General Awareness

GENDER/ HEALTH/ EDUCATION - July 2019

Jul 2019

Jun 06, 2020

Byju's among World's Top 10 Education Apps Downloaded During Lockdown

Online tutoring startup Byju's is the only Indian app that has been ranked among the world's top 10 most downloaded education apps on Google Play store during the lockdown.
The findings from the April 2020 report by Sensor Tower also make Byju's the only 'school-learning' app to feature in this global report.
Byju's announced free access to its learning programme for students since the temporary closure of schools and institutions in India in March 2020. Since then Byju's has seen over 6 million new students join the platform in March and 7.5 million in April. As the covid-19 pandemic continues to persist, online learning platforms have come to the rescue by helping students continue learning from the comfort of their homes.
Google Classroom was the most downloaded 'Education' category app worldwide for April with more than 28.2 million installs, a 21 times increase from April last year (2019), followed by You Tube Kids, Duolingo, Photomath and Simply Piano, among others.

India Joins Global Alliance to Support Vaccine Supply, Immunisation

The United Kingdom organised the Global Vaccine Summit 2020, helping secure $7.4 billion in funding to support global vaccine supply and immunisation.
The virtual event saw representatives of more than 50 countries - business leaders, UN agencies, civil society, government ministers, Heads of State and country leaders, including Prime Minister Modi - pledge their support to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, in its commitment to help save up to 8 million lives over the next five years
Gavi's routine immunisation efforts, including during the course of the coronavirus pandemic, help stop the spread of infectious diseases and the resurgence of other epidemics.

Jun 05, 2020

University of Madras to Conduct its First Online Ph.D Thesis Defence

A woman research scholar from Thailand will be the first student of the University of Madras to defend her thesis via videoconference.
Prapaporn Vitheeswat, 42, is a scientist in Thailand government's Department of Marine and Coastal Resources of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Ms. Prapaporn wanted to do research in aquaculture and her search for a guide ended with N. Munuswamy, now a CSIR emeritus scientist in the university's Zoology department, Guindy campus.
With the Thai government funding her research, the woman travelled to Chennai in 2016. Her research work was fish and shrimp species, particularly on cryo-preservation of sperm, Dr. Munuswamy said. According to him she is his 38th Ph.D candidate.
She completed her course work in November last year and returned to Bangkok to be with her family, including an eight-year-old daughter. She had intended to return to India for her Ph.D thesis defence.
In April, the University Grants Commission, to a request from the higher education secretary of Gujarat in April, informed that viva voce exam could be conducted via video conferencing provided the university's statutory authorities approved of it.
The UGC's decision was taken up for consideration by the university and on May 15, the registrar formally intimated to all affiliated colleges, and directors of research organisations
Ms. Prapaporn's viva is scheduled for June 26. She will defend her thesis from her department in Bangkok and the external examiner and the supervisor will participate via videoconference in Chennai.

Jun 04, 2020

Govt Launches TULIP Portal

Union human resource development (HRD) minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and minister of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) Hardeep Singh Puri jointly inaugurated The Urban Learning Internship Programme (TULIP) to provide internship opportunities to thousands of fresh graduates and engineers of the county under the 'Smart City' projects.
The TULIP portal has been developed by AICTE.
Under the internship programme students will get to work for 100 smart cities under ministry of housing and urban development.
According to the TULIP portal, there are a total of 295,200 internships under 23,970 companies.

Union Cabinet Approves Re-establishment of Pharmacopoeia Commission

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved re-establishment of the Pharmacopoeia Commission for Indian Medicine & Homoeopathy. The commission will be set up as a subordinate officer under the AYUSH Ministry.
Two central laboratories that were established in Ghaziabad in 1975- Pharmacopoeia Laboratory for Indian Medicine (PLIM) and Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia Laboratory (HPL) will be merged into the Pharmacopoeia Commission.
The Pharmacopoeia Commission for Indian Medicine & Homoeopathy is presently an autonomous body under the aegis of Ministry of AYUSH, which was established in 2010.

8 Indian Institutes in Top 100 As Per Times Higher Education Asia University Ranking

With eight institutes in the top 100, India is the third most represented country in the Times Higher Education (THE) Asia University Ranking.
While the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore retains its top position in the country by attaining the 36th spot globally, eight Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have also been featured in the top 100.
This is India's best performance since 2016, in terms of the number of institutes. Last time, India had eight institutes in the top 100 in 2016. However, the picture is different in terms of 'quality'.
Even as more IITs have been featured in the ranking; THE claims that "overall picture for India's IITs (is) one of general decline amid increased regional competition".
Apart from IIT-Kharagpur and IIT-Delhi which have improved their performance since 2019, and IIT-Ropar which has debuted in the ranking this year, the rest of the IITs have scored lower.

Jun 02, 2020

R. Sreelekha Set to be the State's First Woman DGP

Ms. Sreelekha, belonging to the 1987 batch, is the first woman officer to be elevated as a DGP.
The Cabinet elevated Additional Directors General of Police Sankar Reddy and R. Sreelekha to the post of Director Generals of Police.
The government has posted Ms. Sreelekha, the first woman IPS officer in the State, as the Director General, Fire and Rescue Department.
Ms. Sreelekha, belonging to the 1987 batch, is the first woman officer to be elevated as a DGP.

Jun 01, 2020

"My Life My Yoga" Contest Launched by PM Modi

A Video Blogging Contest titled "My Life My Yoga" (also called "Jeevan Yoga") has been launched by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The contest was launched by PM Modi during the course of his monthly Mann Ki Baat address to the nation.
The contest is a joint effort by the Ministry of AYUSH and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR).

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