Dharmendra Pradhan Co-chaired 1st Australia India Education and Skill Council Meet at IIT Gujarat
Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Ministry of Education(MoE) and Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship(MSDE) co-chaired the 1st Australia India Education and Skill Council (AIESC)meeting with Australian Ministers- Jason Clare, Education Minister and Brendan O’Connor, Skills & Training Minister.The meeting was held at the Indian Institutes of Technology(IIT) Gandhinagar in Gujarat on 6th November 2023.
Key Points:
- During the 1st AIESC meeting, 5 Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) were exchanged between Indian and Australian Higher education institutions (HEIs) to facilitate greater research collaborations
- Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Australian Education Minister Jason Clare announced the opening of two Australian Universities campuses of Wollongong and Deakin University in GIFT City(Gujarat International Finance Tec-City), Gandhinagar (Gujarat).
About Australia:
Prime Minister– Anthony Albanese
Capital– Canberra
Currency– Australian Dollar
1st INDUS-X Investors Meet held in Delhi and Gurukul Initiative, an INDUS-X Educational Series Launched
Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) under the Department of Defence Production(DDP), Ministry of Defence (MoD), Government of India and the United States Department of Defence (USDoD),Government of the United States of America(USA) organised the 1st India-US Defence Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS X) Investors Meet on 8 November 2023 in New Delhi, Delhi.The meet was organised as a pre-cursor of the 5th annual India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue held on 10th November 2023 in New Delhi, Delhi.The INDUS-X Educational Series (Gurukul) was also launched during the event
Key Points:
- In June 2023, the India-US Defense Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X) was inaugurated during the State Visit of Prime Minister (PM) of India Narendra Modi to the USA.
- This initiative aims to fortify the strategic technology partnership and defense industrial cooperation between the two nations.
- INDUS X will be a defense innovation bridge that would inter-alia include Joint Challenges, Joint Innovation Fund, investment by private entities in defense projects, niche technology projects, etc.
Uzbekistan’s Samarkand Institute of Economics and Services & University of Delhi Established MoU to Enhance Academic Alliances
- Samarkand Institute of Economics and Services in Uzbekistan and the University of Delhi haveentered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), to create numerous opportunities for students, faculty, and researchers from Samarkand and Delhi.
- This partnership endorsed by both institutions, aims to facilitate valuable experiences for both students and faculty, contributing significantly to global education and research
- Within this dynamic partnership, the 2 educational institutions are aspiring to initiate a transformative student exchange program.
- This initiative is composed to provide students with invaluable experiences in both academic and cultural realms, elevating their educational pursuits.
- This collaboration signifies a commitment to creating a robust educational environment to ignite innovation and contribute substantially to the progress of knowledge
- It also outlined to include workshops and seminars, aims to create a space for meaningful conversations and scholarly interactions, fostering intellectual dialogue.
Clean Energy Overtakes Fossil Fuels in Global Job Market: IEA WEE 2023 Report
- International Energy Agency (IEA) released the ‘2nd edition of the World Energy Employment (WEE 2023) report stating clean energy jobs surpassed fossil fuel jobs for the first time in 2021 at the global level.
- Clean energy sectors added 4.7 million jobs globally between 2019-2022 and stand at 35 million, while fossil fuels jobs recovered more slowly after layoffs in 2020 and remain around 1.3 million below pre-pandemic employment levels, at 32 million.
- Clean energy jobs now represent over half of all energy sector jobs
- The report was prepared by the World Energy Outlook Division of the Directorate of Sustainability, Technology and Outlooks of IEA
About International Energy Agency (IEA):
Executive Director– Dr Fatih Birol
Headquarters– Paris, France
Establishment– 1974
Federal Bank Introduces UPI Lite for Small-Value Digital Payments
Federal Bank Limited has launched Unified Payment Interface (UPI) Lite, a simplified version of the UPIsystem which allows users to make small-value digital payments offline without entering a UPI PIN.
- The UPI Lite functionality was introduced by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in September 2022.
- It is an ‘on-device wallet’ feature integrated into existing UPI mobile application.
- UPI Lite minimizes the burden on the core banking system (CBS) by enabling direct transactions between the user’s mobile device and National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI).
IOC Awards Olympic Cup 2023 to Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded the 2023 Olympic Cup to the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation (THF) in recognition of its long-term commitment to empowering refugee athletes and refugees worldwide through taekwondo.Thomas Bach, IOC President, presented the Olympic Cup to World Taekwondo President Chungwon Chouein a ceremony at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Key Points:
- The THF was founded by World Taekwondo President Chungwon Choue at the United Nations headquarters in New York(United States) in 2015
- THF aims to empower refugees worldwide through taekwondo and helping them to improve their quality of life, develop their life skills, learn Olympic values, and pursue their dreams.
- THF is also one of the implementing partners of Terrains d’Avenir, a programme co-financed by the Olympic Refuge Foundation (ORF) and the French Sports Ministry. Terrains d’Avenir aims to provide 7,000 young displaced people in the Île-de-France region with access to sport by 2025.
About International Olympic Committee (IOC):
President– Thomas Bach
Headquarters– Lausanne, Switzerland
Establishment– 1894
National Newborn Week 2023- November 15 to 21
National Newborn Week is annually observed across India from 15th to 21st November to create awareness about the newborn care importance for child survival and development.The observance also aims to highlight the importance of newborn care for child survival and development.The annual observance in India is led by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).
Key Points:
- In 2000, at the request of the National Neonatology Forum (NNF), the Government of India agreed to observe a National Newborn Week from 15th to 21st November each year
- The first ever Newborn Week was launched by the then Prime Minister (PM) Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee on 15th November 2000
- In 2014, India became the first country to launch the India Newborn Action Plan (INAP), in alignment with the Global Every Newborn Action Plan towards eliminating preventable deaths of newborns and stillbirths.
- This aims to reduce the preventable newborn deaths and stillbirth to single digit, less than 10 per 1000 live births by 2030, with intermediate targets for 2017(24 per 1000), 2020 (21 per 1000) and 2025(15 per 1000)
National Press Day 2023 – November 16
National Press Day is annually observed across India on 16th November to commemorate the day on which the Press Council of India (PCI) started its function as the moral watchdog to ensure that the pressmaintains high standards and is not fettered by any form of influence or threats.The theme for National Press Day 2023 is “Media in the Era of Artificial Intelligence”.
Key Points:
- The 1st Press Commission held in 1954 concluded that a statutory authority body with people connected with the industry should be created to maintain professional ethics in journalism
- Following this, the Press Council of India(PCI) was established on 4th July 1966 under the Press Council Act of 1978 and started its functions on 16th November 1966.
About Press Council of India(PCI):PCI is a statutory, quasi-judicial authority functioning as a watchdog of the press, for the press and by the press
Chairman– Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai
Headquarters– New Delhi, Delhi
Established in – 1966