India and Russia, the two finalists of FIDE online Chess Olympiad have been announced as the joint winners of the tournament, following a server failure that caused many players to lose connections.

At first, Russia was initially declared the winner, when two Indian players, Nihal Sarin and Divya Deshmukh, lost their games at in the finals on a time basis while their time was lost due to loss of internet connection.

India had lodged the official appeal after the controversial result and said that players’ internet connection had gone down due to server failure. The two countries were declared joint winners after India’s appeal. The International Chess Federation Fide issued a statement saying that it’s chairman Arkadi Dborkovich decided to award gold medals to both teams. This was the first time that FIDE conducted the Olympiad in an online format.

The first round was a 3-3 draw between the two teams in the final. The second round was also on par with Nihal and Divya being declared defeated on time. India was represented in the tournament by Vidit Gujarati, former world champions Viswanathan Anand, Koneru Hampi, D Harika, R Pragananda, P. Harikrishna, and Divya Deshmukh.

India rested Anand in the first round and were drawing six bets in the first round. In the second round, Anand, Vidit and Harika played with the likes of lan Nepomaniacchi , Danil Dubov and Aleksandra Kosteniuk respectively, while Divya was leading her side to victory against Polina Shuvalova. Hampi and Aleksandra were on a par with Goryachkina and Nihal and Andrei Espenko.

A sudden server failure caused both Nihal and Divya to lose their internet connection with their games and lost them on time. In the final the score went 4.5-1.5 in favor of Russia. But India appealed to the appeals committee, favouring this technical aspect and FIDE changed the decision and declared the two countries joint winners.

“We all have our demons, that doesn’t mean you’ll stop fighting
to it”
Mental illness is a really serious issue at the same time being the
most unpredictable as well as unnoticeable. we can never predict
just by looking at the person what he/she is going through.
Mental illness are basically chronic distruption in neural circuits of
the brain. The distrupted neural circuit affect the functioning of
brain in the ways of how a person thinks, feels, acts, behave etc.
The distrupted neural circuit eventually dramatically effect the
person’s mood and make them hallucinate or believe the things
that actually doesn’t exists or make sense.
It can be caused either by biological factors or environmental
factors such as genetic, drug,alcohol,stress or lack of sleep.
The society we’re living in, most of the people tend to avoid the
problem of mental illness, or hesitate to share these kinds of
issues, but remember if you’re not speaking it you’re storing it and
that’s get heavy.
It’s extremely hard for the society to understand you unless you
speak to them.
There is no cure for this but the recovery is definitely possible.
Just by doing self care & little things you can keep your brain
healthy ,calm & avoid the mental illness
1-stay socially active, the more you communicate the more you
get comfortable with people around you.

2.practice mindfulness on daily basis

3.spend more time with loved ones

4.have balanced diet

5.have proper 8hr sleep

• 

According to several search engines “Freedom is the power and ability to think, act and speak without hindrance or restraint. Freedoms are often enshrined in the charters and constitutions of nations as foundations of law. It is also common for laws to restrict freedoms in various ways.” But the meaning of freedom for every individual is different. According to a few people, freedom means the right attitude which can transform a barrier into a blessing, an obstacle into an opportunity, or a stumbling block into a stepping stone. In other words, breaking barriers is freedom. The barrier to success is not something that exists in the real world; it is composed purely and simply of doubts about ability. Setting our wings open to fly high and high until you touch the clouds and achieve your dreams is freedom. Freedom is something that lets you fight all the challenges to accomplish your goal. Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.
You’re a free man in a beautiful world
Living the dream they say
You got to wake up and shake off
All the laziness that’s in your way
Hey dreamer why are you dreaming
What are you doing still sleeping

You’re a nightmare, to handle,
And this life you’re living is a scandal
Freedom in a jail, cozy in a hole,
All that dripping wax in a candle bowl
What a waste of life that’s too much to bear
Take me seriously and start to care

Freedom is a choice, choose it with your wisdom
There isn’t any comfort zone, in any living organ
Try and take a chance, you never know the outcome
It will be hard,
But you’re going to earn freedom.
You can be the most beautiful person in the world and everybody sees light and rainbows when they look at you, but if you yourself don’t know it, all of that doesn’t even matter. Every second that you spend on doubting your worth, every moment that you use to criticize yourself; is a second of your life wasted, is a moment of your life thrown away. It’s not like you have forever, so don’t waste any of your seconds, don’t throw even one of your moments away and this is freedom. You said you knew the perfect place to run to. A place that was empty of people, and buildings, and far, far away. A place covered in blood-red earth and sleeping life. A place longing to come alive again. It’s a place for disappearing, you’d said, a place for getting lost… and for getting found.
I’ll take you there, you’d said. And I could say that I agree and this is freedom. Freedom lies within us. Endings are powerful. Get the ending wrong, and your growth could be stunted by lingering baggage that saps your energy and attention. A properly executed ending however, provides closure and cleanliness, readying you to attack the new with refreshed vigour. Build your life on your dreams; because dreams never have bad endings. As one grows older, one views many things with a more relaxed perspective. However, there are also certain things that all of a sudden start to become more difficult: climbing the stairs, pulling on roller shutter belts and using a manual handle to extend the awning – all these things require a considerable expenditure of energy. However, one thing is a non-negotiable for you: you continue to value your independence. Above all, within your own four walls.
“BE FREE to achieve your goals and this is real freedom, this is the really independence.

By. Kumari lili

A group of experts recently held a webinar organised by Udaipur-based NGO Usanas foundation on “Rethinking India’s ‘One China Policy’: Tragedy of Tibet”. The list of speakers had names of Former Special Secretary, Krishan Varma, Prof. Srikanth Kondapalli, Abhijeet Iyer-Mitra Senior Fellow, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies and Tibetan Activist and Writer Tenzin Tsundue.

Experts have said that India should support the democratic government in Hong Kong, must establish economic and technological relations with Taiwan. On 18 Apr, 2018, The Modi Government announced its revised Foreign Direct Investment Policy which stated that for China to invest in any venture in India it will have to take the Indian Government’s approval first.

Since last few years Taiwan has also invested in Indian Energy and Technology sector so the question arises that will the new policy stop Taiwan’s Investment too? The answer is no as India has declared that the revised policy will not apply on Taiwan hence continuing its friendly relations with Taiwan.

Background

Since 1949, India has followed One China policy and in 1950, India became the first non-published country to establish diplomatic relations with China.

China was ruled by Qing Dynasty from 1644 to 1912. In 1894, Japan attacked on China and captured the present day country known as Korea, a part of Island and Present known island country Taiwan. It came to be known as 1^st Sino-Japan War. In the aftermath of the war the Qing Dynasty started to fall apart.

To unify the fallen China, a brave person named as Sun-Yat-San came forward. In 1912, he formed a party named as Kaumin Tang Party (Republic of China). He succeeded in his mission but, the success did not stay for long. After the death of Mr. Sun-Yat-Sun in 1925, the party got divided into two parts namely Nationalists and Communists. The Nationalists party was led by Chang Kai Skek while the latter was led by Mao Zedong. Both the leaders wanted to retain the dream of Sun-Yat-Sun but began to grow distant due to the difference of opinions. Further, mao Zedong wanted to have full control of China.

The distribution took place due to the difference of views of the two parties:

• The nationalists believed that the citizens shall be given the power to decide on how they should live while the communists believed that the party should decide that how the citizens should live.
• The nationalists believed in democracy while the communists believed in dictatorship.

 In 1927, however the difference took the shape of civil war wherein the nationalists began to kill the members of the communist parties along with their families in Shanghai.

On the other hand, Japan in 1931 captured one of the largest states of China, Manchuria. It tortured the people of China like hell. Whoever spoke Chinese was shot dead. Later, declared 2^nd Sino-Japan War in1935 which ended in 1945 after nuclear attack.

After Japan’s retreat Manchuria came to China and communists started to plot against Nationalists. They took the help of Russia (also a communist country) to eliminate the latter. Later, in 1949, communists declared mainland China as a communist country and named it as People’s Republic of China (PRC). The nationalists, who were around 20 lakh, under the leadership of Chang Kai Skek took all the cattle and all the needful things and moved to an island named Formosa known as Taiwan today. With this the civil war continued till 1950.

Chang Kai Skek declared the island to be Republic of China (ROC) and pledged to bring the other counterpart with his country which he claimed to be ‘real’ China.

 Washington and other countries recognized Taiwan as Real China. United Nations which was established in 1945 gave Taiwan a permanent seat. But, in 1971, Washington’s President Richard Nixon began to shift to People’s Republic of China and Taiwan lost its permanent seat in United Nations as well.

People’s Republic of China (PRC) claims that there is only ‘one’ China and that Taiwan is it inalienable part.

In 1992, an agreement was signed between Chinese communist party and Kuomintang named as “Consensus”. It states that there is only one China but allows for differing interpretations and that Taiwan will not seek independence. However, in January 2019, the President of Republic of China (Taiwan)   Tsai Ing -Wen declared that ‘one country, two systems’ framework will no longer be acceptable thereby, rejecting the ‘Consensus’.

Present Scenario

Amidst the face-off between China and India on Line of Actual Control (LAC), Taiwan had released a poster showing Lord Rama preparing a arrow to shoot the Chinese Dragon citing “We Conquer. We Kill”. This shows how much Taiwan supports India. Furthermore, it provided masks to India and warned it about COVID 19 in 2019.

Although the diplomatic relation between Taiwan and India are unofficial but they have improved a lot and should continue to develop further.

The webinar has raised various rational points.

• It is believed that India should show its full support to Taiwan.
• It should support the efforts Tibetians to have self-rule.
• India shall allow Uighur leaders to visit the country which has been denied several times in the past.
• It should increase its relations with Taiwan since it’s a technology and economic superpower.
• It should refrain from recognizing the annexation of Tibet and Turkestan.

Former Deputy National Security Advisor Arvind Gupta has expressed his concerns that India is not taking a dynamic approach and has not moved much in revising policy and taking forward. During a webinar recently organized by Law and Society Alliance and Defence, he suggested that India should be supporting the attempts of the Tibetans to achieve self-rule and should provide Dalai Lama more recognition and position in diplomatic engagements, aside from visibility in India’s political circles. Along with this, India must begin economic and technological engagements with Taiwan, besides supporting it politically. He also recommended garnering India’s support to the democratic movement in Hong Kong, albeit India doesn’t join the western countries’ joint efforts at isolating China in geopolitics. He also recommended Indian support to the voices against human rights violations in Xinjiang at global fora.[1]

Conclusion

If China mandates the countries to sign One China Policy to allow them to do trade with it then India should also make it mandatory for all countries to sign One India Policy stating that Jammu & Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh are India’s part. China should know that this is not 1962 (in reference to Indo-China War, 1962). This is New India.

Plus, I believe that when in India during the fight for Independence, Pakistan was given to Muslim League (Mohammad Ali Jinnah) as an independent State then why can’t China do the same for Taiwan?

India should fully support Taiwan and bring technology from it. This will reduce our dependence on China for electrical goods which comprises of maximum part of goods exported to India from China. In return India can sell weapons and missiles (Brahmos) to Taiwan to strengthen its defense. This will show our full support to Taiwan.

After all this, this is for sure that India needs to ReThink its One China Policy.

---

[1]S. Manish, “Experts ask India to revise ‘One China’ policy, urges it to consider these five points immediately’, 23 Jun, 2020

The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 has come into enforcement from 20 Jul, 2020. Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, did the briefing of the act to the media on the same date through video conference. It will replace the old Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

Background

On 8 Jul, 2019, Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan introduced the Consumer Protection Bill, 2019 in the Lok Sabha. It was passed in the Lok Sabha on 30 Jul, 2019. Later, on 6 Aug, 2019, it was passed in the Rajya Sabha. The bill got assent from Hon’ble President Shri

The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 has come into enforcement from 20 Jul, 2020. Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, did the briefing of the act to the media on the same date through video conference. It will replace the old Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
Background
On 8 Jul, 2019, Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan introduced the Consumer Protection Bill, 2019 in the Lok Sabha. It was passed in the Lok Sabha on 30 Jul, 2019. Later, on 6 Aug, 2019, it was passed in the Rajya Sabha. The bill got assent from Hon’ble President Shri Ram Nath Kovind on 9 August, 2019 and was notified in The Gazette of India on the same date.
The date of enforcement of the act was mentioned on the bill as 20 Jul, 2020. So, the act came into enforcement on the prescribed date. From now on, all the cases on consumer disputes will be decided according to the provisions of this particular Act.
What’s New?
As expected the new Act is full of new and improved provisions. One of them is Mediation mentioned from Sec 74 to 81 of the respective Act which will help in the speedy disposal of the disputes. Others are:
Sr. no. Title Explanation

1. Covers E-Commerce Transactions The New Act has broadened the definition of ‘consumer’. The updated definition includes a person who buys any goods, whether through offline or online transactions, electronic means, teleshopping, direct selling or multi-level marketing. The earlier Act did not specifically include e-commerce transactions, and this shortfall has been taken care of by the New Act.
2. Enhancement of Pecuniary Jurisdiction Revised pecuniary limits are fixed under the New Act. Accordingly, the district forum can now entertain consumer complaints where the value of goods or services paid is below INR 10,000,000 (Indian Rupees Ten Million). The State Commission can entertain disputes where the worth of products is more than INR 10,000,000 (Indian Rupees Ten Million) but less than INR 100,000,000 (Indian Rupees One Hundred Million), and the National Commission can exercise jurisdiction where such value is more than INR 100,000,000 (INR One Hundred Million).
3. E-Filling of Complaints The New Act provides flexibility to the buyer to file complaints with the jurisdictional consumer forum located at the place of residence or work of the buyer. This is unlike the present practice of filing it at the place of purchase or where the vendor has its registered office address. The New Act also contains enabling provisions for consumers to file complaints electronically and for hearing and/or examining parties through video-conferencing. This is aimed to supply procedural ease and reduce inconvenience and harassment for the consumers.
4. Establishment of Central Consumer Protection Authority The New Act initiated the establishment of a regulatory authority known as the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), with extensive powers of enforcement. The CCPA will have an investigation wing, headed by a Director-General, which will conduct inquiry or investigation into the consumer law violations.

• The CCPA has been granted wide powers to take suo-moto actions (an action when the court takes its own control over the case), recall products, order reimbursement of the price of goods/services, cancel licenses and file class-action suit, if a consumer complaint affects more than one individual.

1. Provision for ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) The New Act provides for mediation as an Alternate Dispute Resolution mechanism, making the process of dispute adjudication simpler and faster. This will help with the speedier resolution of disputes and decrease the pressure on consumer courts, which already have a lot of cases pending before them.
2. Product Liability & Penal Consequences The New Act has instituted the concept of merchandise liability and brings within its scope, the merchandise manufacturer, merchandise service provider and merchandise seller, for any claim of compensation. The term ‘merchandise seller’ refers to a person who is involved in placing the merchandise for a commercial purpose and as such includes e-commerce platforms too. The defense that e-commerce platforms merely act as ‘platforms’ or ‘aggregators’ will no longer be accepted. There is increased liability risk for manufacturers as compared to the merchandise service providers and merchandise sellers, considering that under the New Act, manufacturer will be liable in merchandise liability action albeit he proves that he wasn’t negligent or fraudulent in making the express warranty of merchandise. Certain exceptions have been provided under the New Act from liability claims, such as, that the merchandise seller won’t be liable where the merchandise has been misused, altered or modified.
3. Penalties for Misleading Advertisements The CCPA may impose a penalty of up to INR 1,000,000 (Indian Rupees One Million) on a manufacturer or an endorser, for a false or misleading advertisement. The CCPA can also sentence them to imprisonment for up to 2 (two) years for the same. In case of a subsequent offence, the fine of maximum INR 5,000,000 (Indian Rupees Five Million) and imprisonment of up to five years. Furthermore, the CCPA can prohibit the endorser of a misleading advertisement from endorsing that specific product or service for a period of up to one year. For every subsequent offence, the period of prohibition can be of maximum three years.

• The New Act fixes liability on sellers considering that there are various instances in recent past where consumers have fallen prey to unfair trade practices under the influence of celebrities acting as brand ambassadors. In such cases, it becomes important for the endorser to take the onus and exercise due diligence to verify the veracity of the claims made in the advertisement to refute liability claims

1. Unfair Trade Practices The New Act introduces a specific broad definition of Unfair Trade Practices, which also includes sharing of personal information given by the consumer in confidence, unless such disclosure is made in obedience to the provisions of any other law.

Conclusion
It is clear that the scope of the new Consumer Protection Act, 2019 has been widened by the Indian Legislature. The Act has strengthened the consumer’s rights by establishing authorities, imposing strict liabilities etc. With the enforcement of the new act gone are the days when the consumer had to ‘beware’. Now, consumers will be treated like Kings. Sellers will now have to become more attentive regarding their malpractices and will have to be extra cautious. Through this, now, we know for sure that the world is changing and our Indian Legislature is improving. We are now good to go!!

on the same date.

The date of enforcement of the act was mentioned on the bill as 20 Jul, 2020. So, the act came into enforcement on the prescribed date. From now on, all the cases on consumer disputes will be decided according to the provisions of this particular Act.

What’s New?

As expected the new Act is full of new and improved provisions. One of them is Mediation mentioned from Sec 74 to 81 of the respective Act which will help in the speedy disposal of the disputes. Others are:

Sr. no.	Title	Explanation
1.	Covers E-Commerce Transactions	The New Act has broadened the definition of ‘consumer’. The updated definition includes a person who buys any goods, whether through offline or online transactions, electronic means, teleshopping, direct selling or multi-level marketing. The earlier Act did not specifically include e-commerce transactions, and this shortfall has been taken care of by the New Act.
2.	Enhancement of Pecuniary Jurisdiction	Revised pecuniary limits are fixed under the New Act. Accordingly, the district forum can now entertain consumer complaints where the value of goods or services paid is below INR 10,000,000 (Indian Rupees Ten Million). The State Commission can entertain disputes where the worth of products is more than INR 10,000,000 (Indian Rupees Ten Million) but less than INR 100,000,000 (Indian Rupees One Hundred Million), and the National Commission can exercise jurisdiction where such value is more than INR 100,000,000 (INR One Hundred Million).
3.	E-Filling of Complaints	The New Act provides flexibility to the buyer to file complaints with the jurisdictional consumer forum located at the place of residence or work of the buyer. This is unlike the present practice of filing it at the place of purchase or where the vendor has its registered office address. The New Act also contains enabling provisions for consumers to file complaints electronically and for hearing and/or examining parties through video-conferencing. This is aimed to supply procedural ease and reduce inconvenience and harassment for the consumers.
4.	Establishment of Central Consumer Protection Authority	The New Act initiated the establishment of a regulatory authority known as the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), with extensive powers of enforcement. The CCPA will have an investigation wing, headed by a Director-General, which will conduct inquiry or investigation into the consumer law violations. – The CCPA has been granted wide powers to take suo-moto actions (an action when the court takes its own control over the case), recall products, order reimbursement of the price of goods/services, cancel licenses and file class-action suit, if a consumer complaint affects more than one individual.
5.	Provision for ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution)	The New Act provides for mediation as an Alternate Dispute Resolution mechanism, making the process of dispute adjudication simpler and faster. This will help with the speedier resolution of disputes and decrease the pressure on consumer courts, which already have a lot of cases pending before them.
6.	Product Liability & Penal Consequences	The New Act has instituted the concept of merchandise liability and brings within its scope, the merchandise manufacturer, merchandise service provider and merchandise seller, for any claim of compensation. The term ‘merchandise seller’ refers to a person who is involved in placing the merchandise for a commercial purpose and as such includes e-commerce platforms too. The defense that e-commerce platforms merely act as ‘platforms’ or ‘aggregators’ will no longer be accepted. There is increased liability risk for manufacturers as compared to the merchandise service providers and merchandise sellers, considering that under the New Act, manufacturer will be liable in merchandise liability action albeit he proves that he wasn’t negligent or fraudulent in making the express warranty of merchandise. Certain exceptions have been provided under the New Act from liability claims, such as, that the merchandise seller won’t be liable where the merchandise has been misused, altered or modified.
7.	Penalties for Misleading Advertisements	The CCPA may impose a penalty of up to INR 1,000,000 (Indian Rupees One Million) on a manufacturer or an endorser, for a false or misleading advertisement. The CCPA can also sentence them to imprisonment for up to 2 (two) years for the same. In case of a subsequent offence, the fine of maximum INR 5,000,000 (Indian Rupees Five Million) and imprisonment of up to five years. Furthermore, the CCPA can prohibit the endorser of a misleading advertisement from endorsing that specific product or service for a period of up to one year. For every subsequent offence, the period of prohibition can be of maximum three years. – The New Act fixes liability on sellers considering that there are various instances in recent past where consumers have fallen prey to unfair trade practices under the influence of celebrities acting as brand ambassadors. In such cases, it becomes important for the endorser to take the onus and exercise due diligence to verify the veracity of the claims made in the advertisement to refute liability claims
8.	Unfair Trade Practices	The New Act introduces a specific broad definition of Unfair Trade Practices, which also includes sharing of personal information given by the consumer in confidence, unless such disclosure is made in obedience to the provisions of any other law.

Conclusion

It is clear that the scope of the new Consumer Protection Act, 2019 has been widened by the Indian Legislature. The Act has strengthened the consumer’s rights by establishing authorities, imposing strict liabilities etc. With the enforcement of the new act gone are the days when the consumer had to ‘beware’. Now, consumers will be treated like Kings. Sellers will now have to become more attentive regarding their malpractices and will have to be extra cautious. Through this, now, we know for sure that the world is changing and our Indian Legislature is improving. We are now good to go!!

Education is the fundamental way for achieving full human potential, developing an equitable and just society and promoting national development. Providing quality education universally to raise the literacy rate to its extent, the main motive and only key to boost economic growth, social justice and equality, scientific advancement, cultural advancement and nation’s integrity. Moreover its best way forward for developing and maximizing the country’s talent and utilizing it for good of the individual, the society, the country and for whole world. India is going to have world’s highest population of young people over the next decade, and our ability to provide worth education opportunities is going to decide the future of the nation.

Although today in the eve of technology, where machine learning , artificial intelligence are replacing humans with machines , the only person stands out is that which have something that makes it different from others . This gap of what we possess or current state of learning outcomes and what is required get bridged through undertaking change in reforms of education policy. The Education policy we were till relied on was designed and implemented in 1986 which somehow based on memorizing things i.e. the more you memorize the more scores you get.

But, under the purview of self reliant India and in respect with ongoing pandemic situations, to make Indians self sufficient, along with change in many fields the change in education policy is appreciable.  In July 2020, “New Education Policy, 2020” [NEP] was approved by cabinet and it is based on the principle that education must develop not only cognitive capacities –both included foundational [literacy and numeracy] and high order thinking skills [critical reasoning and logics based] but also social, ethical, emotional and dispositions capacities too. This policy aims for the major overhaul of the Indian education system and under this it is expected that the education system will be completely transferred by 2040.

Positive Impacts on The Education System

• School years are changed from 10+2 format to 5+3+3+4 format which to be precise means that students get freedom of choosing their subjects in 9^th  standard and AISSCE get transferred to collages. And for the first time, Early childhood Care and education [ECCE] get included in education policy. This aims at achieve the gross enrollment ratio 100% in pre-schools to secondary education by 2035.
• To   eliminate the rote learning and promotes the holistic development of the children, the present curriculum and pedagogy will be revamped to make it suitable for 21^st century.
• Nutritious breakfast will be provided in addition to mid day meal to make students more focused and concentrates on studies.
• Vocational studies that impacts or improves employability chances as per trends among developed countries gets integrated to mainstream education which in previous policy considered as inferior subject.
• It purposed imparting emotional skills such as empathy, communication, perseverance, public speaking, leadership qualities and many more in students along with intellectual skills. NEP 2020 also stresses on encouraging creativity and innovativeness in students. they will be provided technology advancements knowledge, fundamental duties, social issues etc.
• “Right to Education” extended from 14 to 18 years.
• To increase gross enrollment ratio and access to education, Online Distance learning, MOOC [Massive open online courses] options are given adequate consideration.
• A regulatory system worked towards stooping the commercialization of education by increasing arbitrary fee.
• National Test agency (NTA) will conduct high quality common aptitude test for entrances in order to reduce multiple test logarithms.
• Teachers will be given “Continuous professional development “[CDP] for self improvement and to get more indulge or to bring more innovativeness in their existing approaches of teaching.
• Aims to increase gross enrollment ratio in higher education from 26% to 50% by 2030
• Many higher educations are providing only limited courses but with NEP, 2020 it integrates these institutes into multidisciplinary institutions by proving wide choices of subjects.
• It made degree flexible by proving entry and exit options to degree courses.
• India will be transformed as a global study destination by allowing TOP 100 universities of world to open colleges in India. And further no student will be deprived of education because of financial inability.
• “National Higher Education Regulatory Authority” [NHERA] will regulate all higher education institutes to eliminate duplicate regulatory efforts.

But a coin always has two sides; criticism comes always wherever positives come,

CRITICISM:

• It was provided that funding for the education will increased from 4.6% to 6% of GDP to in=implement NEP,2020. But this COVID outbreak impacted the economy so badly that increase funding share in any sector is a terrible thought itself.
• Mother tongue or local language as a medium of instruction was made mandatory till class 5^th. This being criticized on the ground that English connects the whole world as its being spoken in many countries and somewhere it might impacts immigrants too.
• This policy mentioned online education but in India stilt ere are many people who don’t have access to digital devices and internet connection
• Poor infrastructure in educational institutions and shortage of teachers are not addressed.
•  In general, some companies do not prefer recruiting the students that are graduated through distance learning courses. So, employability value of open learning courses should be addressed.

 CONCLUSION:

At present, the Indian education system is criticized by many due to many reasons such as its rote learning methods, outdated curriculum etc. India is ranking 35th in global education rankings of 2020. National Education Policy 2020 can completely change our education system for good because it crafted well according to the requirements of the 21st century. By 2030, India will have the largest population of youth. NEP 2020 helps in utilizing this demographic dividend. And It can also make India a knowledge hub of the world by attracting foreign students

India has crossed a crucial milestone in the fight against COVID-19. For the first time, a record number of more than 10.5 lakh COVID tests have been conducted in a single day.

With 10,55,027 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, India has further strengthened the national diagnostic capacity of testing more than 10 lakh samples daily.

With this achievement, the cumulative tests have crossed 4.14 crore (4,14,61,636). The Centre, keeping in view the evolving global context of COVID-19, conceptualised and implemented the Continuum of Care strategy of “Test, Track and Treat” in close coordination with the State/UT governments. Pivoted on the strong pillar of aggressive testing, the positive cases are identified early which enables and ensures that their contacts are efficiently tracked in a timely manner. This is followed up with prompt isolation in home or facility setting for the mild and moderate cases, and hospitalisation for the severe and critical patients.

The exponential jump in the testing capacity and cumulative tests has resulted in an upsurge in the Tests Per Million. They stand at 30,044 today.

WHO in its Guidance Note on “Public Health Criteria to Adjust Public Health and Social Measures in the Context of COVID-19” has advised comprehensive surveillance for suspected COVID-19 cases. WHO has advised that a country needs 140 tests/day/ million population. In another row of achievements, all State/UTs have crossed the advised number of tests. Several States have demonstrated better performance by registering Positivity Rate lower than the national average.

Shri B S Yediyurappa, Chief Minister of Karnataka and Shri Suresh C. Angadi, Minister of State of Railways today flagged off first ever RORO service of South Western Railway from Nelamangla (near Bengaluru) to Bale (near Solapur).

Speaking on the occasion, Shri B S Yediyurappa, Chief Minister of Karnataka said, “Our beloved Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji  is emphasizing on Multimodal connectivity. APMC Markets in the region offer tremendous scope for RORO.” He congratulated  Shri Suresh C. Angadi, Minister of  State of Railways for taking lead in the initiative and assured full cooperation from State Government.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Suresh C. Angadi, Minister of State of Railways said, “Multimodal connectivity is dream of Hon’ble Prime Minister. Thousands of trucks plying between Bengaluru and Solapur. With RORO travel time will be just 17 hours. This is trial run that got delayed due to COVID. Kisan Rail started to help farmers-agricultural produce can be transported across the country.”  The RORO service will bring faster development in the region.

He congratulated customer of today’s RORO service for taking initiative. He also congratulated all Railway staff for doing mammoth work.

Roll On Roll Off (RORO)is a concept of carrying road vehicles loaded with various commodities, on open flat railway wagons .Hon’ble PM ,in his recent Independence day speech ,has envisaged multimodal connectivity to take India to next level of development.

RORO services are combination of best features of road and rail transports in the sense that they offer door to door service with minimal handling transported by fat and direct rail link . Road transport has advantage of door to door delivery of goods. However, increasing traffic on roads is leading to congestion and delays to passenger vehicles.  This will cause unsafe travel conditions. Also, delays at interstate check posts due to inspection of various documents, etc. contribute to increased travel time.

On the other hand, Railways provide hassle free and environmentally friendly transport to medium to large quantum of freight.Rail transport is most fuel efficient of all means of transport and is much safer than road.

Advantages of RO-RO :

Roll-on-Roll-off is a multimodal delivery model with following advantages

• Faster movement of goods and essentials, reducing Time taken by trucks to reach destinations due to traffic congestion in between cities
• Reduces congestion on the roads
• Saves precious fuel
• Reduces carbon footprint
• Relief to crew of truck as it avoids long distance driving
• No hassles of check posts/toll gates etc
• Seamless Inter-operability between roadways & railways-Inter-modal transport on existing track
• Ensuring uninterrupted supply of essential commodities
• Free time for loading/ unloading is 3 hours
• Ro-RO will be reckoning force in “vocal for local” –
• Will boost our local MSME units by encouraging piecemeal /decentralized loading through trucks.
• RO-RO will help government initiatives like “operation green” to stabalize prices of  TOP(tomato,potato and Onion)
• Provides link between agriculture producing regions and agro consumption centres
• Ensures farmers get the right market and right price for their produce
• Connects and Balances the commodity deficient and surplus markets

RO-ROtrain services were first introduced in Indian Railways on Konkan Railways in 1999, and are running successfully since then.

In lockdown announced to control the spread of Covid-19 in the country, the RO-RO model came to the rescue for many transporters.

The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu today called for providing special care and support to the elderly in the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic. Highlighting the higher degree of risk faced by the older people in health emergencies like this, he also advised the youngsters and other family members to take extra precautions related to COVID-19 if there are elderly members at home.

In a facebook posts today on the ‘issues pertaining to the elderly population in India’, the Vice President said that seldom, one finds a separate geriatric department in District Hospitals to look after the old age health issues.

In view of the frequent health related problems faced by the elderly, he emphasised the need to reorient our health system to address the specific needs of the geriatric population, including insurance coverage.

The Vice President also called for providing the elderly an easy and barrier- free access to public places. Our cities and the facilities within them should be accessible to the elderly, he said.  

Mentioning various schemes for the welfare of senior citizens, Shri Naidu said that despite these government policies and programs, we still see the senior citizens facing lot of hassles in accessing various services.

Many a time, the elderly are made to stand for a long time in banks, public offices and in buses and trains, he rued and said “this attitude goes against the grain of our 5000 years old civilisation that prides itself in icons such as Lord Rama and Shravan Kumar”.

In this regard, he expressed the need to focus on creating awareness and sensitizing the government officials and the public at large on issues pertaining to the elderly. He also called for a robust grievance redress mechanism to resolve issues faced by them. 

Calling the senior citizens as the repository of knowledge and wisdom, the Vice President stressed that they deserve to be treated with respect, affection, care and dignity during the twilight years of their lives.

“It is the sacred duty of everyone, including the youngsters to take care of the elders”, he said.

Referring to a recent report on the status of ‘Elderly Population in India’ brought out by the Indian Association of Parliamentarians on Population and Development, Shri Naidu highlighted the fact that there are over 10 crore people in 60+ age group and their numbers are increasing at a faster pace than the population in general.

The report suggests that by 2050, elderly population will make 20 per cent of India’s population. It also says that a large proportion of elderly in India are living alone or are dependent on their children… and there is a certain degree of abuse faced by many of them.

Report also brings out the fact that issues related to the elderly get less attention in general as only a few questions were raised by the Parliamentarians on the issues of aging.

Shri Naidu expressed satisfaction over the increase in life expectancy due to modern medicine, but t the same time he also cautioned about the various problems faced by the elderly like lack of financial and emotional support.

Expressing anguish over the instances of neglect, abandonment and abuse of the elderly, he said that the way a society treats its senior citizens is a reflection of its culture and ethos.

Referring to the puranic tale of Lord Ganesh who circled around his parents equating them with the whole world, the Vice President said that respect for parents and elderly is an important lesson today’s generation can learn from Lord Ganesh.

Highlighting the reverence given to parents in Indian culture and society, he said when we do Charan Sparsh or touch the feet of the elders, we are acknowledging and respecting their affection, knowledge and experience.

He quoted an ancient saying- ‘by serving the elderly with devotion, one is blessed with long life, fame and strength’ and asked the youth to take inspiration from such ennobling thoughts.

Drawing attention to the phenomenon of elders’ home for senior citizens Shri Naidu said this not only highlights the changes in the society but is also a sad reflection of declining family values.

Is our society losing its moral compass, he asked and emphasised the need to reaffirm our faith in our age-old joint family system.

Bringing to fore the inherent social security in a joint family, the Vice President said the children of the family develop strong emotional bond with their grandparents. There is a kind of symbiosis that holds joint families together in comfort and security, he added.

“When we talk of peace and cohesiveness in society, we must understand that family is the fundamental unit to promote inter-generational bonding through respect and amity”, he said.

Maintaining that it is the collective attitude of the society as a whole that matters the most, the Vice President underlined the need to impart right values to the children and youth to ensure that the elders lead a comfortable, happy and satisfying life in their twilight years.

With more patients recovering and being discharged from hospitals and home isolation (in case of mild and moderate cases), India’s COVID-19 total recoveries have crossed 27 lakh today. Recovery of 27,13,933 patients has been made possible because of effective implementation of the Centre conceived and led policy of TESTING aggressively, TRACKING comprehensively  through timely surveillance of close contacts,& TREATING effectively through a widening medical care infrastructure across the country.

With the recovery of 64,935 cases in the last 24 hours, India’s Recovery Rate amongst the COVID-19 patients has improved to 76.61% and is demonstrating a continuous progress. The number of patients recovering is on a steady rise over the past several months.

The number of recoveries in India today exceeds the active cases by 3.55 times.

India has posted nearly 19.5 lakh (19,48,631) recoveries more than the active cases (765302, which are under active medical care). The record high recoveries have ensured that the actual caseload of the country viz. the active cases, continues to decline and currently comprises only 21.60% of the total positive cases. This has aided the fast widening gap between the number of patients recovered and the active cases.

Timely and effective clinical management of the patients in critical care through a slew of holistic measures has been instrumental in keeping the Case Fatality Rate low and on a steady downward trajectory. It has further dipped to 1.79% today.

For all authentic & updated information on COVID-19 related technical issues, guidelines & advisories please regularly visit: https://www.mohfw.gov.in/ and @MoHFW_INDIA.

Technical queries related to COVID-19 may be sent to technicalquery.covid19@gov.in and other queries on ncov2019@gov.in and @CovidIndiaSeva .

In case of any queries on COVID-19, please call at the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare helpline no.: +91-11-23978046 or 1075 (Toll-free). List of helpline numbers of States/UTs on COVID-19 is also available at https://www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/coronvavirushelplinenumber.pdf

Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari today inaugurated through video link, three important bridges and two road improvement projects in the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra.  The Minister also laid foundation stones for four other major bridge projects across the rivers Wainganga, Bandiya, Perikota and Perimili.  These projects are considered crucial for improving mobility for socio-economic development of the Gadchiroli district. 

The projects inaugurated today were:

• 855 metre major bridge across Pranahita river on Nizamabad – Jagdalpur Road (NH 63) at a cost of Rs 168 crores,  
• 630 metre high level bridge across the Indravati River near Patagudam on Nizamabad – Jagdalpur Road (NH 63) at a cost of Rs 248 crores. 
• 30 metre high level bridge near Lankachen on Bejurpalli – Aheri Road,
• Improvement of Bejurpalli-Aheri Road (SH 275) between Watra and Moyabinpeta
• Improvement of Garanji – Pustola Road 

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Nitin Gadkari said with the construction of these key bridges, the National Highway connectivity in Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh –Telangana is complete now. “This is a dream which has come true after nearly 25 years, when it was conceived when I was a Minister in Maharashtra”. 

In the latest address of Mann ki Baat, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi talked about his deliberations with the Children University of Gandhinagar, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Micro-Small and Medium Enterprises on how to make new toys available to the children and how India could become a big hub of toy production. He noted that toys not only augment activity, they also give flight to our aspirations. Toys, not only entertain, they also build the mind and foster an intent too, he said.

Prime Minister recalled an anecdote about toys shared by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. He emphasized what Gurudev had said about toys – that the best toy is that which is incomplete, a toy that children together complete  while playing. Gurudev used to say that toys should be such that they bring out the childhood of a child and also his or her creativity, he said.

Prime Minister noted that in the National Education Policy, a lot of attention has been given on the impact of toys on different aspects of children’s lives. He said there are several skilled artisans who possess expertise in making good toys and some parts of the country like Channapatna in Ramnagaram in Karnataka, Kondaplli in Krishna in Andhra Pradesh, Thanjavur in Tami Nadu, Dhubari in Assam, Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh are also developing as Toy clusters. He added that while Global Toy Industry is worth more than 7 lakh crore rupees, India currently has a very little share in it.

Prime Minister praised the work done by Shri C V Raju of Vishakhapatnam, who, by making excellent quality eti-koppakaa toys, has brought back the lost glory of these local toys. He exhorted the entrepreneurs to team up for toys, saying it is the time to get vocal for local toys.

Talking about the trend of computer games, Prime Minister suggested making games based on the ideas and concepts of our history.

In the latest address of Mann ki Baat, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi said that the youth participated enthusiastically in the AatmaNirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge. He noted that nearly two thirds of the entries were made by the youth of tier two and tier three cities. Awards have been given to around two dozen Apps in different categories, he said, asking listeners to familiarise themselves with these Apps and to connect with them.

Prime Minister discussed about several of these apps, including Kutuki Kids Learning app, an interactive app for children; an app for micro blogging platform called  ku KOO ku; Chingari App which is getting popular among the youth; Ask Sarkar app to get right information about any government scheme; Step Set Go, a fitness app etc.

Prime Minister said that today’s small start-ups will transform into big companies tomorrow and become the mark of India in the world, adding that one should not forget that the big companies which exist in the world today, were also, once, start-ups.