General Awareness

GENDER/ HEALTH/ EDUCATION - August 2020

Aug 2020

Jun 04, 2023

First IIT in Tanzania to Open in October 2023

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) will open its first-ever overseas campus in Tanzania's Zanzibar in October 2023 with a batch of 50 undergraduate students and 20 master's students.
The new IIT campus will be set up in Zanzibar under the name IIT Madras at Zanzibar. Zanzibar will be one of three campuses outside of India, with the others located in Abu Dhabi and Kuala Lumpur.
Each of these campuses is designed to serve its respective region, with Zanzibar serving the greater East African region.

OTT Platforms Mandated to Show Anti-tobacco Warnings

The Union Health Ministry mandated anti-tobacco warnings for OTT platforms. The ministry's notification laid down new rules for anti-tobacco warnings for publishers and a failure to comply with new rules will lead to strict action against them.
OTT platforms are now required to display anti-tobacco warnings and disclaimers similar to the ones we see in movies screened in theatres and in television programmes.
The OTT platform shall also be required to exhibit an anti-tobacco health warning as a prominent static message at the bottom of the screen when tobacco products or their use are displayed during the programme, PTI had reported while the ministry was mulling the decision.
In the wake of the growing popularity of OTT platforms, which play a crucial role in influencing the mind, especially that of a minor, the amended rules calling for a disclaimer may help fight the vice.

Indian-Origin Boy Crowned 2023 US Spelling Bee Champion

The 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee was won by Dev Shah, a 14-year-old Indian-American student from Florida, who spelled the word 'psammophile' correctly. Shah received the USD 50,000 prize and the 95th national bee title after spelling the word, which means a plant or animal that live well in sandy places, at the event in National Harbor, Maryland.
Eleven students made the finals after 11 million people entered spelling competitions throughout the world. Charlotte Walsh, a 14-year-old from Arlington, Virginia, was the runner-up.

Jun 03, 2023

IIT-Kharagpur Partners HCLTech for Collaboration in Petroleum Engineering

IIT-Kharagpur inked an agreement with HCLTech for collaboration in the field of petroleum engineering and earth sciences.
HCLTech and IIT-Kharagpur will jointly develop innovative and sustainable solutions to address critical challenges of the petroleum industry, including reduction of carbon footprint, and provide significant sustainable solutions towards net zero.
Under the agreement, HCLTech will provide opportunities to students and research scholars from IIT-Kharagpur to undertake projects and internships at the company, and use state-of-the-art technologies to develop digital solutions in the exploration, drilling and production of hydrocarbons.
Both IIT-Kharagpur and HCLTech will initiate collaboration on programmes of sustainability that includes discussions, podcasts and joint presentations at international fora on transformative initiatives in the oil and gas sector.

AIIMS Nagpur is the First AIIMS to Receive NABH Accreditation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated AIIMS Nagpur for becoming the first AIIMS to receive the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH) accreditation. The Prime Minister said that AIIMS Nagpur has set a benchmark in delivering quality healthcare services.
In October 2015 the AIIMS at Nagpur was approved by the cabinet at a cost of Rs. 1,577 crore. Construction work on the permanent campus started in September 2017. Meanwhile, AIIMS Nagpur has commenced the academic session 2018-19 from temporary campus at Government Medical College and Hospital, Nagpur.

Jun 02, 2023

THE Impact Ranking 2023: Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham India's Highest Ranked Varsity

The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2023 were declared and Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore emerged as India's highest-placed university. The university was ranked at the 52nd rank globally out of 1,591 universities from 112 countries/regions.
The overall ranking was topped by Western Sydney University followed by University of Manchester, UK and Queen's University, Canada. Universiti Sains Malaysia bagged the fourth spot and University of Tasmania came fifth.
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham stood out for its efforts towards meeting the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Other Indian institutions that are in the top 300 are — Lovely Professional University (Punjab) placed in 101 and 200 bracket, Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences (Himachal Pradesh) also placed in 101 and 200 bracket and KIIT University (Odisha) ranked between 201 and 300.

Jadavpur University Without a VC

Jadavpur University (JU), known for its academic excellence, is currently facing a leadership crisis as the term of the incumbent vice-chancellor (VC), Suranjan Das, came to an end on May 31. Despite this, the state higher education department has not yet formed a search committee to appoint his successor, leaving the university without a VC.
Suranjan Das, an eminent historian, took over as the VC of the private Adamas University on June 1, 2023.
Das' tenure was extended for the second time on June 24, 2021, for two years or until he turned 70, whichever came earlier.
Suranjan Das joined JU in 2015 after serving as the VC of the 117-year-old Calcutta University. In 2022, he was elected as the president of the Association of Indian Universities, an organisation representing 800 universities across the country. His leadership and contributions to the field of education have been widely recognised.

Jun 01, 2023

Kerala High Court Rejects Vacation Classes in Schools

In a significant ruling, the Kerala High Court has refused to allow schools in the state to conduct vacation classes for students. This decision came in response to a petition challenging an order issued by the Director of General Education (DGE) that directed all government primary, secondary, and higher secondary schools to refrain from conducting vacation classes.
The High Court, in alignment with the DGE order, dismissed the plea. The petitioners argued that the DGE does not possess the authority to issue such an order against CBSE schools.
The court emphasised the significance of allowing students to enjoy their vacations and rejuvenate before the next academic year. The holiday break provides students with an opportunity to divert their attention from traditional study materials and explore their other interests in extracurricular activities, which often go unaddressed during the school year.

Canada Becomes First Country to Put Health Warnings on Individual Cigarettes

Canada came out with a regulation that would soon require health warnings to be printed on individual cigarettes, making it the first country to implement such kind of initiative as it aims to reduce tobacco usage to less than 5 per cent by 2035.
The new tobacco products appearance, packaging and labelling regulations will be part of the Government of Canada's continued efforts to help adults who smoke to quit, to protect youth and non-tobacco users from nicotine addiction, and to further reduce the appeal of tobacco.
These labels would be printed on the tipping paper, which is the outermost paper of the filter section, of individual cigarettes, little cigars, tubes, along with other tobacco products. The warnings would be written in English and French.
Retailers who sell tobacco product packages will have to feature the new warnings by the end of April 2024.

University of Edinburgh Collaborates with Indian Consulate to Develop Climate Change Course in Hindi

The Climate Change Institute of University of Edinburgh in a partnership with Consulate General of India in Edinburgh, Scotland announced its first open access course in Hindi.
The Climate Solutions course is available in English, Arabic and Hindi, with versions focused on Egypt, the UAE, India and the UK. It is designed and delivered by award-winning climate change experts, including Executive Director of the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute (ECCI) Professor Dave Reay.
The Climate Solutions: India (Hindi) course, unveiled, looks at the science, impacts and solutions of climate change in the country as a valuable resource for many thousands of Hindi-speaking students and educators across India and the rest of the world.
The university said that the collaboration between the government of India and the university was instrumental in the launch of the new Hindi course, having been carefully curated with the help of expert translators.

May 31, 2023

LPU Listed among World's Top Universities alongside Harvard and Oxford

The World University Rankings for Innovation (WURI)-2023 acknowledged Lovely Professional University (LPU) ahead of the world's top Harvard & Oxford universities, in one of its global ranking lists. Evaluating participating universities globe in six categories; LPU was ranked 12th; the Ivy League University Harvard 23rd; and, Oxford of the UK 37th in the 'Fourth Industrial Revolution' category.
Securing a global band of 101-200, LPU is counted explicitly among various top Ivy League universities in the US, including Harvard, Cornell, Pennsylvania; UK; Germany; Canada; Australia; China; Korea; Sweden.

IIM Lucknow, Emeritus Launch New 'Executive Programme in Data-Driven Product Management'

Effective product management is one of the key drivers of a business, and data holds the potential to turbo-charge this to the next level. In order to prepare the next generation of product management professionals, the Indian Institute of Management Lucknow (IIM Lucknow) along with Emeritus, launched their first-of-its-kind Executive Programme in Data-Driven Product Management. The programme is India's only executive education programme to link product management with data analytics and design thinking.
The 8-month programme is aimed at empowering professionals with about 5-10 years of work experience to transition into data-driven product management.
It is aimed at product analysts, product managers, future product leaders, sales managers, business developers aiming to transition into product management roles, software developers, tech professionals, data scientists, UX engineers, and architects keen to enter data-driven product management roles, as well as entrepreneurs and small business owners building innovative products.

British Council and Microsoft Partner to Boost Job Prospects for Young Indians

The British Council, the UK's international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural exchange and Microsoft India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a co-developed three-year partnership programme, 'English Skills for Youth'.
The programme aims to enhance the life opportunities of young people, aged 18-25, particularly women, in socio-economically marginalised communities across India.
The primary objective of the 'English Skills for Youth' project is to enhance employability opportunities for the youth. Microsoft and the British Council have co-developed this programme to impart one of the most in-demand skills – English language– to students.

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