Prelim Bits 27-07-2018

Institutes of Eminence

Institutes of Eminence are institutions which are expected to make into top 500 world rankings in a decade.
They have complete freedom to decide the curricula, hire domestic and foreign faculty and fix a fee structure of their choice.
It comprise 10 public and 10 private educational institutions which will be selected based on the recommendations of Empowered committee.
The Government has recently shortlisted 6 Institutions of Eminence (IoEs) including 3 from Public Sector and 3 from Private Sector.
Public Sector - Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, IIT Bombay and IIT, Delhi.
Private Sector - Jio Institute (Reliance Foundation), Pune, Birla Institute of Technology & Sciences, Pilani, Rajasthan; and Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka.
Recent development - Union HRD ministry has recently clarified in the Parliament session that Rs. 1000 cr. grant will be given only to public institutions and no funds will be given to private institutions.
Other Benefits - These Institutions shall be provided with greater autonomy

to admit foreign students up to 30% of admitted students;
to recruit foreign faculty upto 25% of faculty strength;
to offer online courses upto 20% of its programmes;
to enter into academic collaboration with top 500 in the world ranking Institutions without permission of UGC;
free to fix and charge fees from foreign students without restriction;
flexibility of course structure in terms of number of credit hours and years to take a degree;
complete flexibility in fixing of curriculum and syllabus, among others.

Mahila Shakti Kendra Scheme

It is a centrally sponsored scheme which aims to empower rural women through community participation.
Under the scheme, community engagement through student volunteers is envisioned in the backward districts at block level.
Student volunteers will help in awareness generation regarding various important government programmes as well as social issues.
It is envisioned in 115 aspirational districts as part of the Block Level initiatives.
Improving the child sex ratio, survival of new born girl child, girl education and empower them through several initiatives are the main motives.
It is implemented by the Ministry of Women and Child Development under umbrella mission for “Protection and Empowerment for Women”.
The duration of the scheme is from 2017-18 to 2019-20.
The cost sharing ratio of 60:40 between centre and states except for North East and Special Category States where the ratio is 90:10.

National Achievement Survey

National Achievement Survey is conducted by National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
The survey focuses on assessing the learning levels of the students in Classes 3, 5, 8 and 10.
The Learning Outcomes for each class in Languages (Hindi, English and Urdu), Mathematics, Environmental Studies, Science and Social Science has been set under RTE Act, 2009.
The ambit of the survey includes school leaders, teachers and officials at the Cluster, Block, District Institute of Education and Training (DIET), State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) and the Directorates of Education in the different States/ UTs.

Banganga River

Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has accorded in principle approval for inter-state high level bridge on the Banganga river.
Banganga River originates from the Aravalli hills, near Bairath in Jaipur and drains into Yamuna.
Ramgarh dam has been constructed across the river in Jaipur.
The main tributaries are Gumti Nalla and Suri River, joining the river on its right bank, and Sanwan and Palasan Rivers, meeting the river on its left bank.
Its basin extends over parts of Alwar, Jaipur, Dausa, Sawai Madhopur and Bharatpur Districts.
Its eastern edge borders the Yamuna River Basin in Uttar Pradesh.
The inter-state high level bridge is proposed on the Sakdi-Dangorali route in Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh.

India-UK Science & Innovation Council

The 6th India-UK Science & Innovation Council (SIC) meeting was recently held in New Delhi.
The objective is to address challenges, such as water pollution, life-threatening diseases and climate change.
India also pitched for collaboration between Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, CSIR, and its UK equivalent to expand cooperation.
India and UK are jointly delivering cutting edge science and Technology solutions to societal challenges through Newton Bhabha partnership.

Innovate India Platform

The platform is a collaboration between the Atal Innovation Mission of NITI Aayog and MyGov, a citizen centric platform of the Government of India.
It will serve as the common point for all the innovation happening across the nation.
Through the Innovate India portal, users can view, comment, share, and rate the innovations crowdsourced on the Innovate India platform.
It provides for registering both grassroots and deep-tech innovators at a national level.

Atal Innovation Mission

The mission aims at creating an Innovation Promotion Platform to foster a culture of innovation, R&D in India.
It is the brainchild of NITI Aayog.
Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) are established in 900 schools under the mission to spur the spark of creativity, and go beyond regular curriculum and text book learning.
ATLs are play workspaces fitted with state-of-the-art technologies like 3D printers, robotics, sensor technology kits, Internet of things (IoT), miniaturised electronics.

Source: The Hindu, PIB.