• Eleven women entrepreneurs have been shortlisted recently for cash awards amounting to Rs 25 lakh under ‘Women Entrepreneurship and Empowerment' initiative.

Women Entrepreneurship and Empowerment (WEE)

• It is a first of its kind social national initiative by IIT Delhi to strengthen women eco system.
• WEE has been founded under the vision of IIT Delhi Director: Prof V. Ramgopal Rao and is supported by Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.
• WEE intends to focus and ignite a fire amongst women from a college going student to a middle aged housewife to embrace entrepreneurship as a viable, fulfilling career option.

• The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister has recently approved the National Education Policy 2020.
• This policy will replace the 34 your old National Policy on Education (NPE),1986.

 Highlights of the Policy

School Education

• New Policy aims for universalization of education from pre-school to secondary level with 100% Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in school education by 2030.
• NEP 2020 will bring 2 crore out of school children back into the main stream through open schooling system.
• The current 10+2 system to be replaced by a new 5+3+3+4 curricular structure corresponding to ages 3-8, 8-11, 11-14, and 14-18 years respectively.
• This will bring the hitherto uncovered age group of 3-6 years under school curriculum, which has been recognized globally as the crucial stage for development of mental faculties of a child.
• The new system will have 12 years of schooling with three years of Anganwadi/ pre schooling.
• Emphasis on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, no rigid separation between academic streams, extracurricular, vocational streams in schools; Vocational Education to start from Class 6 with Internships.
• Teaching up to at least Grade 5 to be in mother tongue/ regional language.
• No language will be imposed on any student.
• Assessment reforms with 360 degree Holistic Progress Card, tracking Student Progress for achieving Learning Outcomes.
• 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 B.Ed. degree.

Higher Education

• Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education to be raised to 50 % by 2035; 3.5 crore seats to be added in higher education.
• The policy envisages broad based, multi-disciplinary, holistic Under Graduate education with flexible curricula, creative combinations of subjects, integration of vocational education and multiple entry and exit points with appropriate certification.
• UG education can be of 3 or 4 years with multiple exit options and appropriate certification within this period.
• Academic Bank of Credits to be established to facilitate Transfer of Credits
• 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.
• The National Research Foundation will be created as an apex body for fostering a strong research culture and building research capacity across higher education.
• 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.
• HECI to have  four independent verticals  - National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NHERC) for regulation, General Education Council (GEC ) for standard setting, Higher Education Grants Council (HEGC) for funding,  and National Accreditation Council( NAC) for accreditation.
• Public and private higher education institutions will be governed by the same set of norms for regulation, accreditation and academic standards.
• Affiliation of colleges is to be phased out in 15 years and a stage-wise mechanism is to be established for granting graded autonomy to colleges.
• Over a period of time, it is envisaged that every college would develop into either an Autonomous degree-granting College, or a constituent college of a university.

Others

• 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.
• NEP 2020 emphasizes setting up of Gender Inclusion Fund, Special Education Zones for disadvantaged regions and groups.
• New Policy promotes Multilingualism in both schools and higher education.
• National Institute for Pali, Persian and Prakrit , Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation to be set up.
• The Centre and the States will work together to increase the public investment in Education sector to reach 6% of GDP at the earliest.

• The world's biggest nuclear fusion project International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) has entered its five-year assembly phase.
• After this is finished, the facility will be able to start generating the super-hot "plasma" required for fusion power.

International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER)

• ITER is an experimental fusion reactor facility under construction in Cadarache, South of France to prove the feasibility of nuclear fusion for future source of energy.
• ITER partners are the European Union, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States of America.
• European Union being the host party contributes 45% while the rest of the parties contribute 9% each.
• Most of these contributions are through 'in-kind' procurement of ITER components.
• India became a full seventh partner of ITER in December 2005.
• India signed the ITER Agreement between the partners in 2006.
• ITER Organization (IO) is the central team responsible for construction at site and operation, while the ITER partners created their own domestic agencies to deliver their commitments to ITER.
• ITER-India, Institute for Plasma Research (IPR), located in Gandhinagar, western India, is the Indian Domestic Agency to design, build and deliver the Indian in-kind contribution to ITER

Background

• Current nuclear energy relies on fission, where a heavy chemical element is split to produce lighter ones.
• Nuclear fusion, on the other hand, works by combining two light elements to make a heavier one.
• The project uses hydrogen fusion, controlled by superconducting magnets, to produce massive heat energy.
• The magnetic fusion device has been designed to prove the feasibility of fusion as a large-scale and carbon-free source of energy based on the same principle that powers our Sun and stars.

• The Centre has recently announced a Rs.10,000-crore booster for ramping up domestic production of raw materials for producing drugs and indigenous medical devices.
• Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers DV Sadananda Gowda has launched schemes from the Department of Pharmaceuticals for promotion of domestic manufacturing of bulk drugs and medical devices parks in the country.

The proposal is divided into four key segments:

1. Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) which consists of an outlay of Rs. 6,490 crore.
2. Three bulk drug parks with an outlay of Rs. 3,000 crore.
3. PLI scheme for medical devices with an outlay of Rs. 3,420 crore.
4. Grant-in-aid of Rs. 400 crore in all for four medical device parks.

• Also, the department of pharmaceuticals aims to encourage research and development of novel drugs with a new policy.
• For that purpose, Indian government has constituted a committee chaired by V D Vaghela to come up with suggestions on schemes and incentives for pharmaceutical companies to conduct research and for increasing coordination between research institutes in India for drug discovery.
• The government-appointed committee comprising officials from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and department of science and technology, besides the likes of Biocon chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Zydus Cadila chairman Pankaj Patel, will frame the policy.

• Union Minister for HRD had recently launched India Report on Digital Education, 2020.
• According to the report, besides the central Initiatives State/ UT Governments have also managed the critical task of providing digital education at the door step of the students.

Some states have launched innovative mobile apps and portals as means to facilitate remote learning.

• Madhya Pradesh has launched Top Parent App, a free mobile app that empowers parents of young children (3-8 years) with knowledge and strategies around child development to help them meaningfully engage with their children.
• KHEL (Knowledge Hub for Electronic Learning), a Game Based Application has also been started, that covers class 1-3.
• Uttarakhand is making use of Sampark Baithak App through which primary school students can access animated videos, audios, worksheet, puzzles, etc.
• Assam has launched the Biswa Vidya Assam Mobile Application for class 6 to 10.
• Bihar has launched Vidyavahini App with e-books for class 1 to 12.
• Under Unnayan Bihar Initiative, Bihar has also launched Mera Mobile Mera Vidyalaya for students, and Unnayan Bihar Teacher App.
• Chandigarh has launched Phoenix Mobile application to assess the learning outcome for the students of class 1 to 8.
• Maharashtra has launched the Learning Outcomes Smart Q Mobile App to facilitate learning for students in the state.
• Punjab has launched iScuela Learn Mobile Application for class 1 to 10.
• Sikkim Edutech App connects all the schools of Sikkim under the State Education Department, Parents also have login access along with students, teachers and administrative units.
• Tripura has an application titled ‘EmpowerU Shiksha Darpan’ in order to facilitate student’s appraisal.
• Uttar Pradesh launches ‘Top Parent’ app targeting children from 3-8years age. The application currently houses three high-quality EdTech apps for children – Chimple, Maths Masti and Google Bolo.

• Recently, there was a clash between Assam Rifles and Manipur terror group in Manipur, near the border with Myanmar.
• Assam Rifles is one of the central armed police forces is the leading counter-insurgency force in the Northeast.
• It is under the administrative control of the Home Ministry, while the Army controls its operations.
• They have the power to arrest and search without a warrant in  border districts in five northeastern states.
• Also they can arrests without a warrant in areas where the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act is in effect.  

• Recently, the Supreme Court has cleared a major roadblock in the completion of a Trilateral Highway Connectivity project between India, Myanmar and Thailand (IMT Trilateral Highway).
• IMT Trilateral Highway connects India’s Northeast with Thailand and other ASEAN members through Myanmar.
• The project seeks to give last mile connectivity and port access for the landlocked North East regions of India through Myanmar.
• The Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project connects the Northeast with Myanmar as well as with West Bengal.    

• The government is set to come out with a notification for allowing 74% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in defence. 
• The decision to permit up to 74% FDI in the defence through the automatic route was announced by Finance Minister in May 2020.
• As per the current FDI policy, 100% overseas investments are permitted in the defence industry, 49% under the automatic route, while beyond that the government approval is required.
• Under the automatic route, the investor has to inform the RBI after the investment is made.

• Recently, Guwahati gets Northeast's first Manhole Cleaning Robot 'BANDICOOT'.
• It is the India’s first ‘manhole cleaning robot’ developed by the  brainchild of Genrobotics, a Thiruvananthapuram-based start-up.

• The Yellow fever burden to shift to central and east Africa by 2050, according to a new Study.
• It is an acute, viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes.
• The virus is endemic in tropical areas of Africa and Central and South America.
• It  is prevented by an extremely effective vaccine.
• The Eliminate Yellow fever Epidemics (EYE) Strategy launched in 2017 is an unprecedented initiative.
• With more than 50 partners involved, the partnership aims at protecting at-risk populations, preventing international spread, and containing outbreaks rapidly.
• By 2026, it is expected that more than 1 billion people will be protected against the disease.