R&D institutions will play a major role in the upcoming decade

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi interacted with Directors of Centrally Funded Technical Institutions on 8th July 2021 via video conferencing. More than 100 Heads of Institutions joined the Prime Minister for this interaction. Union Minister for Education and Minister of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, MoS Smt. Annpurna Devi, MoS Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh and MoS Dr. Subhas Sarkar and senior officials of the Ministry were also present during the interaction.

Prime Minister lauded the R&D work done by these institutions towards meeting the challenges posed by Covid. He appreciated the efforts of young innovators towards providing quick technological solutions.

Prime Minister said that there is a need to adapt higher education and technical education to keep in tune with the changing environment and emerging challenges. He added that this requires the institutions to reinvent and re-evaluate themselves, develop alternative and innovative models in accordance with the present and future needs of the country and society. He emphasized that our higher educational and technical institutions need to prepare our youth for continuous disruptions and changes, keeping in mind the fourth industrial revolution.

Prime Minister underlined the need to progress towards education models that are flexible, seamless, and able to provide learning opportunities as per the requirements of the learners. He said that access, affordability, equity, and quality should be the core values of such education models.

Prime Minister appreciated the improvement in the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education in the past few years & emphasized that digitization of higher education can play a big role in increasing GER, and students will have easier access to good quality and affordable education. Prime Minister also lauded the various initiatives taken by the institutions to increase digitization such as that of online bachelor and master degree programmes.

PM added that we need to develop an ecosystem of technological education in Indian languages and translate global journals into regional languages.

Prime minister said that ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ will form the basis of dreams and aspirations of India in the coming 25 years when we celebrate 100 years of Independence. He added that technological, R&D institutions will play a major role in the upcoming decade, which is also being called as “India’s Techade”.

Prime Minister said that we need to focus on developing futuristic solutions in fields of education, healthcare, agriculture, defense, and cyber technologies.

Speaking on the occasion Shri Pradhan stated that India has got a New Education Policy after a period of 34 years. With the introduction of National Educational Policy-2020, the Indian education system has taken a giant leap in fostering an environment for a future-ready 21st century India, he added. He further said that the Government is committed to make students and youth the primary stakeholders in propelling India towards an equitable knowledge society.

Shri Pradhan emphasized that NEP will be instrumental in meeting the expectations of the Prime Minister from innovators, researchers and scientists. The Minister expressed his confidence that under the guidance of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and the support of our academic institutions, Government will continue to set new benchmarks in integrating education with employment & making it more inclusive, holistic, multi-disciplinary and at par with global standards.

During the interaction, Prof Govindan Rangarajan of IISc Bangalore, Prof Subhasis Chaudhuri of IIT Bombay, Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi of IIT Madras, and Prof Abhay Karandikar of IIT Kanpur, gave presentations to the Prime Minister and highlighted various ongoing projects, academic work, and new research being done in the country. The Prime Minister was apprised about the Covid related research being done that encompasses developing new techniques for testing, Covid vaccine development efforts, indigenous oxygen concentrators, Oxygen generators, Cancer Cell Therapy, Modular hospitals, Hotspot prediction, Ventilators production, Efforts in the fields of Robotics, Drones, Online education, Battery technology. The Prime Minister was also informed about new academic courses, especially the online courses that are being developed, as per the changing nature of the economy and technology.

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Digital Education initiatives of the Ministry

Union Education Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan reviewed the Digital Education initiatives of the Ministry of Education including PM e-Vidya, National Digital Education Architecture (NDEAR), Swayam, among others. Minister of State Smt Annpurna Devi; MoS Shri Rajkumar Ranjan Singh and MoS Dr Subhas Sarkar also attended the meeting. Senior officials of the Ministry briefed the Ministers about these initiatives.

Emphasizing the importance of leveraging technology in Education, Shri Pradhan said that technology would help in achieving the goals of an open, inclusive and accessible education. A vibrant digital ecosystem in education will expand learning opportunities for the students, spur innovation and entrepreneurship in the Education sector, he added.

The Minister noted that COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a shift towards digital medium of education and assured that Digital initiatives taken by the Ministry to ensure continuity of Education will be further strengthened and institutionalised.

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School Innovation Ambassador Training Program

Union Education Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan and Tribal Affairs Minister Shri Arjun Munda jointly launched the ‘School Innovation Ambassador Training Program’ for 50,000 school teachers today. MoS, Smt Annpurna Devi; MoS Shri Rajkumar Ranjan Singh and MoS Dr Subhas Sarkar were also present along with senior officials of the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister Pradhan said that teachers are the biggest influence in our lives. He said that we aim to make our teachers, change-agents and ambassadors of innovation to make our students future-ready.

Shri Pradhan stressed that technology is reshaping the world and our students have the potential to not only address domestic but also the global challenges. The program launched today is a collaborative effort by the Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, CBSE and AICTE, which will in turn nurture lakhs of students with innovation capabilities, develop a culture of innovation and lay the foundation of a new and vibrant India, he added.

The Union Minister for Tribal Affairs, Shri Arjun Munda expressed his gratitude that the Ministry of Education has launched its new initiative in the field of innovation in collaboration with Tribal Affairs Ministry which will benefit the large number of schools for tribal children across the country. This programme will have far reaching consequences which will help to fulfil the Prime Minister’s vision of a New Indiathe Minister elaborated.

Sh Arjun Munda further said that ‘SIATP’ will give wings to the creativity of the children and provide a platform so that they can give something new to the world with their ideas. Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) for tribal children is another ambitious programme of the Prime Minister under which 740 EMRS will be established in tribal dominated areas over the next three years, he said. The students of EMRS will greatly benefit from SIATP since it is also the endeavour of Tribal Affairs Ministry to give the best possible education to the tribal children. Sh Arjun Munda explained that through this unique capacity building programme for teachers, prominence has been given to development of creativity, collaboration , critical thinking and communication skills among children and the integration of Eklavya Schools into the entire programme is a big step in this direction for the meaningful development of tribal children.

Speaking on the occasion, Secretary, Tribal Affairs, Shri Anil Kumar Jha said that encouraging innovation is at the core of the New Education Policy. Teachers will need to evolve new methods of teaching; they will need to first transform themselves into guides from being instruments of written text books. Shri Jha further said that apart from running Ekalavya World Education School, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs has been supporting initiatives of States/Union Territories in spreading scientific education to tribal students and the new initiative will help promote quality education among tribal children. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has launched an Adi-Prashikshan portal which is also a repository of training inputs. It will be of great benefit if SIAP training module also gets connected to this portal, he said.

The innovative and one-of-its-kind training program for school teachers, it aims at training 50,000 School Teachers on Innovation, Entrepreneurship, IPR, Design Thinking, Product development, Idea generation, among others.

The program has been designed by the Innovation Cell of the Ministry of Education and AICTE for school Teachers based on its “Innovation Ambassador Training Program for Higher Educational Institution’s faculty members”. The training will be delivered in online mode only.

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IIT Ropar develops first-of-its-kind Oxygen rationing device

To increase the life of medical oxygen cylinders three fold, the Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar has developed a first-of-its-kind Oxygen Rationing Device – AMLEX that supplies a required volume of oxygen to the patient during inhalation and trips when the patient exhales CO2. This process saves oxygen which otherwise unnecessarily get wasted.

So far, during exhalation, the oxygen in the oxygen cylinder/pipe is pushed out along with the exhaled CO2 by the user. This leads to wastage of a large volume of oxygen in long run. In addition to this, a large volume of oxygen escapes from the openings of the mask to the environment in the resting period (between inhalation and exhalation) due to continuous flow of life saving gas in the mask. As we have seen the demand of medical oxygen has jumped manifold amid the second wave of Covid-19, the device would help in stopping the unwanted wastage of the same.

“The device can operate on both portable power supply (battery) as well as line supply (220V-50Hz)”, said Director, IIT, Ropar, Prof. Rajeev Ahuja.

It has been developed by PhD students of Biomedical Engineering Department of the institution – Mohit Kumar, Ravinder Kumar and Amanpreet Chander under the guidance of Dr. Ashish Sahani, Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering.

“Made specifically for oxygen cylinders, AMLEX can be easily connected between oxygen supply line and the mask worn by the patient. It uses a sensor which senses and successfully detects inhalation and exhalation of the user in any environmental condition”, said Dr Sahani. This ready to use device works with any commercially available oxygen therapy masks having multiple openings for air flow.

Appreciating the innovation, Dr GS Wander, Director, Research and Development at Dayanand Medical College, Ludhiana, said that in the present pandemic times we all have learnt the importance of effective and pertinent use of life saving Oxygen. He said though many hospitals are increasing their oxygen production capacity, a device like this can really help in limiting the use of oxygen in small rural and semi urban health centers.

Prof. Rajeev Ahuja said that the country now needs rapid but safe solutions to combat Covid-19. Since the virus is affecting the lungs and subsequently breathing system of the patient, the institution has not intended to go in for patenting of the device. He said rather the IIT would be happy to transfer this technology free of cost, in the interest of the nation, to those interested to go in for mass production of the device.

Steps taken by the government to ensure equal access to education

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, mandates the appropriate Government to provide free and compulsory elementary education to every child of the age 6 to 14 years in a neighbourhood school. During the pandemic, the Ministry of Education has taken various steps for providing children remote access to education, which are available to each category of students including SC/ST irrespective of their region or economic standard.

A comprehensive initiative called PMeVidya has been started which aims to unify all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education to enable multi-mode access to education. The initiative includes all forms of digital modes to provide wide access – DIKSHA (online), SWAYAM (online), SWAYAM PRABHA (TV), other TV Channels including use of Doordarshan and AIR Networks. Further, PRAGYATA guidelines were issued to States/UTs to facilitate continued education through various modes. The guidelines inter-alia include situations where internet connectivity is not available or available with very less bandwidth, these resources are shared through various platforms like television, radio etc that do not depend on internet. An Alternate Academic Calendar has been prepared for learning solutions for grade 1 to 12 for both children with and without device. Besides these, community radio, worksheets & textbooks supplied to residence of learners, home visits by teachers, community classes, toll free numbers, SMS based requests for audio content, localised radio content for edutainment etc have been used. The steps taken by all the states and UTs are shown in the – India Report Digital Education June 2020, which is available at the following link:

https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/India_Report_Digital_Education_0.pdf.

Steps taken by the government to promote IT based education

A comprehensive initiative called PM eVIDYA has been initiatedas part of Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan on 17th May, 2020, which unifies all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education to enable multi-mode access to education. The initiative includes:

DIKSHA (one nation, one digital platform)is the nation’s digital infrastructure for providing quality e-content for school education in states/UTs and QR coded Energized Textbooks for all gradesare available on it.
One earmarked Swayam Prabha TV channel per class from 1 to 12 (one class, one channel).
Extensive use of Radio, Community radio and CBSE Podcast- Shiksha Vani.
Special e-content for visually and hearing impaired developed on Digitally Accessible Information System (DAISY) and in sign language on NIOS website/ YouTube.

In order to promote online education, UGC has notified necessary regulation, which facilitates the Universities to offer full-fledged Online Program. Further, the current provisions of 20 per cent Online courses in a programme, as per provisions of UGC SWAYAM and ODL Regulations to be enhanced up to maximum 40 per cent for implementation considering “National interest during COVID-19” and also to ensure effective utilization of e-resources.

Various digital initiatives are also undertaken by Ministry of education viz. SWAYAM (“Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds”), SWAYAM Prabha, National Digital Library (NDL), Virtual Lab, e-Yantra, NEAT (National Education Alliance for technology), FOSSEE (Free Open-Source Software for Education) etc to ensure quality education to the students.

To improve the internet connectivity in rural areas the CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd (CSC-SPV) of MEITY has been assigned the task of providing Fibre to the Home (FTTH) connectivity to the Government Institutions, including schools.

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has launched a ‘Cyber Security Handbook’ to ensure safe and healthy digital habits among students. The ‘Cyber Security Handbook’ can be accessed at this link:

http://cbseacademic.nic.in/web_material/Manuals/Cyber_Safety_Manual.pdf.

An Integrated Teacher Training Programme called NISHTHA has been launched it is a capacity building programme for “Improving Quality of School Education through Integrated Teacher Training“.NISHTHA can be accessed from the below link:https://itpd.ncert.gov.in//

Schemes of the Government to ensure education for all Citizens

During COVID-19 Pandemic, Government of India has held various consultations with the States and UTs at different levels. Also, a brain storming session was held with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in January, 2021 for taking their views/ perspectives to assess and to bridge the learning gap in the Covid-19 pandemic period.

Education is in the concurrent list of the Constitution and majority of the schools are under the domain of respective State and UT Governments. However, to ensure thatevery student gets continued access to education, a multi-pronged approach has been adopted. A comprehensive initiative called PM e-VIDYA has been initiated as part of Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan on 17th May, 2020, which unifies all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education to enable multi-mode access to education. The initiative includes:

DIKSHA (one nation, one digital platform) is the nation’s digital infrastructure for providing quality e-content for school education in states/UTs and QR coded Energized Textbooks for all grades are available on it. 35 of the 36 states and UTs have on boarded on DIKSHA platform and contextualised the content as per the local need.
One earmarked Swayam Prabha TV channel per class from Class 1 to 12 (one class, one channel).
Extensive use of Radio, Community radio and CBSE Podcast- Shiksha Vani.
Special e-content for visually and hearing impaired developed on Digitally Accessible Information System (DAISY) and in sign language on NIOS website/ YouTube.

Besides, the Ministry has undertaken a proactive initiative, named, ‘MANODARPAN’ covering a wide range of activities to provide psychosocial support to students, teachers and families for Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing during the COVID outbreak and beyond.

The Central Government is constantly advising States/UTs through guidelines and meetings with respect to interventions for reducing impact of pandemic on education. The guidelines issued so far are given below:

S.No.	Interventions	Links of Guideline
1.	Guidelines for Children of Migrant Labourers	https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/Migrant%20labour%20guideline.pdf
2.	Guidelines for Out of School Children and Mitigation of Loss of Learning	https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/guidelines_oosc.pdf
3.	PRAGYATA Guidelines on Digital Education	https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/pragyata-guidelines_0.pdf
4.	Learning Enhancement Guidelines for Continuous Learning	https://ncert.nic.in/pdf/announcement/Learning_%20Enhancement_Guidelines.pdf
5.	Covid-19 Related Health and Safety Sop/Guidelines for School Re-Opening	https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/SOP_Guidelines_for_reopening_schools.pdf
6.	Covid Action Plan for School Education	https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/Covid_Action_Plan.pdf
7.	Alternate Academic Calendar	Secondary- https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/Academic%20Calender%20-%20Secondary%20-%20Eng.pdf Primary- – https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/Eight_Weeks_AAC_Primary_%28English%29%5B1%5D_0.pdf
8.	Guidelines for JNV –Residential Schools	https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LAc4iKQTqTJkNVDGc5glEDsrDGdAXwC8/view
9.	Guidelines for parents on Home Based Education	https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/MoE_Home_Learning_Guidelines.pdf
10.	Guidelines for orphaned Children	In this regard, a joint DO letter No. 13-10/2021-IS-11 dated 16.06.2021 from Secretary DoSEL, MoE and Secretary, MWCD has been issued to all States and UTs.
11.	Guidelines for developing E-content for CWSN	https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/CWSN_E-Content_guidelines.pdf
12.	CBSE competency-based assessment framework	http://cbseacademic.nic.in/web_material/Manuals/Safal_handbook.pdf
13.	NCTE Guidelines for TEIs	https://ncte.gov.in/WebAdminFiles/RecentAnnouncement/0_20_08_2020_637335320672297662.pdf

The details of the major schemes to promote education in the country implemented by the Government of India are as follows:

(I) Samagra Shiksha: The Government of India launched Samagra Shiksha-an Integrated Scheme for school education, w.e.f 2018-19, as an overarching programme for the school education sector extending from pre-school to class XII, which aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels of school education, across the country including the rural areas. The scheme has now been aligned to NEP, 2020 recommendations and extended till 2025-26. The scheme provides support to States and UTs for strengthening of infrastructure in schools, universal access, bringing gender equality, promoting inclusive education, quality of education, financial support for teachers’ salary, digital initiatives, entitlements under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 including uniforms and textbooks, pre-school education, vocational education, sports and physical education and strengthening of teacher education institutions.

(II) Mid-Day-Meal (MDM): Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MDMS) is an on-going Centrally-Sponsored Scheme which provides nutritional supplement to all school children studying in Classes I-VIII of Government, Government-Aided schools, Special Training Centres including Madarsas and Maqtabs.

(III) Padhna Likhna Abhiyan: A centrally sponsored scheme of Adult Education namely, “Padhna Likhna Abhiyan (PLA)” was implemented during 2020-21 with a physical target of imparting functional literacy to 57 lakh adult illiterates in the age group of 15 and above under basic literacy programme. The scheme was extended upto 31.07.2021.

(IV) Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA): Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) is an overarching scheme, operating in mission mode for funding the State Government Universities and colleges to achieve the aims of equity, access and excellence.The funding to states being made on the basis of critical appraisal of State Higher Education Plans, which describe each state’s strategy to address issues of equity, access and excellence in higher education.

Further, in order to improve the education standards in the country, the Government has taken several steps:-

Central RTE Rules have been amended on 20th February, 2017 to include reference on class-wise, subject-wise Learning Outcomes at Elementary level.
National Achievement Survey (NAS) is conducted to enable States/UTs to identify gaps in learning outcomes, and take remedial steps.
A 70 indicator based matrix Performance Grading Index (PGI) has been developed to grade the States/UTs.
NISHTHA (National Initiative for School Heads and Teachers Holistic Advancement), an Integrated Teacher Training Programme has been introduced.
Learning Outcomes for Secondary level have been notified.
The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) was entrusted to conduct teachers training through ODL (Open Distance Learning) mode, which has been completed by about 9.58 lakh teachers.

Also, the National Education Policy, 2020 focuses on improving the standard of education through various measures such as introduction of New pedagogical and curricular structure, Early Childhood Care and Education, Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, Transforming Assessment for Student Development, Experiential and Competency based Learning etc.

Digital educational resources for children with disabilities

To facilitate the online learning by all students a comprehensive initiative called PM eVIDYAhas been initiated as part of Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan on 17th May, 2020, which unifies all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education to enable multi-mode access to education. The initiative includes:

DIKSHA (one nation, one digital platform)is the nation’s digital infrastructure for providing quality e-content for school education in states/UTs and QR coded Energized Textbooks for all gradesare available on it.
One earmarked SwayamPrabha TV channel per class from 1 to 12 (one class, one channel).
Extensive use of Radio, Community radio and CBSE Podcast- ShikshaVani.
Special e-content for visually and hearing impaired developed on Digitally Accessible Information System (DAISY) and in sign language on NIOS website/ YouTube.

All these schemes/programmes are available to all the students across the nation.

World Bank Group and the Consumer Technology Association's Global Women's HealthTech Awards

NIRAMAI Health AnalytixPvt. Ltd. and InnAccel Technologies Pvt. Ltd., two start-ups supported by DBT-BIRAC), have received the World Bank Group and the Consumer Technology Association’s Global Women’s Health Tech Awards, which recognises innovative startups that leverage tech to improve women’s health and safety in emerging markets.

NIRAMAI Health AnalytixPvt. Ltd, a recipient of BIRAC’s Women in Entrepreneurial ResearchAward 2019, was selected for its novel software-based medical device that detects early-stage breast cancer in a simple and private way on women of all age groups and breast densities, addressing a critical unmet need in cancer screening. The solution developed is a low cost, accurate, automated, portable, contactless, radiation-free, and painless cancer screening tool with no known side effects. The core innovation is a machine learning and AI-based Computer Diagnostic Engine called Thermalytix that uses artificial intelligence algorithms to interpret thermal images and generates a quantitative report for breast health and likely abnormalities. So far, over 45,000 women have been screened through the startup’stie-ups with over 30 hospitals and diagnostic centres across India. The product can help 2 Billion women in the world to regularly screen for cancer and can potentially save 90,000 lives every year in India alone.

InnAccel Technologies Pvt Ltd., a recipient of DBT and BMGF’sGrand Challenges Exploration-India 2019, was adjudged a winner of the Global Women’s Health Tech Awards for Fetal Lite, a next-generation, AI-powered fetal heart rate (FHR) monitor based on fetal ECG signal extraction technology for mothers in labour or post 37 weeks of gestation. Fetal Lite has next-gen ECG signal processing and is more accurate, reliable, and easier to use thanthe conventional Doppler-based devices while being comfortable for the mother. Fetal Lite is European CE Certified and has completed 2 clinical trials of 60+ patients with excellent results and completed the demo in 30+ Hospitals. The device can be used for both active and remote monitoring in the in-hospital and in-home settings. So far, the device has helped doctors to monitor 5000 cases, including in tribal areas, and has the potential to save 1.2 million lives per year across the world.

“We are pleased to receive this recognition from World Bank. It’s a validation of the applicability of our Indian innovationto the world,” said Geeta Manjunath, Founder,NIRAMAI.”The support from BIRAC has been crucial for our journey of idea to benefitting the patients with European regulatory approval. It is not just funding but mentoring and handholding that has helped us mitigate risks,” said Nitesh Jangir, Co-founder, InnAccel.

“I am delighted to hear about this global recognition to two of the startups supported by the Department. As a funding agency, these success stories are a validation about the impact we have created by nurturing a vibrant startup ecosystem for solving the pressing challenges being faced by humanity,” said Dr Rajesh Gokhale, Secretary, DBT

As per a statement by the World Bank, this year, the Awards attracted over 70 companies from 35 countries, which submitted their innovative products and services under three categories: reproductive health and pregnancy, general women’s and adolescent health, and women safety and security.

About Department of Biotechnology:

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), established in 1986, is an Indian Government department under the Ministry of Science and Technology. DBT is responsible for administrating development and commercialisation in modern biology and biotechnology in India. The Department has made significant achievements in the growth and application of biotechnology in the broad areas of agriculture, health care, animal sciences, environment, and industry. The proven technologies at the laboratory level have been scaled up and demonstrated in the field. For more information, visit, http://dbtindia.gov.in/

About BIRAC:

Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) is a not-for-profit Section 8, Schedule B, Public Sector Enterprise, set up by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India as an Interface Agency to strengthen and empower the emerging Biotech enterprise to undertake strategic research and innovation, addressing nationally relevant product development needs. For more information, visit, https://birac.nic.in/

Emergence of Lok Adalat as the most efficacious tool of Alternative Dispute Resolution

National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) is committed to deliver prompt and inexpensive justice to the citizens. Recently, it has decided to lay more emphasis on contribution of National Lok Adalat in effectively reducing the number of pending cases through Alternative Dispute Mechanisms.

To achieve this goal, the Legal Services Authorities shifted to dynamic preparation strategies for organization of the Lok Adalats. As a preparatory measure, NALSA started organization of prior consultative and review meetings with all the State Legal Services Authorities to guide them towards the maximum disposal during such Lok Adalats. Before the organization of each National Lok Adalat, multiple interactions were organised with the Executive Chairpersons of all the State Legal Services Authorities, wherein one-to-one interactions were made to take a stock of the preparations as well as to boost the morale of the stakeholders tasked to organize the Lok Adalats.

A cumulative effect of all the preparatory and mobilization measures resulted in extraordinary disposal figures during the year 2021. Across the country, a total number of 1,27,87,329 cases were disposed of in four National Lok Adalats, which included a huge number of pending cases i.e., 55,81,117 and a record number of pre-litigation cases i.e., 72,06,212. Through these activities the Legal Services Authorities disposed off a large number of cases giving relief to the common citizens by ending or preventing long lasting legal battles.

Achieving these unprecedented disposal figures was not an easy task. A major contribution to this success can be attributed to the technological advancements. In June 2020, the Legal Services Authorities integrated technology with the conventional modes of dispute settlement and introduced virtual Lok Adalats also called as ‘E-Lok Adalats’. Since then, all the Lok Adalats including National Lok Adalats are organized through virtual and hybrid modes. To provide an unhindered experience during the proceedings, the Legal Services Authorities across the country are continuously upgrading their digital infrastructure.

Due to these technological advancements, Lok Adalats have reached to the doorsteps of the parties. The parties are now able to join the Lok Adalat proceedings from their homes or workplaces, saving them the hassle of travelling and reserving a full day for an affair, which gets over within minutes. The Authorities have witnessed that a large number of persons joined the virtual proceedings sitting hundreds of kilometers away from the physical location where the Lok Adalat was organized. Technology has also provided effective ways of supervision and monitoring of Lok Adalats.

The other major factor in the success of Lok Adalats was the formulation of decisive strategies at the National level. Under these strategies, the State Legal Services Authorities were instructed to conduct meetings with various stakeholder across every level with an objective to ensure their full cooperation and coordination. The authorities were guided to follow a litigant friendly approach as well as to persuade such litigants to settle the cases involving settled propositions of law.

Moreover, certain areas of law having greater possibilities of settlement such as NI Act cases, Bank recovery cases along other financial matters were highlighted and authorities were instructed to explore all the possibilities of compromise in such cases. The authorities were advised to proactively monitor the issuance and completion of processes in such financial matters as well as to conduct pre-Lok Adalat sittings to take a matter to a settlement.

There is no doubt regarding the fact that the number of pending cases surged during the ongoing pandemic. However, with a large number of disposals through Lok Adalats, a balance was created by the Legal Services Authorities in the judicial administration of the country. There is no gainsaying that the Lok Adalats settled greater number of cases than any other dispute resolution mechanism and emerged as the most efficacious tool of Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism.

During the year, the category wise list of the disposed cases was topped by the Criminal Compoundable Cases, wherein a total number of 17,63,233 such pending cases and 18,67,934 pre-litigation cases were disposed. The second in line were the Revenue cases consisting of 11,59,794 pre-litigation and 14,99,558 pending cases. Apart from these, the other disposed of cases were cheque bounce cases under NI Act, Bank Recovery Cases, Motor Accident Claims, Labour Disputes, matrimonial cases, etc.

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Enhancing supply chain management by Community Based Organizations (CBOs)

In the rural areas, challenges such as scattered market, irregular demands, and transportation bottlenecks often impede farmers and entrepreneurs from getting the right value for their products. In order to overcome these challenges, North Eastern Region Community Resource Management Society (NERCRMS) and the Changlang Community Resource Management Society (CCRMS) formed the Community Based Organizations (CBOs). At present, these CBOs are working towards enhancing the supply chain management at the district level.

Replacing the vicious chain of middlemen, the CBOs source raw spices such as ginger, turmeric directly from the individual farmers. This gives the farmers a ready platform to sell their produce at competitive market prices. As the raw materials are sourced directly from the field to the processing unit, their quality and freshness also remains intact, giving the final products an edge over the other competition in the market.

Post production and labelling, CCRMS in collaboration Changlang Co-operative Society Ltd. market the products through networks of local vendors and also through Rural Marts & Haats of NABARD. Adding to the campaign of Vocal for Local, the initiative is giving a major boost to the promotion of local products & strengthening the business eco-system at the district level.

Collection of Ginger by Community Based Organizations (CBOs) at Spice Processing Unit, Neotan Village, Namphai Circle, Miao – Khagam Block

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Promoting Investor Education and Financial literacy among youth through Gyan Darshan channel

The Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA) under the aegis of Ministry of Corporate Affairs has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) through a virtual event here today. The objective for signing the MoU is to achieve the mandate of Investor Education, Awareness and Protection by utilizing the tele-lecturing facility of Gyan Darshan Channel.

This association with IGNOU/Gyan Darshan channel will help in propagating the message of Investor Education and Awareness among a large group of present and prospective stakeholders. The panel of resource persons for the lecture series would include experts from professional institutions such as ICAI, ICSI & Senior officials from IEPFA, Ministry of Corporate Affairs and other regulators. The proposed lecture series of 75 episodes will be live tele-lecturing series on 24×7 Gyan Darshan TV channel and is a part of the ongoing celebration of the yearlong activity commemorating the 75th anniversary of India’s Independence under “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav”.

26 Episodes of the tele-lecturing series were earlier rolled out in the year 2021 which were appreciated by all stakeholders. The repository of the tele-lectures is available on IEPFA’s official YouTube channel.

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Shri Rajesh Verma, Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) and ex-officio Chairperson of IEPFA in his keynote address said, “All of us are here with the common goal of educating people. The entire nation is celebrating 75 years of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav to celebrate the spirit of a self-reliant, progressive nation, India has become. This day is also celebrated as National Youth Day to commemorate the birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, the youth ICON and influencer of global stature. With all these noble events falling together, today’s event has become even more apt and relevant. Both IEPFA & IGNOU have the common objective of imparting education and making people aware about subjects affecting their lives. IEPFA intends to create awareness among all the stakeholder groups and specially the youth”.

Prof. Nageshwar Rao, Vice Chancellor, IGNOU, in his remark stated that IGNOU and IEPFA with this initiative shall reach out to youth and other stakeholders at large which would be productive in fulfilling the vision and mission of both the organizations.

Sh Manoj Pandey, CEO IEPFA Authority, Prof. Satyakam, Pro-VC Vice Chancellor, IGNOU, Sh Nihar Jambusaria, President ICAI, Sh Nagendra D. Rao, President ICSI and other Senior officials from IEPFA, IGNOU and Ministry of Corporate Affairs also graced the occasion.

Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA) has been established under Section 125 of the Companies Act 2013 for administration of the IEPF fund as per section 125 (3) of Companies Act 2013. The main objective of the authority includes to promote Investor Education, Awareness & Protection, refund unclaimed shares, dividends and other amounts transferred to it under sections 124 and 125 of the Companies Act 2013 to the rightful claimants. IEPFA works under the administrative control of Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

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Educational Infrastructure in North-Eastern States

University Grants Commission (UGC) is implementing schemes, awards, fellowships, chairs and programmes under which financial assistance is provided to institutions of higher education as well as faculty members working in North Eastern States to undertake quality research covering areas of knowledge across disciplines. Some of the initiatives taken for improving quality of higher education are (i) Choice Based Credit System (CBCS); (ii) Universities with Potential for Excellence; (iii) Centre with Potential for Excellence in particular area; (iv) Consortium for Academic Research and Ethics(CARE) (v) Basic Science Research (vi) Scheme for Trans-disciplinary Research for India’s Developing Economy (STRIDE) (vii) Deen Dayal Upadhyaya (DDU) Kaushal Kendras (viii) Scholarship Scheme (ISHAN UDAY) for North-Eastern Region; (ix) New Methodology of Grading by NAAC (x) UGC (Minimum Standards and Procedure for award of M.Phil/Ph.D Degree) Regulations, 2016; (xi) UGC (Credit Framework for Online Learning Courses through SWAYAM) Regulation, 2016.

All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) has taken several steps over the years for framing appropriate policies on technical education needed to design and implement various schemes for educational advancement and achieving the objective of creating favorable environment to ensure speedy socio-economic development in North East States. This includes equipping all necessary infrastructure upgradation of colleges, special coaching, educational concessions, better teaching learning material and infrastructure for North East region students. Some of the Schemes are (i) Research Promotion Scheme for North East Region; (ii) Short Term Training Programme for NER; (iii) Faculty Development Programme for NER; (iv) Scheme of Funds for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI); (v) Post Graduate Scholarship Scheme; (vi) Doctoral Fellowship; (vii) Pragati Scholarship Scheme; (viii) Saksham Scholarship Scheme; (ix) Campus Accommodation & Facilities Enhancing Social Experience; (x) Grant for Augmenting Infrastructure in NER; (xi) Scheme for Promoting Interests, Creativity and Ethics among Students; (xii) Grant for Organizing Conference; (xiii) Establishment of Idea Development, Evaluation & Application Laboratory in Institutions; and (xiv) E-Shodh Sindhu (Subscription to e-Journals).

Career Guidance for Students

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) organizes a two day capacity building programme for the teachers on career guidance of students. The trained teachers take sessions with senior students in their respective schools. The programme focuses on dimensions of career information, strategies and resources used in imparting career information, setting up a career resources room in a school, role of a teacher in imparting career guidance and understanding career development.

In Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) services of counselors are engaged on part time contractual basis in all Kendriya Vidyalayas across the country. There is also a provision of inviting experts from different fields to sensitize students about the career options available for them to pursue.

In Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNV) career guidance sessions are conducted regularly by the Counselors, Teachers and Vice Principals. Special sessions are also conducted for students in JNVs by inviting eminent experts of various fields.

National Scholarship Portal (NSP) is one-stop solution through which various services starting from student application, application receipt, processing and disbursal of various scholarships to students are enabled. The main objective of NSP is to ensure timely disbursement of scholarships to students and to provide a common portal for various scholarships schemes of Central and State Governments. National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme (NMMSS) of D/o SE&L is on-boarded on NSP. The details are available on the NSP Portal. The link is as follows: https://scholarships.gov.in

Steps taken by the government to promote the Languages in Eighth Schedule

The policy of the Government of India is to promote all Indian Languages. Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysore works for the promotion of all Indian languages including Scheduled/Non-Scheduledand Classical languages. There are separate organisations for development and promotion of Hindi, Urdu, Sindhi and Sanskrit languages. Sanskrit Language is promoted through three Central Universities viz, Central Sanskrit University, New Delhi, Shri Lal Bhahdur Shastri National Sanskrit University, New Delhi and National Sanskrit University, Tirupati. Hindi is promoted byKendriya Hindi Sansthan (KHS) Agra, Central Hindi Directorate (CHD), New Delhi and Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology (CSTT), New Delhi.

Sindhi is promoted through National Council for Promotion of Sindhi Language (NCPSL), New Delhi and Urdu is promoted through National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL), New Delhi. In addition to promote all Indian languages, Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysore also works for the promotion of four Classical Languages namely Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Odia. Development and promotion of Classical Tamil is done by Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT), Chennai. CIIL works and collaborates with various stakeholders including Universities, Institutes, State Governments, etc for development of languages through its various schemes like National Translation Mission, Linguistic Data Consortium of Indian Languages, Bharatavani, etc for development and promotion of languages.

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