Portable tech-traditional eco-friendly mobile cremation system

Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar has developed a prototype of a moveable electric cremation system which claims to be using first of its kind technology that involves smokeless cremation despite using wood. It uses half of the wood otherwise required for the cremation and still is eco-friendly because of the technology that uses combustion air system.

It is based on wick-stove technology in which the wick when lighted glows yellow. This is converted into smokeless blue flame with the help of combustion air system installed over the wicks.

IIT Professor Dr Harpreet Singh, Dean, Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research and Industry Interaction (ICSR&II) who has developed the system said that the cremation system or incinerator heats up at 1044 degree Celsius which ensures complete sterilization.

The cart-shaped incinerator has wheels and can be transported anywhere without much efforts. The cart is equipped with combustion air for primary and secondary hot air system. “The disposal of the body is completed within 12 hrs including cooling time as against 48 hours required in the normal wood-based cremation”, Prof. Harpreet added. Use of less wood can also reduce the carbon footprint by half. He said it requires less cooling time in the absence of refractory heat storage. It has stainless steel insulation on both sides of the cart for no heat loss and less wood consumption. It also has a tray beneath for easy removal of ashes.

Dummy-testing of the Prototype of electric cremation system.

He said that he has adopted tech-traditional model for cremation as it also uses wood. That has been done keeping in view our beliefs and traditions of cremating on wood pyre.

Keeping in view the present pandemic situation “if this system can be adopted, may provide respectable cremation to the near and dear ones of those who cannot afford the financial burden of arranging wood”, said Harjinder Singh Cheema, MD, Cheema Boilers Ltd. who has made the prototype. He said that since this is portable, it can be taken to any place with the permission of the concerned authorities. This will also help people to avoid space crunch in crematoriums as is the case in present context.

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Safety and academic welfare of students

Union Education Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ chaired a meeting with School Education Secretaries of all States & UTs through video conferencing discuss the various measures adopted for management of education system during COVID and the different strategies adopted for online and offline learning in Schools so far and the way forward. Minister of State for Education Shri Sanjay Dhotre; Secretary, Higher Education Shri Amit Khare; Secretary, School Education and Literacy Smt Anita Karwal and senior officials of the Ministry were present in the meeting. Representatives from almost all the States and UTs attended the meeting including additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and Secretaries Education Department; and with other State officials such as the State Project Directors, Director SCERT, etc. This is the biggest meeting held on School Education during the pandemic.

Addressing the meeting Union Minister said that the current situation of COVID-19 is unfortunate, but Government is committed to turn the situation into opportunity by doing new experiments to ensure safety and academic welfare of students.

The Minister emphasized the need to continue the coherent efforts made by the states and UTs in previous year and underscored the importance of reaching out to most vulnerable and marginalized children in this pandemic period. He further stated that the Department has taken up several Initiatives in 2020-21 for facilitating continuing learning during the pandemic. These include: expansion of DIKSHA under PM eVIDYA; DTH TV channels under the bouquet of SWAYAM PRABHA TV channels; launch of online NISHTHA training for teachers at DIKSHA; Launch of Manodarpan to cater to the socio-emotional and psychological needs of the students, etc. Also, several initiatives have been taken to reach out to children without access to digital education. He also underlined the importance of involving various stakeholders for effective implementation of the National Education Policy 2020.

Shri Pokhriyal noted all the problems and suggestions made by the States. The States also appreciated the efforts made by the Ministry of Education providing all possible help to States to ensure academic welfare of students. The Union Minister thanked all the States for their commendable work in the field education and assured them that the Ministry will extend its full support in this difficult time and together we will fight this problem.

Acknowledging that the Government has adopted new and innovative methods in Indian education system to address the challenges arising due to covid pandemic, MoS Shri Sanjay Dhotre stressed upon exploring ways to provide hybrid education comprising of both offline and online teaching methods. For this we would need new learning methodologies, quality learning content and evaluation assessment model, he added. He emphasised that scientific temperament of students will play a deciding role in post covid world therefore education system of our country should focus on developing critical thinking ability, logical reasoning ability and scientific temper among students. He called upon everyone to work together as a team in furthering the spirit of NEP 2020 and effectively implementing it to achieve the desired goals.

A comprehensive COVID Response document has been issued by the Department on 4th May, 2021 and it delineates detailed action plan with corresponding timelines for all Stakeholders involved on Access, Retention, Continuous Learning, Capacity Building and Stakeholder engagement.

The major areas identified for intervention are: Identifying and mainstreaming of Out of School Children and ensuring sustained Enrolment, Retention and Transition; Academic learning & cognitive development of students; Capacity building- with specific focus on blended and home-based learning including student assessments and data use; Nutritional, socio-emotional support; Digital education and monitoring, tracking and remediation.

Further, the following components of Samagra Shiksha have been built into special and focused interventions in view of the present pandemic situation:

Learning enhancement/enriching programme to provide supplementary material to children
Library grant for ensuring availability of reading material to students
Special Training for Out of school children and Children With Special Needs.
Support for out of school children of age group 16 to 19 years through NIOS/State open schools.
SMC training to be utilized for ensuring community participation, parental support
Teaching learning Material at ECCE and primary grade
Setting-up a help desk at Panchayat level and creating awareness through use of mass media. It can also be used for conducting online learning and content dissemination over electronic media.
Child tracking funds may be utilized for preparing student registry
Special Grants to schools for sanitization and hygiene
Teachers grants for awareness on safety and security in online mode and for enabling them to use online means of education.
Grants for online content development and dissemination.
Grants for teachers for accessing NISHTHA training over DIKSHA platform.
Composite school grants to ensure continuity of learning and at least 10% of it to be used for Water, sanitation and hygiene in schools.

The Department has started conducting the meetings of the Project Approval Board for approval of Annual Work Plan and Budgets of the states under Samagra Shiksha in the virtual mode, so that the states and UTs can get timely approvals for implementation of the above interventions.

Further, ad-hoc grants to the tune of Rs 5228 crore have already been released to the states under Samagra Shiksha and an amount of Rs 2500 crore will be released soon to ensure continuity of various educational initiatives by the states and UTs.

All states and UTs have shared their strategy for continuing the learning process during the pandemic. It was reported that most of the children have received the textbooks and apart from this, various supplementary graded material has also been prepared by the states. Haryana and Gujarat shared the details about the assessment being done by the state while schools are not opened. Many states such as Jharkhand, Ladakh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have made digital apps to promote learning. The pivotal role of parents and communities have been highlighted by all the states and UTs. States and UTs also shared the details to promote online learning through digital devises, Doordarshan and Radio etc.

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Virtual Imposters Beware of ‘FakeBuster’

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar in Punjab and Monash University, Australia have developed a unique detector named ‘FakeBuster’ to identify imposters attending a virtual conference without anybody’s knowledge. It can also find out faces manipulated on social media to defame or make a joke of someone.

In the present pandemic scenario when most of the official meetings and work is being done online, this standalone solution enables a user (organizer) to detect if another person’s video is manipulated or spoofed during a video conferencing. That means the technique will find out if some imposter is attending a Webinar or virtual meeting on behalf of one of your colleagues by morphing his image with his own.

“Sophisticated artificial intelligence techniques have spurred a dramatic increase in manipulation of media contents. Such techniques keep evolving and become more realistic. That makes detection difficult which could have far reaching security implications”, said Dr. Abhinav Dhall, one of the key members of a four-man team that developed the ‘FakeBuster’. “The tool has achieved over 90 per cent accuracy” assures Dr. Dhall. The other three members include Associate Prof. Ramanathan Subramanian and two students Vineet Mehta and Parul Gupta.

Byte of Dr. Abhinav Dhall

A paper on this technique – FakeBuster: A DeepFakes Detection Tool for Video Conferencing Scenarios – has been presented in the 26th International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces, in USA, last month.

Dr. Dhall said that the usage of manipulated media content in spreading fake news, pornography and other such online content has been widely observed with major repercussions. He said such manipulations have recently found their way into video-calling platforms through spoofing tools based on transfer of facial expressions. These fake facial expressions are often convincing to human eye and can have serious implications. These real time mimicked visuals (videos) known as ‘Deepfakes’ can even be used during online examinations and job interviews.

This software platform is independent of video conferencing solutions and has been tested with Zoom and Skype applications.

The Deepfake detection tool-‘FakeBuster’ works in both online and offline modes. Since the device can presently be attached with laptops and desktops only “we are aiming to make the network smaller and lighter to enable it to run on mobile phones/devices as well”, informed Associate Prof. Subramanian. He said the team is working on using the device to detect fake audios also.

The team claims that this software platform ‘FakeBuster’ is one of the first tools to detect imposters during live video conferencing using DeepFake detection technology. The device has already been tested and would hit the market soon.

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IISc,IITs,IIITs,IISERs and NITs to review the situation of COVID management and imparting online education

Union Minister of Education Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ today chaired a meeting with Directors of IISc/IITs/IIITs/IISERs and NITs through Video Conferencing. Minister of State for Education Shri Sanjay Dhotre also attended the meeting. During the meeting, Shri Amit Khare, Secretary, Higher Education Ministry of Education and Directors of IITs, IISc, IISERs, NITs, IIITs were also present.

Union Minister exhorted that there is a need to maintain the quality education in these Institutes of National Importance besides taking adequate safety measures for managing COVID-19 situation. The status of imparting online education, virtual laboratory courses by these Institutes was also reviewed by the Minister. Directors of the institutes mentioned that they have already started online teaching since the commencement of initial lockdown in March’20. Some of the institutions have also developed their own app for online teaching and evaluation. They also informed that for students facing connectivity issue, the lecture contents were made available even for later use which they can download from anywhere and study. Teachers have interacted through online classes with their students and guided them.

The status of COVID cases in the campus of these institutions and handling of situation arising thereon by these Institutes was also discussed. The Minister impressed that the positive thinking and positive reactions to the current situation could avoid unnecessary anxiety among the students and teaching community. An effort by the Institutes would be helpful in creating positive atmosphere in the Society.

Shri Dhotre appreciated all the institutions for ensuring continuation of academic sessions during the covid period. He urged them to focus on science and technology and work on new innovations to tackle the unprecedented challenges caused due to covid. He spoke about the importance of emphasizing on hybrid learning to cater to the education needs of the students. He also stressed upon the need of implementing the National Education Policy to provide world class education to students.

The Institutes detailed their COVID-19 management strategy and also voluntary service extended to local administration for awareness and supply of necessary support for management of the situation in the respective State. The Institutes also briefed about the vaccination drive undertaken for the campus residents in consultation with local administration and as per the guidelines.

The main discussion was on the Research undertaken by these institutions of National importance in tackling Covid situation. Union Education Minister commended the institutes in developing low cost RT-PCR machines, kits, ventilators, mathematical modelling of predicting the trend of COVID-19 and successfully placing them at the disposal of State Health Departments. Many of the research products have been commercialised through the Incubation Cells and Start ups set up by these Institutes.

Few of the notable research work done by these institutions includes development of Corona testing kit ‘Corosure’, research for development of vaccine which can be stored at room temperature, Genome sequencing to identify the variants of Corona Virus, ‘COVIRAP’ device for rapid diagnostic of pathogenic infection, methods to optimize use of Oxygen in ventilators, development of Oxygen concentrators, low cost portable ventilators, etc.

With regard to National Education Policy, 2020, it is noted that many of the institutions have already started new department/ multi- disciplinary programs. IISc Bangalore and IIT Kharagpur are soon to start courses in Medical sciences. Emphasis has been put by the institutions on teachers training/ mentorship and Internationalisation as well as academia- industry interaction.

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IIT Ropar develops "AmbiTAG"- India's first indigenous temperature data logger for the cold chain management

Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar (IIT Ropar) in Punjab has developed a first-of-its-kind IoT device – AmbiTag that records real-time ambient temperature during the transportation of perishable products, vaccines and even body organs and blood. That recorded temperature further helps to know whether that particular item transported from anywhere in the world is still usable or perished because of temperature variation. This information is particularly critical for vaccines including Covid-19 vaccine, organs and blood transportation.

Shaped as USB device, AmbiTag continuously records the temperature of its immediate surroundings “from -40 to +80 degrees in any time zone for a full 90 days on a single charge. Most of the similar devices available in the international market record data only for duration of 30- 60 days”, said AWaDH Project coordinator, Dr. Suman Kumar. He said it generates an alert when the temperature goes beyond a pre-set limit. The recorded data can be retrieved by connecting the USB with any computer. The device has been developed under Technology Innovation Hub – AWaDH (Agriculture and Water Technology Development Hub) and its Startup ScratchNest. AWaDH is a Govt of India project. Prof. Kumar said that the device is certified with ISO 13485:2016, EN 12830:2018, CE & ROHS.

Besides perishable items including vegetables, meat and dairy products it can also monitor the temperature of animal semen during transit. “So far, such devices are being imported by India in a massive quantity from other countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Ireland, and China,” said Amit Bhatti, one of the founders and directors of ScratchNest.

AWaDH Project Director, Professor Pushpendra P. Singh informed that IIT Ropar Technology Innovation Hub is gearing for mass-production of AmbiTag. “The device will be made available to all companies involved in COVID vaccine transportation from production facilities to the last mile vaccination centers in the country at the production cost of Rs. 400. This device is our small contribution to the Nation for coming out of the never-seen-before-pandemic and a push towards the Atma Nirbhar Bharat”, said Prof. Singh.

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Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2019-20 for States and Union Territories

Union Education Minister, Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ approved the release of Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2019-20 for States and Union Territories of India today. The Government has introduced the Performance Grading Index with a set of 70 parameters to catalyse transformational change in the field of school education.

The PGI for States and Union Territories was first published in 2019 with reference year 2017-18. The PGI : States/UTs for 2019-20 is the third publication in this series. The PGI exercise envisages that the index would propel States and UTs towards undertaking multi-pronged interventions that will that will bring about the much-desired optimal education outcomes. The PGI helps the States/UTs to pinpoint the gaps and accordingly prioritise areas for intervention to ensure that the school education system is robust at every level.

Punjab, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Kerala occupy the highest grade (Grade A++) for 2019-20.

Most of the States/UTs have improved their grade in PGI 2019-20 compared to the earlier years.

Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Puducherry, Punjab and Tamil Nadu have improved overall PGI score by 10%, i.e., 100 or more points.

Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep and Punjab have shown improvement by 10% (8 points) or more in the PGI domain: Access.

As many as thirteen States and UTs have shown improvement by 10% (15 points) or more in the PGI domain: Infrastructure and Facilities. Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Odisha have shown improvement by 20% or more.

Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Odisha have shown more than 10% improvement in the PGI domain: Equity.

Nineteen States and UTs have shown improvement by 10% (36 points) or more in the PGI domain: Governance Process. Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Punjab, Rajasthan and West Bengal have shown improvement by at least 20% (72 points or more).

For details, see the link below.

https://www.education.gov.in/hi/statistics-new?shs_term_node_tid_depth=391

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guidelines for the development of e-Content for Children with Disabilities

Union Education Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ today approved the release of the guidelines for the Development of e-Content for Children with Disabilities today.

A comprehensive initiative, PM e-VIDYA was launched on 17th May 2020, with an aim to unify all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education. The programme interaliaenvisages development of special e-content for the Divyang (Children with Disabilities-CwDs). In pursuance of this vision, the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education had constituted a Committee of experts, for recommending guidelines for developing e-content for these children.

For the first time, an attempt was made to prepare guidelines for CwD also referred to as Children with Special Needs (CWSN) children so that the goal of inclusive education is fulfilled. The Committee submitted a report titled “Guidelines for the Development of e-Content for Children with Disabilities” comprising of eleven Sections and two Appendices. This report was shared, presented, discussed and accepted by the MoE.

The salient highlights of the e- content guidelines in the report are:

e-Content for CwDs should be developed based on the four principles namely: perceivable, operable, understandable and robust.
e-Content including text, tables, diagrams, visuals, audios, videos etc. should comply with accessibility standards: national standards (GIGW 2.0) and international standards (WCAG 2.1, E-Pub, DAISY etc).
Distribution platforms on which content is uploaded (e.g. DIKSHA) and Reading platforms/devices on which content is accessed and interacted (e.g. e-pathshala) must comply with technical standards
Reasonable pedagogical accommodations have been recommended to meet specific needs of CwDs
The technical standards and guidelines have been detailed out in Section 4 of the report.

The Committee has also recommended that in a phased manner textbooks may be adapted into Accessible Digital Textbooks (ADTs). The content of ADTs should be provided in multiple formats (text, audio, video, sign language etc) with turn-on and turn-off features. Further ADTs should provide flexibility to CwDs to respond to its content/exercises in multiple ways. The detailed guidelines for developing ADTs along with existing international and national experience, in the development of prototypes including the recent NCERT’s experience: Barkha:A Reading Series for All (in print and digital forms), Accessible Textbooks for All and UNICEF’s “Accessible Digital Textbooks using Universal Design for Learning ( for Learners with and without Disabilities ) have been presented in Section 5 of the report.

In addition to ADTs, in Sections 6 to 9 the Committee has recommended specific guidelines for development of supplementary e-Content as per 21 disabilities specified in the RPWD Act 2016 for students having Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Multiple Disabilities, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Specific Learning Disabilities, Blindness, low vision, Deafness and Hard of Hearing and others.
A summary of the recommendations has been presented in Section 10 of the report for sharing widely with content creators, content designers, developers, publishers.
The implementation roadmap along with the suggestions to strengthen compliance to the accessibility guidelines have been presented in Section 11 of the report.
Comprehensive guidelines and technical standards for the production of Sign Language videos have been provided at Appendix-1 of the Report.
Universal Design for Learning( UDL)guidelines for content development and pedagogical accommodations are given in Appendix 2 of the report.

These guidelines will initiate the creation of high quality content for digital education toChildrenwith Special needs. They are dynamic by nature, to be improved based on experience and advent of better technology.

click here for accessing the guidelines

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KP/AK

Indian universities achieve top-200 positions in QS World University Rankings 2022

Three Indian Universities have achieved top-200 positions in QS World University Rankings 2022. IISc Bengaluru ranked number 1 in the world for research. QS Quacquarelli Symonds, global higher education analysts has today released the 18th edition of the world’s International University rankings.

Union Education Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ congratulated IIT Bombay for securing 177th position , IIT Delhi for securing 185th rank and IISc Bengaluru for securing 186th position in universities rankings.

Shri Pokhriyal said that India is taking a leap in the field of Education & Research and is emerging as a Vishwaguru. We are equally proud to have a Guru like Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi who has constantly been thinking about the welfare of students, faculty staff and all other stakeholders associated with the Indian Education sector, he added.

The Minister further said that the initiatives such as National Education Policy – 2020 and Institute of Eminence are instrumental in ranking our colleges and institutes globally. This can be felt by looking at the university rankings declared by QS & Times Group, he added.

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All about Drought

What is Drought?

It is an extended period of time when there is shortage of water availability with respect to atmospheric (below average precipitation), surface water or ground water. It can last for months or years.

source: worldatlas.com

Types of Drought

It is classified mainly into three types, they are as follows:

Meteorological Drought :- It is a condition when there is a prolong period of inadequate precipitation. It usually precedes other kind of drought.
Agricultural Drought :- It can be also called as Soil Moisture Drought, characterized by low soil moisture that is necessary to support crops. Due to which there is crop failure in the area affected by this drought. There are many reasons for this drought to occur such as erosion, and events that cause depletion in nutritious content of soil.
Hydrological Drought :- It is a situation where availability of water in reserves like aquifiers, lakes and reservoirs falls below the level, which precipitation can replenish. This drought tends to show up more slowly.

Causes

There are many causes of drought, some are explained below:

Precipation Deficiency :- Precipation can be of three types, they are ice, liquid water and water that freezes on contact. Low level precipation can lead to drought. It mainly occurs in region where normal level of rainfall is low.
Dry Season :- Dry season causes drying of rivers, lakes and other water bodies due to which it increases drought occurences.
Human Activities :- The ability of land to capture and hold water reduces due to overfarming, excessive irragation, deforestation and erosion. As water holding capacity of land is reduced there is depletion in ground water levels which further affects vegetation.

Can First Rainfall break the drought?

As mentioned above drought is a situation where there is shortage of water for an extended period of time, So First rain cannot break the drought but it is capable of providing temporary relief. A light or moderate rainfall can reduce temperature and provide cooling whilethe rain will be quickly evaporated or used by plants as it seeps into soil, which will provide more relief. Soaking of rain in land is best against drought as it increases ground water due to which plants can grow properly; It also feeds streams i.e. provides water to lakes, rivers, etc.

Consequences

There are many consequences some are mentioned below:

Famine :- Drought destroys food sources, as it has less water to support plants, crops, fodder crops, etc. Due to which animals, cattles, poultry cannot have enough food to eat. Even human beings has less food available. When this condition continues for long time period then it may lead to famines.
Decrease in drinking water :- Most of natural and man-made reserves dry up or has very less water to quench thirst of living beings. At this times many animals and birds either die or migrate to some other places.

Measures

Dams :- additional water can be supplied at time of drought with help of dams.
Desalination :- sea water can be used for irrigation or consumption.
Inter-connectivity of water bodies can help reduce severity of drought. For example if there is a drought like situation then water from other bodies can be provided to that region so that upto some extent water needs can be fulfilled.
Drought severity can be reduced by rainwater harvesting on individual basis.

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Rapid Antigen Test Kit for COVID-19 developed by IIT Delhi

Union Education Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ virtually addressed students, teachers and stakeholders regarding Board Examinations today.

Shri Pokhriyal expressed deep gratitude and thanked Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for taking a decision to cancel the class 12 CBSE Board Exam in the interest of the students keeping in view their health and safety in the wake of Covid.

In his address, Shri Pokhriyal stated that CBSE has already issued comprehensive guidelines on assessment and evaluation for Class 12th Board examinations. He assured that those students who are not satisfied with the assessment, will be provided with an option to take the exams, whenever the situation becomes conducive, in August.

The Minister reiterated that safety, health and the future of the students are the top priorities of the government.

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Convocation of Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Sri City Chittoor

Minister of State for Education Shri Sanjay Dhotre virtually addressed the students at the convocation of Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Sri City Chittoor today. Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIIT Sri City Mr. Balasubramaniam was present on the occasion. During the convocation, a total of 261 students comprising 164 Computer Science and Engineering students and 97 Electronics and Communication Engineering students received degrees. This includes 28 Honours students from both disciplines.

Shri Dhotre said that National Education Policy 2020 aims at making India a global knowledge super power. It endeavours to develop scientific temper, rational and critical thinking in students, ensure students are endowed with 21st Century knowledge and skills, while displaying a strong character, filled with humanistic values, that flow from the ethos of India, i.e.Bharat. He further added that our students will not only be the top-class students, they will also be the top-class citizens of this country and the world.

Speaking on the importance of Technology, Shri Dhotre urged students to explore how these technologies can be used to solve common man’s problems, such as to improve farming efficiency, and in turn improving his income; in ensuring energy security, in ensuring piped water to every household in an efficient way.

Minister noted that Technology is playing a massive role in transforming the whole world economy. While working to achieve a goal of a 5 trillion-dollar economy, India is actively focusing on the strength of the digital economy. He further added that this new India needs young technocrats to provide smarter solutions to the problems. He urged the students to play their part and contribute in making our country a world leader in every aspect of digital technology.

Shri Balasubramaniam said, “The remarkable growth of the fast-growing 180 billion USD IT/ITES industries in India over the past decade has shown the world India’s scientific, engineering and technological prowess and capabilities. The best multinationals of the world are leveraging Indian talent and rushing to set up large R&D hubs in India. We need to be self-reliant as Aatmanirbhar Bharat has now turned the gaze of this world-class innovative talent inwards, to create products and services for the Indian market at par with other countries.”

Dr. G. Kannabiran, Director said that “We propose to significantly improve faculty-student ratio, augment R&D infrastructure and focus on student development initiatives. We plan to launch online BTech programmes and other continuing education programmes at the certificate, diploma and MTech levels in our key areas of strength. We also plan to take up in-house corporate training in emerging technology areas, joint degree programmes with suitable overseas universities, enhance our campus infrastructure for next generation students. We will continue as a family to make IIIT Sri City as a Nationally Relevant and Globally Recognized Entrepreneurial Institution.”

IIIT Sri City is presently serving as the Secretariat of IIIT Coordination Forum. Besides enabling and coordinating regular meetings, few key activities are being taken up by the Secretariat for the member institutions, including FICCI-Panel discussion with Industry Leaders, Faculty Development Programme on E-Content Development and NOSSCOM Conference for IIIT Directors to benefit the member institutions.

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Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar 2021 – 2022

Shri Subhas Sarkar, Minister of State for Education today virtually launched Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar (SVP) 2021 – 2022. The event was attended by Mrs Anita Karwal, Secretary (SE&L), and representatives from all States and UTs and UNICEF.

Shri Sarkar while launching the awardsunderlined the importance ofWater, Sanitation and Hygiene in Schools as it plays a significant role in determining the health of students, their attendance, dropout rate, and learning outcomes. The provision of water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in schools secures a healthy school environment and protects children from illness (including COVID-19) and exclusion, he added. Shri Sarkar emphasized that the SwachhVidyalayaPuraskarrecognise, inspire and award the schoolswho have undertaken exemplary work in the field of water, sanitation and hygieneand also provides a benchmark and roadmap for schools to make further improvements in future.

In order to create self-motivation and awareness about sanitation the SwachhVidyalayaPuraskar (SVP) was first instituted by the Department of School Education and Literacy, in 2016-17.

The SVP 2021-22 is open to all categories of schools. i.e. Government, Government aided and Private schools in both rural and urban areas. The schools will be assessed through an online portal & mobile app in 6 sub-categories: Water, Sanitation, Hand Washing with soap, Operation and Maintenance, Behaviour Change and Capacity Building and the newly added category on COVID-19 Preparedness and Response and the system will generate the overall score and rating automatically.The schools have been given sufficient time till March 2022 to apply for the awards so that they can do so at an appropriate and safe time.

Schools shall be awarded at the District, State and National level based on an internationally recognized five star rating system. Also, every school will get a certificate of participation showing the category-wise scores and overall rating of the school. This will help in promoting sustainable practices of improved Water, Sanitation & Hygiene in schools.

At the National level, 40 schools will be selected for awards this year under the overall category. The award money for the schools has been enhanced this year from Rs. 50,000/- to Rs. 60,000/- per school, under Samagra Shiksha scheme. Also, 6 sub-category wise awards have been introduced for the first time, with award money of Rs. 20,000/- per school.

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Wider participation in Pariksha Pe Charcha 2022

Union Education and Skill Development Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan invited students, teachers and parents to participate in the 5th edition of “Pariksha Pe Charcha 2022” and get a chance to be mentored by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi conceptualized a unique interactive program – Pariksha Pe Charcha wherein students, parents, teachers across the nation and also from overseas interact with him to discuss and overcome the stress emerging out of examinations in order to celebrate life as an Utsav. This event was organized successfully for the last four years by the Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Education.

The format of this programme is proposed to be in online mode like in 2021. An online creative writing competition is being conducted at https://innovateindia.mygov.in/ppc-2022/ on various topics from 28th December to 20th January 2022 to select participants. Questions asked by selected winners will be featured in Pariksha Pe Charcha programme.

School students of classes 9 to 12, teachers and parents shall be selected through an online competition. Registrations on https://innovateindia.mygov.in/ppc-2022/ are live from 28th December 2021 till 20th January 2022 on a bouquet of themes listed below:

● Themes for Students:

Exam stress management strategies during COVID-19
Azadi Ka Amrit Mahostav
Self-reliant School for Self-reliant India
Clean India, Green India
Digital Collaboration in Classrooms
Environmental conservation and climate change resilience

● Themes for Teachers:

a. National Education Policy (NEP) for Naya Bharat

The COVID-19 Pandemic: opportunities & challenges

● Themes for Parents:

Beti Padhao, Desh Badhao
Local to Global – Vocal for Local
Lifelong Students’ Yearning for Learning

About 2050 participants selected through competitions on MyGov will be presented with a certificate of appreciation from Director, NCERT and a special Pariksha Pe Charcha kit comprising of Exam Warriors book in Hindi and English, written by the Prime Minister.There is enthusiastic participation of students, teachers and parents from all over the country.

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Webinar on “Cyber security empowerment of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)”

The Government of India has launched a 75-week long campaign Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav; to celebrate the achievements of the country and its people. The University Grants Commission (UGC) as part of this campaign is conducting a series of activities beginning with the a sensitisation webinar on “Cyber security Empowerment of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)”an effort towards making cyber security more accessible, available, and adaptable for HEIs.

Delivering the welcome address, Prof. Rajnish Jain, Secretary, UGC welcomed and introduced all panelists. He set the context for the webinar, stressing on the need for cybersecurity awareness with the increased dependence on IT post pandemic. He emphasised on the fact that the pandemic has put Higher Education in the cyber space which has led HEIs to be subject to increased cybersecurity issues. He said that there is a need to understand how cyber security issues may be addressed and how cyber hygiene may be managed.

The keynote address was delivered by Lt. Gen. (Dr.) Rajesh Pant, Chief (retd.), National Cyber Security Coordinator, National Cyber Coordination Centre, PMO. He emphasized and reiterated the threat cybercrime poses to economy and national security. He focused on cybersecurity for HEIs that are base of personal information and intellectual property. He highlighted the structure of institutions that make them susceptible to cybercrimes and the measures to be taken to address these issues. He shared the ongoing and proposed government initiatives of cyber swacchta kendra and the malware posh and national blockchain project given to IIT Kanpur. He concluded with two mantras for survival in the new normal: personal hygiene and cyber hygiene.

Shri Abhishek Singh, CEO, My Gov and President & CEO NeGD, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology delivering his address emphasised on the importance of cyber security due to the increased dependency and use of the cyber space. He focused on the issues of cybersecurity; cyberattacks, frauds and use of cyber warfare, further emphasising the steps and measures to be taken by HEIs to stay safe. He touched upon the various aspects of cybercrimes and measures to be taken and the processes for reporting cybersecurity issues. He spoke of Cyber Surakshit Bharat of Government of India aimed at educating people on cybersecurity.

Shri Deepak Virmani, Deputy Secretary, Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) , Cyber & Information Security, Division, Ministry of Home Affairs spoke about the initiatives of Ministry of Home Affairs’ CIS and its efforts in controlling Cybercrimes. He shed light on the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre schemes (I4C) of MHA that aims to prevent cybercrimes. He discussed in detail the 7 verticals of the scheme that also involve the training of police personnel and government functionaries. He further shared about the various portals and helpline numbers that can be availed by the citizens and the initiative Cyber Jaagrookta Diwas, celebrated every month since October 2021. Further delivering his address, he hailed UGC for its initiatives for promoting and sensitizing HEIs regarding Cyber security through the proposed handbook on cyber hygiene and cybersafe curriculum.

Dr. Charru Malhotra , Coordinator, Centre of e-Governance, Indian Institute of Planning and Administration, New Delhi brought out the findings on Cybersecurity through analysis of a pre webinar questionnaire which had been shared with HEIs. She highlighted the current status amongst HEIs about cyber security and their preparedness.

Prof. Naveen Chowdhary, National Forensic Science University, Gandhinagar through his address shared the cybersecurity threat landscape highlighting cases of compromises on cybersecurity in Educational Institutions, research facilities. He provided a detailed outlook and a framework for cybersecurity.

Dr. Atul Kumar Pandey, Chairperson , Rajiv Gandhi National Cyber Law Centre, NLIU, Bhopal spoke about the threat landscape in HEIs and the importance of cybersecurity in HEIs. In his address he shed light on various components like content protection and privacy and capacity building for addressing cybersecurity.

The address by the panelists was followed by a Question and Answer session from the faculty members from HEIs.

The webinar discussed pertinent issues of cyber security with prioritizing its impact on HEIs and the necessary. The Webinar was the first step towards Cyber security empowerment of HEIs and provided an opportunity for sensitization and awareness on cyber security.

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Girls and women across the country

As per All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE), the overall enrolment of female students in higher education has been consistently increasing over the years. Table below gives female, male and total enrolment in higher education between 2015-16 and 2019-20. The enrolment of females has increased by about 18% from 1.60 crore in 2015-16 to 1.89 crore in 2019-20.

Enrolment in Higher Education from 2015-16 to 2019-20
Year	Enrolment			Growth (%) in enrolment over the previous year			% Female enrolment
Year	Female	Male	Total	Female	Male	Total	% Female enrolment
2015-16	15990058	18594723	34584781				46.2
2016-17	16725310	18980595	35705905	4.6	2.1	3.3	46.8
2017-18	17437703	19204675	36642378	4.3	1.2	2.5	47.6
2018-19	18189500	19209888	37399388	4.3	0.0	2.2	48.6
2019-20	18892612	19643747	38536359	3.9	2.3	3.0	49.0
Growth (%) in enrolment during 2015-16 to 2019-20				18.2	5.6	11.3
(source: Compiled from AISHE reports of different years)

The steps taken/being taken by the Government to promote education among girls and women are as follows:

1. 1. Issuing of new UGC regulation for Open and Distance Learning that allows entry of reputed institutions to offer education on the distance mode.
  2. Use of ICT technology- SWAYAM portal to take the best teaching resources to all, including the most disadvantaged.
  3. Opening of more centrally funded institutions.
  4. Encouraging opening of institutions by State Governments through the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) which aims to achieve equity, access and excellence in higher education. The scheme supports components such as upgrading autonomous colleges to universities, clustering colleges to establish a university, setting up of new professional colleges in un-served and underserved areas as well as providing infrastructure grants to universities and colleges to scale up capacity.
  5. More scholarship programmes to supplement the cost of education.
  6. Additionally, as per the recommendations of National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, the following steps are being initiated by the Government to ensure equitable access to the highest quality of education for all learners, especially women, regardless of social or economic background:
    1. A Gender Inclusion Fund will be constituted by Government of India to provide quality and equitable education to all girls. The fund will focus on ensuring 100% enrolment of girls in Schooling and a record participation rate in higher education.
    2. Free hostel facilities will be made available for all women.
    3. New multi-disciplinary HEIs (including those specially for women) will be opened in or near every district.
    4. Special scholarships for women/transgender/ divyang will be introduced.
    5. Guidelines and advisories will be issued and monitoring mechanism will be put in place to ensure basic facilities amenities and safe, secure environment in all HEIs for women.

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