In keeping with the initiative of Govt of India to promote Solar Power and objective to achieve 100 GW of solar power by 2022 as part of the National Solar Mission, a 2 MW Solar Photovoltaic Plant was commissioned at INS Kalinga, Visakhapatnam by Vice Adm Atul Kumar Jain, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, ENC on 28 May 2020.
The plant, which is the largest in the ENC and has an estimated life of 25 years. Despite the lockdown, all concerned agencies including APEPDCL worked out a contingency plan adhering to all guidelines promulgated for Coronavirus pandemic and executed the work.
Speaking on the occasion, Vice Adm Atul Kumar Jain stated that the commissioning of this plant demonstrates the commitment of Eastern Naval Command towards conservation of the environment and eco-friendly measures.
INS Kalinga, currently headed by Cmde Rajesh Debnath, has taken significant strides in Green Initiatives since it’s setting up in the early 1980s, including afforestation, numerous plantation drives, coastal cleanup drives and protection of the Geo-Heritage site “Erra Matti Dibbalu”.
Eduindex News is a multi-dimensional Educational News Portal that aims at imparting skills and conducting educational courses; helping the oppressed, especially the migrant/uprooted people, providing news updated from the field of education, business and others.
About the work from home job/internship
Selected intern’s day-to-day responsibilities include writing content on diverse issues in English and preferably also in regional languages like in the scripts of the respective languages.
# of jobs/internships available: 2
Who can apply
Only those candidates can apply who:
are available for the work from home job/internship
can start the work from home job/internship between 28th May’20 and 2nd Jul’20
Major Suman Gawani, an Indian Army officer who served as a women peacekeeper with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) in 2019 is being awarded the prestigious “United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the year Award” on 29 May 2020. She will receive the award from the UN Secretary General Mr Antonio Guterres during an online ceremony being organised at the UN Headquarters, New York on the occasion of International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers. Major Suman will be receiving this award alongwith a Brazilian Naval Officer Commander Carla Monteiro de Castro Araujo.
Major Suman served as a Military observer in UNMISS from November 2018 to December 2019. While at the mission, she was the principal focal point of contact for gender issues for Military Observers in the mission. The officer encouraged participation in joint military patrols to maintain gender balance, irrespective of the hardships under extreme field conditions. She visited various mission team sites across South Sudan to integrate gender perspective into the planning and military activity in the mission. The officer was selected to attend a specialised training on Conflict Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) at Nairobi and participated in various UN forums to demonstrate how a gender perspective can help in protecting civilians, especially from conflict related sexual violence. Apart from supporting the UNMISS Force initiatives, she also trained the South Sudan government forces on CRSV related aspects. The officer also commanded the UN Peacekeepers Day Parade organised at UNMISS, where she commanded twelve contingents of UNPOL, Military and Civilians.
The Ministry of Labour and Employment under its National Career Service (NCS) project has now started offering free online “Career Skills Training” in partnership with TCS ION for its registered job-seekers. This course on soft skills assists the learners in enhancing personality development with modules on corporate etiquette, improving inter personal skills, making impactful presentation including other necessary soft skills demanded by the industry today. The training module is available in Hindi and English on the NCS portal.
The Ministry is implementing the NCS Project for transformation of the National Employment Service to provide a variety of employment related services like job search, job matching, career counselling, vocational guidance, information on skill development courses, apprenticeship, internships etc through an on-line portal (www.ncs.gov.in). There are around 1 crore active job seekers and 54 thousand active employers registered on NCS and around 73 lakh vacancies have been mobilized through the portal so far. Around 1000 employment exchanges including 200 Model Career Centers across the country are integrated with NCS.
NCS has also taken a number of other initiatives to mitigate the challenges in the labour market due to COVID-19 and the consequent lockdown of the economy.
Online Job Fairs are being organized to bridge the gap between job aspirants and employers where the complete cycle from job posting to selection of candidate can be completed on the portal. Around 76 Online Job Fairs have been conducted by NCS during the lockdown Period.
A Special link for Work from Home Jobs and Online Trainings has been created on NCS portal Home Page to give direct access to job-seekers to such jobs.
NCS also offers the functionality of creation of video profiles for job-seekers in partnership with HIREMEE, a platform which provides online assessment and hiring services. Job-seekers can showcase their ability to recruiters using short video clips. All services on NCS are free.
‘Wash your hands with soap and water frequently, clean frequently touched surfaces and objects’ are public health measures advised by experts to fight COVID-19. In short, a step towards cleanliness and personal hygiene are significant ways to win this pandemic. Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission has started working on these lines years before, even at grassroot levels, for the welfare of citizens across the country.
Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) was launched country-wide in 2014 with the target to eliminate open defecation and achieve better solid waste management in urban and rural India. What seemed impossible for the outer world was made easy by active participation of the people of India and their initiative in achieving this big feat.
SBM has become very crucial at this moment of the pandemic, reminding us all how sanitation and hygiene are crucial to prevent diseases. At the same time the passion with which every village and citizen has adorned this mission making it a people’s revolution is also a reminder that nothing is impossible if we the people fight together for a common cause.
After the launch of Swachh Bharat Mission, India’s face has transformed from a country with the highest number of people practising open defecation, to more than six lakh villages becoming Open Defecation Free (ODF). The pillars behind the success of this mission are its 6,50,000 volunteers, or Swachhagrahis, mostly the youth and women who promoted this at the village level, making it a people’s movement.
In order to document such a mass movement, National Geographic channel in collaboration with Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation has come together to make a film titled ‘Swachh Bharat: India’s Sanitary Revolution’. The film has been premiered at a special screening for the President of India at Rashtrapati Bhawan in March this year. It has also been screened on the NatGeo channel. It is now available on YouTube channel of Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen, where it has been virtually premiered on May 27, 2020.
The film portrays not just the success of the mission but the struggles, fights and innovations involved in convincing rural India about the significance of using toilets. The Swachhagrahis or the ‘Ambassadors of cleanliness’, mostly women, share their journey in executing the mission at the ground level. How difficult was it for a housewife, a Swachhagrahi, to educate the villagers about personal and public hygiene? How did a group of school going kids who wanted their village to be ODF convince the elders to use toilets? What measures were taken by the government to make this a people’s movement? The film has answers to all these questions and even more.
The film is a reminder to every Indian and every community that the determination to work together will always lead us to success. Any mission undertaken by the people of the country will guarantee benefits not only to the individual or the society but to the nation as well. Now, when every country is fighting together to protect its people from the pandemic, let’s take inspiration from India’s largest cleanliness drive that has changed the face of many villages and has brought smiles and good health to its people.
Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Shri Ram Vilas Paswan held a Video Conference today to brief the media about the initiatives and reforms undertaken by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution during the last one year.While addressing the media, Shri Paswan said at the time of COVID-19 pandemic the main focus of the Ministry is to provide food grains and pulses to all PDS and Non-PDS card holders, migrant labourers and those who are not covered under anyfood grain scheme of the Central or the State Governments.He informed that the Ministry is regularly communicating with State Food Ministers and Secretaries, so that no State/UTfaces any hurdle in lifting of food grains. He informed that sufficient quantity of food grains is available in buffer stock. He said the distribution of food grains by States and UTs under PMGKAY, Atma Nirbhar Bharat Package, NFSA and other schemes is satisfactory barring few States. He further added that the Ministry is aiming to achieve 100% seeding of ration cards with Aadhar underOne Nation One Ration Card scheme by January 2021.
While addressing the media, the Minister informed that as on 28.5.2020, FCI currently has 272.29 LMT rice and 479.40 LMT wheat. Hence, a total of 751.69 LMT food grain stock is available (excluding the ongoingpurchase of wheat and paddy, which have not yet reached the godown).
He said that since the lockdown was announced on 24th March, 2020, about 98.84 LMT food grains have been lifted and transported through 3530 rail rakes. Apart from the rail route, transportation was also done through roads and waterways. A total of 201.44 LMT has been transported. 12,000 MT food grains was transported through 11 ships. Total 9.61 LMT food grains have been transported to the North-Eastern States.
Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana
Foodgrain (Rice/Wheat)
Under the PMGKAY, for next 3 months a total of 104.4 LMT rice and 15.6 LMT wheat is required of which 83.38 LMT rice and 12.42 LMT wheat have been lifted by various States and UTs. A total of 95.80 LMT has been lifted.
Pulses
As regards Pulses, the total requirement for the next three months is 5.87 LMT. So far, 4.62 LMT pulses have been dispatched while 3.64 LMT Pulses have reached the States/UTs and 71,738 MT has been delivered. As on 20.5.2020, 1.64 LMT pulses have been distributed by the States/UTs. A total of 12.81 LMT pulses ( (Toor-5.88 LMT, Moong-1.62 LMT, Urad-2.42 LMT, BengalGram-2.42 LMT and Masur-0.47 LMT) is available in the buffer stock as on 20 May 2020.
Atma Nirbhar Bharat
Shri Paswan said that States/UTs have already lifted 2.06 LMT food grains under Atma Nirbhar Bharat package.The distribution has been started and shall be completed on schedule.
He said that the identification of migrants/stranded migrants under Atma Nirbhar Bharat scheme may be done by the State/UT Governments through own mechanisms and, Aadhar of persons, if available may also be leveraged to ascertain that person is not covered under NFSA or State PDS scheme. States/UTs may provide the benefit of this scheme to any poor/needy migrant/stranded migrant who does not have access to food and is not covered under NFSA/State PDS schemes.
One Nation One Ration Card
Shri Paswan said that the introduced national portability of NFSA ration cards holders under“One Nation One Ration Card” plan in 17 States/UTs.At present, seamless facility is available in a single national cluster of 17 States. He said we are targeting to achieve 100% the Aadhar seeding by January 2021.
Boosting Ethanol production to tackle COVID19 spread
He said that the Government has also allowed production of ethanol from sugar and sugar syrup for current ethanol supply year 2019-20 (December,2019 – November,2020) and has fixed the remunerative ex-mill price of ethanol derived from C-heavy molasses @ Rs. 43.75/litre; from B-heavy molasses @ Rs. 54.27/ litre and @ Rs. 59.48/litre for the ethanol derived from sugarcane juice/ sugar/ sugar syrup.Due to the concerted efforts of Department of Food & Public Distribution in coordination with State Governments/ UT Administrations, necessary permissions on account of licensing and storage of ethyl alcohol/ethanol were accorded to the sugar mills/distilleries/sanitizer industry for making hand sanitizers. As a result, 165 distilleries and 962 independent manufacturers were given licenses to produce hand-sanitizers across the country, which has resulted in production of 87,20,262litres of hand-sanitizers (as on 11.5.2020).
Patent has been granted to National Sugar Institute (NSI) Kanpur for a new process on Sugarcane Juice Clarification to obtain Sulphur-less sugar. Further, an application has been filed for grant of patent on Fortified Amorphous Sugar with Co-crystallization.
Fortification of Rice
Informing about Centrally Sponsored Pilot Scheme on “Fortification of Rice and its Distribution under Public Distribution System, Shri Paswan said thatMaharashtra & Gujarat have started distributing of fortified rice under the Pilot Scheme from February, 2020.He further said that the guideline on Welfare Institutions and Hostels Scheme has been revised to include hostels aided /sponsored by the States/UTs in its scope. Now, allocation of foodgrain at BPL rates can be done to meet the requirement of Government owned and aided/sponsored welfare institutions such as beggar homes, nariniketans and other similar welfare institutions and of all the students of the Government owned aided/sponsored hostels having 2/3rd residents belonging to SC/ST/OBC category.
CWC achieves highest turnover
Shri Paswan said that the Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) has achieved highest ever turnover of about Rs 1710 crore during 2019-20. CWC has declared interim dividend for the year 2019-20 @95.53% of its paidup capital as against 72.20% last year.Government of India has received Rs 35.77 crores out of the total dividend of Rs 64.98 crore.
Foundation Stone for a Missile Park “AGNEEPRASTHA” was laid at INS Kalinga by Cmde Rajesh Debnath, Commanding Officer, in the presence of Vice Admiral Atul Kumar Jain, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, FOC-in-C (East) on 28 May 20.
The Missile Park ‘AGNEEPRASTHA’ once completed will be dedicated to all the Officers, Sailors and Support Staff of INS Kalinga, who have served in this premier op-support Base of the ENC since its establishment in 1981. The Park also commemorates the award of the prestigious Unit Citation to INS Kalinga for the year 2018-19.
‘AGNEEPRASTHA’ aims to capture glimpses of Missile History of INS Kalinga since 1981 till date. The Missile Park has been set up with a replica of missiles and Ground Support Equipment (GSE) that showcase the evolution of missiles handled by the unit. The exhibits have been created from scrap / obsolete inventory which have been reconditioned in-house. The main attraction is P-70 ‘Ametist’, an underwater launched anti-ship missile from the arsenal of the old ‘Chakra’ (Charlie-1 submarine) which was in service with IN during 1988-91.
‘AGNEEPRASTHA’ will also provide a one-stop arena for motivation and stimulation of inquisitive minds regarding the missiles and related technologies, from school children to Naval personnel and their families. It is also intended to encourage a feeling of ownership and pride in the role of the Unit, and highlight the necessity of contribution of all personnel irrespective of rank/trade towards the overarching objective of ordnance availability, reliability and delivery on target, each and every time.
Minister of Commerce and industry Shri Piyush Goyal on Thursday met the representatives of traders associations, via video conferencing. He said that during the lockdown period, the nation geared itself to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic and built capacities. The domestic manufacturing of the protection equipment (like masks, sanitizers, gloves, PPE) got a boost, health infrastructure was scaled up, and awareness was generated among the people. He said that people responded to the Prime Minister’s call to work unitedly to face the unprecedented crisis, by adhering to the Government’s guidelines and directions. Aarogya Setu has been developed during the period, which acts as a shield, friend and messenger in such crisis. People changed their lifestyles and adapted quickly to live, work, study differently under the circumstances. Shri Goyal said that timely and correct decisions taken by the Prime Minister, and adhered to by the people, have helped the country, as we are in a better position compared to many other nations of the world, with more resources and lesser population.
Regarding some of the hardships being faced by the Retail traders even after the relaxations of the guidelines, the Minister said that a majority of shops have been allowed to be opened, without any distinction of essential and non-essential. The decision to open the remaining shops in the malls, will be taken soon, after taking into account the guidelines of the Health Ministry. He said that Aatmanirbhar package announced by the Union Finance Minister to fight Covid-19 provided for Rs 3 lakh crore credit guarantee for MSME, and it also covers traders. He said that the changes made in the definition of the MSME sector will also help them. He said that the Finance Minister has also indicated that she has an open mind on finding solutions for the problems that may have remained unresolved. Shri Goyal told the retail traders not to feel threatened by the e-commerce juggernaut, as the Common person has now realized that the Brick and Mortar kirana neighbourhood shopkeepers only helped them in their hour of crisis. He said that the Government is working on mechanism to facilitate B2B for the retail traders and providing technical support to them to expand their reach. He said that under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Government has taken transformational initiatives, which will help India become a strong nation. Regarding other problems of the trader community pertaining to term loans, Mudra loans and other issues, Shri Goyal said that the matter will be taken up with the finance ministry to find a solution.
The Minister said that several indicators show that the economic recovery is on the anvil. The power consumption this month is almost at par with the corresponding period last year, Oxygen production has come up. The Exports, which went down in April by almost 60%, have started showing upward trend, and the preliminary figures indicate decline this month will be smaller. The Services exports, on the other hand, went up even the last month. He indicated that more than the fall in merchandise exports, the imports showed sharper decline last month, lowering the trade deficit.
The Minister said that during the last two months, the government has taken measures to ameliorate the hardships of the traders and Indian manufacturers, and in future also, will support them. He called upon the traders to use, promote and support the Indian goods. The Minister exhorted them to work with confidence, boldness and determination, and the success will be there to achieve.
At a media briefing here today, Dr. Vinod Paul, Member NITI Aayog and Professor K. Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, summarised activities on COVID-19 related to Science and Technology in the areas of vaccines, drug discovery, diagnostics and testing.
On vaccines, it was pointed out that the process is usually slow and fraught with uncertainties. But, in order to succeed against COVID-19 a large number of parallel efforts are needed. This is being done globally and nationally. Indian academia and start-ups are working on vaccine candidates in the very strong Indian vaccine industry. There are three kinds of attempts being made. The first are indigenous efforts. The second are globally collaborative efforts where Indian organisations are taking a lead role and the third is Indian participation in global efforts. With such a large portfolio, followed by efforts at risk- mitigation for manufacturing and stockpiling, success is better assured.
On drug discovery, our scientific efforts take three approaches. The first is the repurposing of extant drugs to see how effective they are against the virus and in mitigating the consequences of the disease. Second, Phyto-pharmaceuticals and extracts from medicinal plants are being tested. Finally, using a variety of approaches, new drug discovery including a ‘Hackathon’ for computational drug discovery is being undertaken.
A conglomeration of research efforts have resulted in new tests and testing kits. These include new tests for detection of the virus and also for antibody detection. The latter are being used for serological studies,
The speed of these developments is made possible by the collaborative efforts of our scientists, institutions and science agencies. The regulatory system has also been closely engaged, combining speed with quality.
It has been decided to take forward the Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat programme of the Government by using innovative ways in view of the prevailing conditions of COVID 19.
This was decided at a recent meeting of Secretaries via videoconferencing , of partner ministries under the Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat programme of the Government . The meeting was chairedby Secretary, Higher Education, M/o HRD, Shri Amit Khare. M/o HRD is the nodal ministry for the EBSB programme. The meeting was attended by Secretary, Tourism Shri Yogendra Tripathi; Secretary Culture, Shri Anand Kumar; Secretary Department of Youth Affairs, Smt Usha Sharma; Secretary, SE & L Smt Anita Karwal; CEO, MyGov Shri Abhishek Singh and senior officers of ministries of I & B, Railways, Home , Defence , Parliamentary Affairs and department of Sports.
Welcoming the participants, Shri Amit Khare briefed about the implementation of the programme so far, stressing on the need to have innovative ways to carry it forward in view of the prevailing conditions of COVID 19. Secretary D/o SEL, Smt. Anita Karwal also emphasized upon the need to show tangible outputs.
During the meeting a presentation was made on the progress of EBSB so far.
Speaking at the meeting, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Shri Yogendra Tripathi informed that institutions under Tourism ministry are organising webinars on various aspects of tourism. The ministry is doing a series of webinars under the series “Dekho Apna Desh”, being hosted on MyGov portal. These webinars are being attended by thousands of people. He also suggested that such webinars can be organised for tourism stake holders of different states such as Tour Operators etc. Secretary, Higher Education suggested that the recordings of “Dekho Apna Desh” and other webinars can be displayed on the educational channels and in breaks during online classes.
Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Shri Anand Kumar stated that they are also organising various webinars. He suggested all webinars of different Ministries should be brought under a common platform of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat. He further suggested that e- programmes can be prepared on various topics such as writing dramas, paintings , virtual tours of monuments, etc He further informed that the Culture Ministry proposes to develop E- Heritagepedia and E- Artist pedia and also suggested that renowned artists can do virtual programme modules to teach their art. Secretary D/o SEL welcomed the idea and said that schools would be very interested in classes on indigenous art like Worli and Madhubani paintings.
Secretary, Department of Youth Affairs, Smt. Usha Sharma appreciated the use of digital medium for conducting the EBSB programmes. She said with this, the reach of these programmes can be enhanced greatly. She also suggested for sharing of digital material prepared by different departments. Secretary, HE suggested that the inputs may be collected from all the Ministries at a single platform. Secretary, D/O SEL suggested they could be hosted on a digital platform.
CEO, My Gov.in, Shri Abhishek Singh said that they are developing a mobile App for learning 100 sentences in different languages. He also said that MyGov can host webinars of various departments and also disseminate information about their programmes.
Joint Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Shri Vikram Sahai suggested that apart from the information of various states being shared through TV, Radio and Print Media, good practices and success stories of each state may also be shared with the partner states. He also suggested all departments can pool in their digital resources and DD News can use their weekly EBSB programme to host destination based programmes. JS (ICC), Ms Neeta Prasad suggested that each Ministry should share their future monthly action plan in advance with Ministry of Information & Broadcasting for wider coverage.
Executive Director, Ministry of Railways Smt. Vandana Bhatnagar, briefed about the steps taken by them for providing concessions to the students participating in various EBSB programmes and on displaying the logo, Video display etc on railways property. She said that these activities will be up taken afresh once regular movement of trains start.
The officers of Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Department of Sports briefed about the activities taken up prior to the lockdown period and activities proposed to be started.
At the end of the meeting, Secretary, HE summarised important actionable points as follows:
To move towards digital mediums for the carrying on the activities under EBSB by each participating Ministry/ Department.
To organise webinars on Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat themes for their wide dissemination.
To have a common repository for the Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat digital resources that can be used by every Ministry. This repository may be hosted on a common portal.
iv A revised communication plan needs to be made and Doordarshan’s 30 minute weekly programme on EBSB should be destination based with inputs from all ministries
Here are three ways career development coaches can help set you on a path to success.
Whether you are looking for a career change, working toward your next promotion or seeking a personal sense of accomplishment, partnering with the career development team at your university can help you achieve your goals.
Career coaches support and guide students from the first day of class to graduation and beyond. Here are three ways career development coaches can help set you on a path to success.
1. Finding the best career for you
Career coaches assist with career exploration, which includes salary negotiation and job search strategies. If you have questions about a particular career field, career coaches can help bridge that gap. If you are in the process of researching different career fields, they can provide you with additional resources and information.
2. Building networking and interviewing skills
Career coaches can also help you develop valuable soft skills, such as communication skills necessary for interviewing and networking. These skills are essential for finding a job as well as ensuring ongoing career growth and development. Coaches can help you practice questions that might come up in an interview and strategize questions to ask potential employers.
You can work with your career coach to develop a strong LinkedIn profile and identify professional organizations that will help you expand your circle. Career coaches can also help you begin building your personal brand so that you can effectively position yourself for desired roles.
3. Creating a resume and portfolio
Finally, career coaches help guide you through the job search process step-by-step. Herzing University’s Career Development team recently launched the Career Center, a diverse platform of career resources built to help students at every level. In the Career Center, you can create a cover letter, resume, e-portfolio or even a business plan with the help of your career coach. The resource center is available 24/7 so busy students are able to get the help they need when it is most convenient for them.
No matter what your career goals are, the Career Development team at Herzing University is ready to partner with you.
Union Human Resource Development Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank interacted with Heads of more than 45,000 Higher Educational Institutions across the country today through Webinar hosted by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), Bengaluru. The Minister addressed and Interacted with a Galaxy of Academicians comprising participation from Vice Chancellors / Registrars / Professors / IQAC heads / Principals / Faculty from across the Nation.
In the hour long interaction and address, the Union Minister reflected on various issues and concerns raised by educationists related to Academic Calendar, Online Education, examinations, Fees, Mental health of students, problems of students, fellowships, NEET, entrance examinations etc. He dwelt upon at length on the initiatives taken by the Government with regard to Swayam Prabha, Deeksharambh, Paramarsh and a host of other special initiatives taken during the pandemic period. He also urged all Higher Educational Institutions to take part in NAAC accreditation process. He reiterated that the Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi is very concerned about the well being of Higher Educational Institutions and assured of all help in furthering the academic activities of student fraternity.
The Union Minister asked all Universities to constitute a special cell which will be empowered to address the issues of students related to academic calendar and examinations arising out of special circumstances due to Covid 19. He said that a task force has been created in UGC and NCERT to resolve the different issues of students. Shri Nishank assured that Ministry is committed to provide all assistance to students in the time of crisis. During the interaction the Union Minister highlighted the process of how the new session will be commenced, at the same time he specified that the priority will be given to the safety of the students.
Shri Nishank called educational fraternity as Corona Warriors because in this extraordinary situation they are working round the clock to provide quality education to students.
The event was also graced by Chairman, UGC, Prof D P Singh, Prof Virander S Chauhan, Chairman, EC, NAAC. Prof S C Sharma, Director, NAAC spoke & coordinated the event.
Karnal Smart City has undertaken the following initiatives to combat COVID-19:
Resource Management and Administration
Augmentation of Medical Infrastructure:Availability of medical infrastructure is ensured (as on April 15, 2020) including 1,577 PPE kits; 13,348 masks N-95; 66,076 three-layer masks; 1,873 litre of sanitizers; 434 VTM; 2,580 sodium hydrochloride; 295,805 gloves; 05 thermal scanners; 125 no. of isolation wards for COVID patients; 1,000 additional beds for quarantine; 92 D type & 36 B type oxygen cylinder availability and 50 functional ventilators.
Manufacturing of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs):PPEs are the most essential equipment for the doctors and frontline workers for combating COVID-19 pandemic. In PPE kit manufacturing plant, more than 300 kits are manufactured every day.
Masks are produced by Self Help Groups: More than 65,000 total masks are produced; on an average 4,000 are produced each day; more than 250 self-help group members are involved; and about 52,000 masks have been sold till date.
Quarantine Facilities:Karnal City has capacity of 3,396 beds for COVID patients – this include 1,632 Government buildings; 1,224 Dharamshala; and 540 hotels. Out of 1,000 identified beds – 43 citizens are quarantine in Government building and 914 are home quarantined. Further, patients under home quarantined are monitored through cell tower location by police.
Karnal Live Tracker App:An app has been developed to track citizens who are home quarantined. There is a simple process to get registered on app and post registration – a citizen has to report six times with a gap of two hours in a day start from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm; next step is to upload latest photo and record their body temperature. Also, by giving access to the current location, latitude and longitude of citizen are captured. The app offers features like tele counselling to ensure upkeep of mental health of the citizen.
Testing Lab:Kalpana Chawla Government Hospital in collaboration with district administration has adopted a resourceful approach to setup COVID-19 testing lab. A lab has a capacity of testing 150 samples each day.
Sample Collection Kiosk:The kiosk is manufactured locally to ensure protection of the doctors/staff involved in sample collection. It is much safer, faster and more efficient collection of COVID-19 test samples.
Food and Relief Measures
Shelter Homes for Migrant Labourers:The total number of displaced migrant workers in Karnal is 784, who are residing in 7 shelter homes across the district. The district administration in collaboration with NGOs has been successful in providing shelter, food, basic essentials and medical facilities to the migrant labourers working in Karnal and those from other districts willing to cross. Administration collaborated with Radha Swami Satsang Bhawan to provide the necessities for a comfortable stay. Emphasis was given on the following measures – lodging; food; hygiene kit; personal commodities; medical assistance; police assistance; and other essentials.
Adopt a Family Initiative:A Corona Relief Fund was started at the district level, to ensure that dry ration can be delivered to daily wage workers. These vulnerable & needy families were identified by a screening method and by self-reporting at district helpline 1950. Families are being provided a packet of dry ration – rice, atta, cooking oil, pulses, sugar, salt, cooking masala, haldi and soap. Till date, approx. 70 lakh rupees have been donated, which means that approx. 14,000 poorest families will be taken care throughout the district.
Dry Ration distribution:District Administration is providing dry ration to daily wage workers who are not covered under PDS or any other Government scheme. Shri Krishna Parnami School, Karnal has been converted into a donation center to maintain stocks of all the essentials. About 2,440 packets have been distributed and 4,160 packets are in stock at the center. The cost of one packet of weekly dry ration is approx. 475 rupees.
Cooked Meals Distribution:Out of 15 lakh population, approx. 5 lakh belongs to unorganized sector. A collaboration with ‘Nirmal Kutia’ (a gurudwara) and district administration Karnal created a sustainable model for successfully dealing with the hunger crisis. Meal is served at 97 identified locations each day.
Doorstep delivery of Essentials:a) Online delivery – (i) Facilitated linkage of kirana shops and dairies with online platforms; (ii) Collaboration with Needs on Wheels (NOW); (iii) more than 10,000 orders have been delivered successfully b) Localized delivery – (i) localized delivery of essentials effectively implemented; (ii) vendor designated by district administration.
Precautionary Measures & Citizen Outreach
Lockdown Enforcement:Complete lockdown was imposed due to COVID-19 by the district administration and district police helped in its implementation.
Accessibility for emergency services:Movement passes issued online for ensuring mobility for essential and emergency services and per day approvals are limited to ensure social distancing.
Its taken a while to get going on my blog. I wonder do I deserve a virtual choc fish for starting and hopefully writing something meaningful. Source: www.bbc.co.uk
A lot has been happening at work. For a start we are lucky enough to have visits from a couple of people involved in flexible learning – Cathy Gunn (University of Auckland) and John Clayton (WINTEC – Hamilton, NZ)….more about this later.
FLUG meets Blackboard head on I have been busy with the formation of the new and improved FLUG – a group of enthusiasts involved in flexible learning and support. With our organisational strategy of flexible teaching and learning, it was timely to change the name of the Blackboard User Group to FLUG (Flexible Learning Users Group).
We also needed to extend the group – so a bigger cross section of people involved in flexible options here could muck in and get their hands dirty.
Source: www.geoimagery.com This way the small core of enthusiasts and people involved with the Learning Management System will have more of “a voice” in some of the changes which are happening here in our organisation. So the Bb User Group has re-birthed as FLUG.
So…what does this mean? FLUG will hopefully provide information to the newly formed Flexible …committee about operational matters and stuff from the coal face. We also hope to assist in developing some sort of flexible learning and teaching strategy which is meaningful for our learners and staff in the organisation.
So who do we think we are…why should we have a say? Because FLUG hopefully will represent the “real users” because it is made up mainly of people who get it. But do we?
We all know that flexible learning is a very important strategy for quality education.What gets me though is that every organisation seems to be busying themselves with the development of strategies for eLearning or flexible learning and teaching…..but what are these strategies based on?? What everyone else has been doing..or on the unique culture within an organisation? The former I believe because it is easier.
It is also easier to follow like sheep and stay with an LMS like Bb – the same as the others. It is also easier to stay with an imposition model– a model where the learners are told what they’re getting rather than being asked how they want to approach teaching and learning.
The best model for a flexible learning and teaching strategy which I have seen is the one QUT (Queensland University of Technology) developed called the QUT Teaching Capabilities Framework. See overview at: http://www.library.qut.edu.au/framework/
QUT surveyed staff and students who were using the LMS (Blackboard), to find out what was important to them as both teachers and learners. The project team took their findings and using a process of wide consultation, they developed a framework. This framework now underpins how teaching and learning is offered at the university, and has informed the professional development of staff.
Unfortunately, we have not gone down this track, but have taken the route followed by many. Additionally, we have also developed a teaching qualification without developing a teaching and learning strategy first. Now staff will be indoctrinated into “a way” of teaching which may not be right for our learners…or for our environment.
We have broken the first golden rule! We didn’t find out what our learners actually wanted first! As a result, our flexible learning and teaching strategy may also not be based on actualities but on assumptions. I believe we do have time to find out what our teachers and learners actually want, what their experience is to date and what they would like to see happening.
Wont this save time in the end! We are in a good position to really do something different and lead flexible learning in a new direction.
I would really like to see us get out from behind the herd, stop the baaing and mooing and get to the green grass first…for a change.
Watch this space to find out how the flexible strategy and the teaching qual evolve.
In line with the announcement made in the Union Budget, Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman formally launched the facility for instant allotment of PAN (on near to real time basis) here today. This facility is now available for those PAN applicants who possess a valid Aadhaar number and have a mobile number registered with Aadhaar. The allotment process is paperless and an electronic PAN (e-PAN) is issued to the applicants free of cost.
It may be recalled that in the Union Budget, 2020, Finance Minister Smt. Sitharaman had announced to launch instant PAN facility shortly. In para 129 of the Budget Speech, the Finance Minister had stated, “In the last Budget, I had introduced the interchangeability of PAN and Aadhaar for which necessary rules were already notified. In order to further ease the process of allotment of PAN, soon we will launch a system under which PAN shall be instantly allotted online on the basis of Aadhaar without any requirement for filling up of detailed application form.”
The facility of instant PAN through Aadhaar based e-KYC has been launched formally today, however, its ‘Beta version’ on trial basis was started on 12th Feb 2020 on the e-filing website of Income Tax Department. Since then onwards, 6,77,680 instant PANs have been allotted with a turnaround time of about 10 minutes, till 25th May 2020.
It may also be noted that as on 25.05.2020, a total of 50.52 crore PANs have been allotted to the taxpayers, out of which, around 49.39 crore are allotted to the individuals and more than 32.17crore are seeded with Aadhaar so far.
The process of applying for instant PAN is very simple. The instant PAN applicant is required to access the e-filing website of the Income Tax Department to provide her/his valid Aadhaar number and then submit the OTP received on her/his Aadhaar registered mobile number. On successful completion of this process, a 15-digit acknowledgment number is generated. If required, the applicant can check the status of the request anytime by providing her/his valid Aadhaar number and on successful allotment, can download the e-PAN. The e-PAN is also sent to the applicant on her/his email id, if it is registered with Aadhaar.
The launch of the Instant PAN facility is yet another step by the Income Tax Department towards Digital India, thereby creating further ease of compliance to the taxpayers.
Eduindex News 
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