Ministry of Education has said that National Education Policy- (NEP) 2020 covers wider spectrum of school education from pre-primary to senior secondary. The Ministry in a statement said that the recommendations given have varied timelines as the policy is made for next 20 years and therefore, the implementation of NEP is being carried out in a phased manner. It said, a series of National Workshops on Implementation of NEP-2020 and revision of Samagra Shiksha was held under the chairpersonship of Secretary, School Education and Literacy last year. The document is being finalised and will be released shortly.
 
The Ministry said, the major portions of NEP will be covered under the new National Curriculum Framework (NCF) and centrally sponsored schemes. It said, the groundwork for NCF is initiated and it is likely to be developed in the next academic session, 2021-22. The Ministry said, the Department has initiated implementation of NEP by undertaking various activities in accordance with the recommendations of the policy.
 
The Ministry said, in-principle approval has been given for setting up the National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Mission and a Committee has been formed. It said, MoU has been signed between Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre and the National Council of Educational Research and Training, NCERT to develop Indian Sign Language dictionary for school education.
 
The Ministry said, Central Board of Secondary Education exam reforms have been initiated and the Board will introduce improvement examination from the year 2021. It will introduce English and Sanskrit in 2 levels from the session 2021-22.
 
The Ministry further said, learning outcomes upto Secondary level have been notified and draft of learning outcomes for senior secondary level have been released for inviting suggestions.

In Cricket, India were 83 for 1 against Australia on the concluding day of the fourth and final Test at The Gabba in Brisbane.
 
Earlier, the visitors resumed their second innings this morning with all wickets intact. Chasing 328 runs for victory, India had scored four for no loss after bowling Australia out for 294 after tea on day four yesterday. Steve Smith with 55 runs was the top scorer for Australia in their second innings.
 
For India, right-arm fast bowler Mohammed Siraj picked up his maiden five-wicket haul. Shardul Thakur also picked four wickets while debutant off-spinner Washington Sundar scalped the remaining one.
 
India had posted 336 in reply to Australia’s first inning score of 369, conceding a 33-run lead.
 
A draw in the game would be sufficient for India to retain the coveted Border-Gavaskar trophy.
 
The four-match series is tied at 1-1 with Australia winning the first Test in Adelaide and India winning the second in Melbourne. The third Test in Sydney had ended in a draw.

North India will continue to reel under the grip of an intense cold wave for few more days. Senior scientist in India Meteorological Department (IMD), RK Jenamani said, the warning for the cold wave in Northern part of the country has been extended till 22nd of this month.

Earlier, the IMD had issued a cold wave warning for between 13th and 15th January and later extended it till 18th of this month.  Mr Jenamani however said, the dense fog spread across northern plains in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand will begin lifting from today.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held pre-budget consultations with the Finance Ministers of States and Union Territories yesterday.

The meeting was held through video conference and was attended by Chief Ministers, Deputy Chief Ministers, State Finance Ministers and Senior Officers from the States and Union Territories.

The Finance Minister highlighted the importance of the meeting as a sign of co-operative federalism and indicated the manner in which the Union Government was strongly supportive of States and Union Territories’ fight against the pandemic. The participants thanked Ms. Sitharaman for financially supporting their States and Union Territories during the worst months of pandemic, by enhancing borrowing limits and providing back to back loans to states. The participants also gave numerous suggestions to the Finance Minister for inclusion in the Budget Speech.

The tenth round of talks between the Centre government and the representatives of farmer unions, which was earlier scheduled for today, will now be held tomorrow in New Delhi.
 
In a statement issued late last evening, the Agriculture Ministry confirmed the new schedule and reiterated Centre’s commitment to resolve issues of the farmers.
 
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court-appointed panel to listen in to the grievances of the protesting farmers will hold its first meeting today.  The apex court had on 11th of this month stayed the implementation of the three farm laws, against which the farmer unions are protesting at the borders of the National Capital.  It had also appointed a four-member panel to resolve the impasse.
 
Anil Ghanwat of Shetkari Sangathan, Agri economists Pramod Kumar Joshi and Ashok Gulati, and Bhartiya Kisan Union President Bhupinder Singh Mann are the four members of the committee appointed by the Supreme Court. Bhupinder Singh Mann of Bhartiya Kisan Union has already recused himself from the committee and will not be attending today’s meeting.

The national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 96.59 per cent with over 1 crore two lakh 11 thousand cumulative recoveries so far. The rate of new daily infections has further dipped even below 15 thousand with only 13 thousand 788 cases being reported in the past 24 hours. During the same period over 14 thousand 400 people have recovered from the viral contagion. The country has fifty times more recovered cases than the current active cases.

The active caseload in the country is just 1.97 percent of total cases. Out of the nearly two lakh cases, 60 percent are under home isolation and have mild to very mild symptoms.

The Health Ministry said that the fatality rate stands at 1.44 per cent. The number of countrywide fatalities recorded in 24 hours has slipped below the 150 mark with 145 deaths being reported in 24 hour period.

The Health Ministry has said that a total of seven thousand 704 sessions of COVID-19 vaccination was conducted in 25 States and Union Territories in which one lakh 48 thousand and 266 beneficiaries were vaccinated on the third day of the launch of the world’s largest COVID-19 vaccination drive on 16th of this month. Addressing the media in New Delhi, Additional Health Secretary Dr Manohar Agnani said, with this, taking all the three days, a total of three lakh 81 thousand and 305 beneficiaries have been vaccinated so far.  

Dr. Agnani also informed that in these three days, a total of 580 Adverse Event Following Immunization (AEFIs) have been reported out of which seven required hospitalization. He said, three hospitalizations were reported in Delhi out of which two persons were discharged while the other one is under observation at a private hospital. In Uttarakhand, one person was hospitalized who is stable and under observation at AIIMS, Rishikesh. In Karnataka, two cases of hospitalizations have been reported and are under observations and in Chhatisgarh one case is under observation. Dr. Agnani said, two deaths also reported, one each from Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka. But, as per the post mortem report, the death of the resident of Uttar Pradesh is not related to vaccination. He said, post mortem is planned to know the cause of death of the second person.