwadi / Pre-schooling will be introduced. With the emphasis on early childhood care and education, the 10+2 structure of school curricula is to be replaced by a 5+3+3+4 curricular structure corresponding to ages 3-8, 8-11, 11-14, and 14-18 years respectively. This will bring the uncovered age group of 3-6 years under the school curriculum.

3. All students will take school examinations in Grades 3, 5, and 8 which will be conducted by the appropriate authority. Board exams for Grades 10 and 12 will be continued, but redesigned with holistic development as the aim.

4. A new National Assessment Centre, PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development), will be set up as a standard-setting body.

5. NCERT will develop a National Curricular and Pedagogical Framework for Early Childhood Care and Education (NCPFECCE) for children up to the age of 8.

6. A new and comprehensive National Curricular Framework for School Education, NCFSE 2020-21, will be developed by the NCERT.

7. NEP 2020 proposed for setting up a National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy. States will prepare an implementation plan for attaining universal foundational literacy and numeracy in all primary schools for all learners by grade 3 by 2025. A National Book Promotion Policy is to be formulated.

8. ‘Sanskrit’ to be offered at all levels of school and higher education as an option for students, including in the three-language formula. Several foreign languages will also be offered at the secondary level. Indian Sign Language (ISL) will be standardised across the country, and National and State curriculum materials developed for use by students with hearing impairment.

9. A common National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST) will be developed by the National Council for Teacher Education by 2022, in consultation with NCERT, SCERTs, teachers and expert organizations from across levels and regions.

10. States/UTs will set up an independent State School Standards Authority (SSSA). The SCERT will develop a School Quality Assessment and Accreditation Framework (SQAAF) through consultations with all stakeholders.

Higher Education

11.  National Research Foundation is proposed in NEP 2020 to foster a strong research culture.

12.  NEP recommends setting an Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation (IITI), National Institute (or Institutes) for Pali, Persian and Prakrit, strengthening of Sanskrit and all language departments in HEIs Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities (MERUs), at par with IITs, IIMs, to be set up as models of best multidisciplinary education of global standards in the country.

13.  Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) will be set up as a single overarching umbrella body for the entire higher education, excluding medical and legal education.

14.  A new and comprehensive National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education, NCFTE 2021, will be formulated by the NCTE in consultation with NCERT. By 2030, the minimum degree qualification for teaching will be a 4-year integrated BEd degree.

15.  An autonomous body, the National Educational Technology Forum (NETF), will be created to provide a platform for the free exchange of ideas on the use of technology to enhance learning, assessment, planning, administration. To ensure the deep penetration of digital learning, the e-learning courses will be developed in eight regional languages.

16.  Academic Bank of Credits to be established to facilitate Transfer of Credits

17.  NEP 2020 emphasizes setting up of Gender Inclusion Fund, Special Education Zones for disadvantaged regions and groups

18.  To open the higher learning for foreign universities. The Top hundred universities will be allowed to set up campuses in India. As per the new policy document, “such (foreign) universities will be given special dispensation regarding regulatory, governance, and content norms on par with other autonomous institutions of India.”

The MHRD started an unprecedented collaborative, inclusive, and highly participatory consultation process from January 2015. In May 2016, ‘Committee for Evolution of the New Education Policy’ under the Chairmanship of Late Shri T.S.R. Subramanian, Former Cabinet Secretary, submitted its report.  

Based on this, the Ministry prepared ‘Some Inputs for the Draft National Education Policy, 2016’. In June 2017 a ‘Committee for the Draft National Education Policy’ was constituted under the Chairmanship of eminent Scientist Padma Vibhushan, Dr K. Kasturirangan, which submitted the Draft National Education Policy, 2019 to the Honourable Human Resource Development Minister on May 31, 2019.

Rafale inducted in Indian Air Force at Ambala Air Base

The first five Indian Air Force (IAF) Rafale aircraft started from Dassault Aviation Facility, Merignac, France on 27 Jul 2020 and reached India on the afternoon of July 29, 2020 with a planned stopover en route at Al Dhafra airbase in the UAE. The aircraft covered a distance of nearly 8500 km from France to India.

The aircraft will be a part of 17 Squadron, the “Golden Arrows”, which was resurrected on September 10, 2019. The Squadron was originally raised at Air Force Station, Ambala on October 1, 1951.

Union Power Minister dedicated Three wind projects to the nation

Honourable Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power and New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) Shri Raj Kumar Singh, on July 2020 in a virtual ceremony, dedicated Sembcorp’s state-of-the-art SECI 1, 2 and 3 projects to the nation. The cumulative power capacity of these three wind power projects is 800 MW. Now the total operational renewable energy capacity in India is 1,730MW. The plant will supply the power to seven states.

Two of these will be in Tamil Nadu and one in Gujarat. Power from these projects to light up over 600,000 homes and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by over 2 million tonnes/annum.

Cabinet approved MOU with Zimbabwe in Traditional System of Medicine and Homeopathy

The Union Cabinet has approved the MOU signed with Zimbabwe in Traditional System of Medicine and Homeopathy on November 3, 2018. This will provide a framework for the cooperation between the two countries for the promotion of traditional systems of medicine and homeopathy and will mutually benefit the two countries in Traditional Medicine.

Helicopter Pawan Hans’s first UDAN-RCS service launched in Uttarakhand

Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Civil Aviation and Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Shri Trivendra Singh Rawat simultaneously inaugurated the first Pawan Hans flight under the ‘Ude Desh ka Aam Nagarik’ (UDAN) - Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) on July 29, 2020. This service will enable connectivity between Dehradun, New Tehri, Srinagar and Gauchar.

Two more networks connecting Dehradun to Ramnagar, Pantnagar, Nainital, Almora, Pithoragarh, and Dehradun to Mussoorie will also be operationalised soon by Pawan Hans Ltd. The first UDAN flight was flagged off by Prime Minister from Shimla to Delhi in April 2017.

Fertilizers & Chemicals Travancore Limited started sending fertilizers through Coastal shipping

The Fertilizers & Chemicals Travancore Limited (FACT), a PSU under the Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers has started using Coastal Shipping as a new mode of transport for the movement of fertilizers to East and the West Coast of the country. The Ship “SSL Visakhapatnam” is expected to sail with the load on 30th July from Cochin Port. A total of 20 containers of Ammonium Sulphate will be dispatched to Haldia Port for distribution to the farmers in West Bengal.

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