2021

Schools, colleges likely to reopen in Meghalaya after mid-August: Education Minister

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Meghalaya Education Minister Lakhmen Rymbui has announced that the state government will most likely reopen the educational institutes, such as schools and colleges, after mid-August. The final date for the reopening of schools has not been announced yet. Speaking to reporters, Rymbui said there is a need to resume classroom teachings as soon as possible, especially in higher education institutes. Students have been studying from home through online classes, which are not accessible by everyone. “When everything has already started, even the markets are opening, then why not the schools? This is my personal opinion, but (the decision) will have to be collectively taken with the Health Department,” he added, as per PTI reports. Apart from urging all the eligible students to get vaccinated on time, Education Minister Lakhmen Rymbui has also urged people to get themselves, vaccinated to provide a safe environment for the students, once the schools reopen. Talking about the success of the vaccination dive in Meghalaya, the education minister said, “I am very happy that every day about 10,000 people in the state are getting vaccinated.” “So, I take this opportunity to urge parents and friends all over the state to let us give education to our children by vaccinating ourselves so that our society is more resistant to this coronavirus,” he further added, as per PTI reports. The schools and colleges in Meghalaya were shut down in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the nationwide lockdown. The educational institutes were reopened once again in early 2021 but were shut down once again due to the second wave of the pandemic. Source: PTI

Ed-tech making its ways easy through mobile-friendly apps

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In this fast-changing world, education is changing rapidly as well. Learning inside the classroom and outside the classroom, both stand with equal importance. Becoming a cherry on top several educational mobile apps are revolutionizing the study methods. Now learning is becoming way easier through games, quizzes, online live interaction as well as online assignments. Sensing the rise and need of technological importance in education, various educational institutions are developing their educational apps. These educational apps are becoming the gateway for an educational institution to be connected to the latest Ed-Tech trends. It is letting the teachers and learners have real-time experience in educational learning. Hence not just startups but a lot of educational institutions are also investing in the educational applications development for online education. According to some researches it is said that the ed-tech funding for this decade will be at an estimate of 87 billion dollars. While the agenda to develop an education app has been set up by people, and its importance has been realized by educational institutions. Some interesting ideas can be applied to develop simple yet profitable educational apps, for making a difference in the life of students as well as teachers. AR Based educational App: When it comes to looking for the best educational apps ideas. The one that tops the list is augmented reality in the education field. This feature can be used to build a mobile app to teach and explain students in the most unique yet simplest way possible. The teacher can help their students learn through this with a real-time experience. These AR-based apps can be used by students to learn about science with a 3D vision. App for the kids with disabilities: It might get difficult to give extra and solo attention to disabled kids in school or college among all other students by a teacher. Although it is still tried and attempted. An app built especially for handicapped kids can help them learn in their comfort zone. This app will help the handicapped students and teachers to fill up the lack of attention gap they could not get earlier. It will also help the handicapped kids learn from their homes in case they are unable to attend daily classes physically. App for helping with exam fever: We all know very well that exam fever brings a lot of anxiety and nervousness to students. In this case, an app that can help the students to design, plan and implement study techniques in smart ways with easy time management will be a boom. This app can help students in studying more productively with a to-do list. Well-designed timetable, stress management, and smarts ways of learning. Personal teacher or tutor app: Apps that can allow students and their parents to opt for teachers on their demand. Can cater to the niche requirements in the field of education. Through this unique app, the students can take the assistance of a personal tutor in the subjects they face difficulty with. Education games and quizzes app: Making education fun is the best way to educate someone. While the traditional ways of education might not give a surety of total learning and total involvement. Education app that allows students to learn through games and quizzes can help students with total involvement. With that instant quizzes will help student recheck their level of learning and also boost their confidence in learning. Source: spacetechnologies.com

Side effects and effectiveness of Covid-19 Vaccine: A controversial subject

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At present, there is a total of 21, Covid-19 related vaccines, approved for vaccination across the globe. As per the data, to date around 36,500,000 people are fully vaccinated in the United Kingdom. If we look into the data for the United States over 162,100,000 people are fully vaccinated until now. According to the data compiled by Google, 13% of the total world population has been fully vaccinated, against Covid-19. Although people are being encouraged to immediately report any side effects after taking the vaccine. As the Center for Disease Prevention stated to monitoring real-world vaccine safety. Various side effects like swelling, redness, and pain at the area of injection were experienced by people. Other commonly reported symptoms are fever, chills, and nausea. On the contrary, many people did not experience any side effects after the vaccination. Now the question arises, whether these people have not been protected again Covid-19. William Schaffner, M. D., professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN, said, “There is no correlation between side effects and effectiveness of the covid-19 vaccine. Neither the absence and nor the presence of side effects signifies any kind of strong immunity. Source: MedicalNewsToday

Pune University is setting the sky as a limit: launches course in Drone technology

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The Savitribai Phule Pune University has recently launched a new program in Drone technology. Under this program, students can apply for undergraduate and post-graduate certificate courses. This drone technology program will commence from the current academic year. As per the officials, there will be an entrance exam to be held in August for admitting students to these courses. A Memorandum of Association was signed between SPPU and ForForcesAeroproduct India Limited on 30 July 2021. Two respective certificate courses in the undergraduate and postgraduate categories have been launched. The MoU was signed in the presence of Dr. Nitin Kalmakar, Vice-Chancellor SPPU, Dr. S Umarani, Pro vice-chancellor, Dr. Apurva Palkar, Director of Innovation, and Linkages; Dr. Aditya Abhaynkar, Head of the technology department, and officials of Forforces Aero Products India Limited. The certificate course which will be called, ‘Introduction to drone technology, will be conducted for two weeks. Another 12 weeks duration course with the title “Advanced course on drone technology’ will be introduced soon along with a drone pilot training course to be completed in one or two weeks mostly. There will also be a bachelor of Autonomous Vehicle course and in the coming days a, “Masters in Autonomous vehicle” the course will also be introduced by the varsity.

Telangana Govt Rolls Out Dalit Bandhu Scheme in Vasalamarri Village

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Hyderabad: Implementation of the ‘Telangana Dalit Bandhu’ scheme has been welcomed by the Telangana government with the release of Rs 7.60 crore, thus providing assistance to 76 Dalit families in Vasalamarri village of Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district on Thursday. The implementation came a day after Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao visited his adopted village Vasalamarri where he interacted with Dalit families. The release of the financial aid of Rs 7.60 crore was issued by the Scheduled Castes development department through Government Order (GO) which permitted the Telangana Scheduled Castes Co-operative Development Corporation (TSCCDC) to hand over the aid to the district collector for implementation of the benefit of Dalit households in Alair Assembly constituency. The Chief Minister said that a sum of Rs 10 lakh will be deposited in each beneficiary family’s bank account from Thursday and the beneficiaries are free to spend the money as desired but further advised them to use it to create a source of revenue. During the interaction, he asked the people what they would do with Rs 10 lakh to which the beneficiaries responded in multitudes; setting up a dairy farm, buying tractors, and doing business. CM Rao said that through the financial assistance given under the scheme, the Dalit community should develop itself as a business community by selecting industries, employment, and business of their choice. Under the first phase, 100 families from each of the 119 Assembly constituencies will be identified. The government has announced an allocation of Rs 1,200 crore for the scheme. The Chief Minister said his government was ready to spend even Rs 1 lakh crore for the scheme. He exuded confidence that the scheme will become a torchbearer for the Dalit community in the entire country. Source: India.com

Khel Ratna Award Renamed to Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award: PM Modi

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PM Modi announces on Twitter to rename Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award to Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced on Twitter that they are going to rename the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. It will henceforth be known as Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. PM Modi said that their cabinet has taken this decision keeping in mind the people’s sentiments and the achievements of the hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand. He tweeted, “I have been getting many requests from citizens across India to name the Khel Ratna Award after Major Dhyan Chand. I thank them for their views. Respecting their sentiment, the Khel Ratna Award will hereby be called the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award! Jai Hind!” In India, the Khel Ratna Award is the highest sports honor given to a sportsperson. It is a matter of great prestige and honor, and is given to exceptional people who achieve great excellence in the field of sports. PM Modi also said that the decision is fitting to rename the country’s highest honor behind the stark sporting star Major Dhyan Chand.

Basic Salary of Delhi MLA’s to Increase to Rs 30,000: Delhi Government

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Earlier, the MLAs were drawing a basic salary of Rs 12,000 per month New Delhi: Delhi MLAs, who were earlier earning a basic salary of Rs 12,000 per month, will now receive Rs 30,000 as basic income. This follows the approval given by the Delhi Cabinet to hike their salary and allowances, which is apparently lower than that of the MLAs of other states. Henceforth, the MLAs of Delhi will get a total of Rs 90,000 a month, including basic salary and other allowances. Earlier, this amount was Rs 54,000, exclusive of reimbursements. The revised reimbursement structure is yet to be disclosed. The MLAs will now receive Rs 25,000 as constituency allowance, Rs 15,000 as secretariat allowance, Rs 10,000 as conveyance allowance and Rs 10,000 towards telephone bills. The other reimbursements are paid in the form of electricity and water bills, medical treatment, allowance for attending assembly sessions daily (not more than 40 days a year) and House committee meetings, pension, family pension, yearly travel and monthly reimbursement for data entry operators. A revision has been pending ever since the last revision in 2011. About five years ago, a change in the compensation structure of Delhi MLAs was mooted, when it was proposed that the basic salary of MLAs be raised to Rs 54,000 and the total salary inclusive of allowances be hiked to Rs 2.1 lakh. However, instead of a basic salary of Rs 54,000, the Centre has now approved a basic salary of Rs 30,000. Source: HR Katha

OTT Platforms opening new possibilities for media content

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OTT platforms have boomed in the time of the pandemic. When movie theaters were shut and daily soaps were stopped, a new adoption of entertainment related to the OTT platforms likes; Netflix, Amazon Prime, Zee5, and many more took place. Also, we can expect a lot of newer platforms to arrive in the coming time. This can also be called a revolution in the media and entertainment segment. There are a lot of perks and benefits when a person looks up to OTT (Over the top). Content delivery on the internet in the era where people nearly do not have many options to go for. While on OTT you get almost everything and variety under the sun and maybe in the coming days it can cover things over the sun as well. No one knows the limits of possibilities these OTT platforms can give you as an audience. Some various features and criteria make OTT platforms unique. It gives you a lot of freedom without checks and balances, which lets the audience explore a set of unexplored facets of entertainment. No forceful advertisement to watch: Gone are days when the audience was supposed to watch ads as a compulsion for every episode or other content they watched on television. There were times when surfing the other channels too was not an option as ads used to get played simultaneously on all almost all prime channels. So here you go entertainment without interruption on the OTT platforms. You can watch any movie, series, or drama without any interruption. Unwanted waits are over: Gone are the days when you have to watch an episode and wait for another day patiently to watch another. In that case, the cruelest day seems to be the weekend where the waiting use to become even more longer. Now the moment a series or content is released on the OTT platform, you get the privilege to watch every episode or on the same days in one stretch depending on your preferences. Or you can leave wherever you want and start again from there whenever you wish to. No boundaries and criteria defined: There were times when a lot of series and movies could not even get released. Just because they could not meet up with the expected standards of the censor board committees. Well not to worry now. An unexplored world of entertainment with no filters is available for its audience without any barriers. To give its audience a touch of entertainment with reality. These OTT platforms are revolutionary as well as unpredictable. Therefore, a lot of expectations are yet to be met by OTT platforms in the coming times. With that audience will also have to decide where they want to set their standards for saturation and from where they wish to come back to the normal content. Or will they not come ever.

A lot of employers are unhappy with the workers refusing vaccination, as a rise in covid-19 cases is seen again

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With the advent of the covid-19 vaccine becoming more of a compulsion, a lot of rage and confusion has been raised among the employers. The question is being raised as to what can be done if the workers refuse to take the vaccination for Covid-19. On the other hand, employers are also asking non-vaccinated workers to get tested every week. If in case they are not vaccinated, so that the employers are weekly updated about their worker’s covid-19 infection status being negative or positive. Based on The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), has given the answers to these confusions to some extent. Stating that, “the federal anti-discrimination laws don’t prohibit employers from requiring all employees who are physically entering the workplace to be fully vaccinated, for COVID-19. “ On the other hand, employers in the United States encourage or mandate vaccination must adhere to the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) Title VII of the Civil Rights act of 1964 and other workplace-related laws as per the EEOC.

Government Smart City Mission: Great Opportunity to Invest and Make in India

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The smart way to make the troublesome lives of many people better. For ages, the whole country and its inhabitants have felt the need for a smart, modern and agile India. Many governments have made concrete promises of developing and fixing the numerous loopholes in terms of infrastructure, development, connectivity and urbanizing cities. However, only recently, we can see the gears turning up and India heading towards progress. Why are smart cities crucial for India’s development? India is the second-most populous country in the world. Therefore, we definitely are dealing with an overpopulation crisis here. Serving and catering to the needs of the population is becoming an increasingly difficult task. No matter how much effort you put in, some people are always left out from the benefits. This problem can only be solved when our cities and facilities are democratized, revolutionized and urbanized keeping in mind carbon-neutral and sustainable development goals. The main areas where cities face problems in India are waste management, water pollution, air pollution, sustainability, traffic jams, and other pressing issues like crime. These issues cannot be resolved just by putting hands, brains and feet together. It needs smarter solutions. Therefore, the government has come up with a smart city mission to make this country a better place for our future generations. The main objective of the smart city mission will be to develop and provide modern infrastructure and give a decent life to the residents all around the clock. Issues like scarcity of electricity and clean drinking water, better public transportation, use of modern technology for navigation, internet and temperature determination will be catered to in these plans. Important concerns regarding the environment will also be looked after in smart city missions. Climate change is a world concern and India has to contribute its fair share in solving this crisis. Therefore, cleaner, sustainable and environment-friendly practices will have to be included in the smart city mission. India’s Ministry of Urban Development is responsible for implementing this project countrywide. These programs will be a joint collaboration of the central and the respective state governments. According to the current plan, these plans are set to start and end in the time period of 2020 to 2023. Apart from West Bengal, all states and union territories are taking part in the mission by nominating at least one of their cities for the initiative. In FY 2021, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman allotted a budget of INR 6,450 to the smart city mission highlighting various issues to be eliminated for the progress of the country. The flow of funds is said to increase for the Ministry of Urban Development shortly. The pandemic has slowed down the process of implementation, allotment, planning and construction of many smart city initiatives. But, once the COVID-19 scenario improves, these projects are going to be in full swing. The scheme will also help in economic development and will create numerous employment opportunities in the near future. According to Business Standard, the Centre and state governments had proposed to spend Rs 48,000 crore each over five years. By June 23, 2021, Rs 40,622 crore (42%) of the Rs 96,000 crore was released. Rs 27,862 crore (69%) was utilised, according to utilisation certificates submitted by the cities. Though these projects are slow to progress and completion, we have hope that after the pandemic and some economic stability, these plans will be fast-tracked and resumed for work.