Current Affairs 03,04.11.2022

 

Current Affairs 03,04.11.2022

1. Seven states and Union Territories of India celebrated their foundation day on November 1. The states of Andhra Pradesh, , Karnataka, Kerala, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Punjab along with the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry were formed on this day in different years.

1956- Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh emerged, 1966- Punjab and Haryana became separate states, 2002- Chhattisgarh got statehood. These states and the Union Territory of Puducherry celebrate their foundation days in November under the State Reorganization Act of 1956, the first time many states were formed on the basis of language.

2. Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma launched the Citizen Engagement and Communication Program at Tura in West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya. Meghalaya government has launched many welfare programs. Information should be disseminated for the greater good of the people.

The Citizen Engagement and Communication Program program aims to reach the grassroots in all schemes. Thus governance improves in all aspects. This program creates much needed awareness among people. So that people will have proper information to avail the benefits of the schemes launched by the government. So that they can educate people about all the schemes available.

3. The University Grants Commission has written to the Vice-Chancellors and Principals of all universities and colleges on the recommendations of the committee set up by the Ministry of Education last year to promote Indian languages. All higher educational institutions in India must observe Indian Language Day on December 11 every year to create linguistic harmony and develop a conducive environment for learning Indian languages.

The committee proposed to observe December 11 as Bharatiya Bhasha Divas or Bharatiya Bhasha Utsav on the birth anniversary of poet Subramanya Bharathi, the pioneer of modern Tamil poetry who wrote patriotic songs during the freedom struggle.

The commission shared the concept note of the proposal with the universities. Accordingly universities and colleges organize competitions, games, exhibitions and other activities to mark this day. They also honor students who know multiple languages ​​or can read scripts of major Indian languages.

The central government is working hard to promote Indian languages. 22 Language Centers are going to be set up soon to promote the Indian languages ​​listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

4. A new study reveals that India has the highest gender wealth gap at 64% compared to other APAC countries. This is due to the heavy burden of caregiving responsibilities. Opportunities for women in leadership positions are also limited, according to the 2022 WTW Global Gender Wealth Equity Report. Only 3% of the workforce are women occupying senior positions in India.

Women also tend to take on childcare responsibilities at an early age for this region. This results in economic impacts that limit women's ability to recover. Compounding this is the fact that long-term financial decisions usually rest with men. Financial literacy among working women is low, the report said.

South Korea has been identified as the best performing country in the APAC region in terms of gender wealth gap. Income limits embedded in social security benefits in South Korea limit men's accumulation of wealth relative to women's, the report said. The report highlights that gender wealth gaps across 12 markets in the APAC region range from 64 percent in India to 90 percent in South Korea.

Women have only 74 percent of the wealth accumulated by men when they retire. APAC has the lowest global wealth gaps on average in terms of gender wealth equity, the report said. Women in the region accumulate just over three-quarters of men's wealth levels, or more than 76 percent, and just two points above the global average.

Overall, the study shows that the gender wealth gap at retirement increases with seniority. Women in senior professionals and leadership roles globally were found to have less than two-thirds of the accumulated wealth of their male counterparts at retirement, or just 62 percent. A significant gap of 69 per cent was found in mid-level professional and technical roles. But this drops significantly to 89 percent for front line operational roles.

According to the report, all six markets included in the analysis have a higher wealth index for women in retirement compared to the global average and include China- 78 percent, Japan- 82 percent, Philippines- 79 Singapore- 79 percent.

5. Ministry of Education has released Performance Grading Index PGI for 2020-21. An Evidence Based Comprehensive Analysis of School Education System in States and Union Territories.

The main objective of PGI is to promote evidence-based policy making and highlight course correction to provide quality education to all, the Ministry of Education said.

Indian education system have 14.9 lakh schools, 95 lakh teachers and about 26.5 crore students from various socio-economic backgrounds. The Department of School Education and Literacy of DoSE & L has designed the PGI for States/UTs to provide insights and data-driven mechanisms on the performance and achievements of school education in all States/UTs, the ministry said in a statement. So far the department has released the PGI report for the years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20.

The PGI structure categorizes 1,000 points across 70 indicators into two categories. 1 Outcomes 2. Governance Management.

These categories are divided into 5 domains. They are Learning Outcomes, Access, Infrastructure & Facilities, Equity & Governance Process.

PGI 2020-21 has classified states/UTs into ten grades as done in previous years. It means highest attainable grade level 1 which is scoring more than 950 points out of total 1000 points of State/UT. The lowest grade level is 10. This is for a score below 551.

The ultimate purpose of PGI is to encourage States & UTs towards undertaking multi-pronged interventions. It brings about the much desired optimal educational outcomes covering all dimensions. The PGI is expected to help states and UTs identify gaps and accordingly prioritize areas of intervention to strengthen the school education system at every level.

All 7 states and Union Territories Kerala, Punjab, Chandigarh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh achieved Level II score of 901-950 in 2020-21. None in 2017-18 and 4 in 2019-20. Gujarat, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh are the new entrants, the highest level achieved by any state so far, the ministry said.

The PGI scores and grades achieved by the States/UTs in 2020-21 are a testament to the efficiency of the PGI system. The index-wise PGI score shows the areas where the state needs to improve. PGI reflects the relative performance of all states/UTs at a uniform level. It claims that it will encourage better performance and best practice followed by performers.