Addapedia Odisha | Daily Current Affairs | 18 July 2024 | Download PDF

• Punjab, West Bengal, and Delhi have refused to participate in the PM-SHRI scheme. 
• As a result, the Education Ministry has halted funds to these three states under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), the Centre’s flagship education program.

About PM SHRI Scheme:

• Objective:
  • Establish over 14,500 PM SHRI Schools.
  • Overseen by Central Government, State/UT Governments, local bodies, KVS, and NVS.
  • Create an inclusive and welcoming environment for all students.
  • Ensure well-being, security, and enriching learning experiences.
  • Provide good physical infrastructure and appropriate resources.
  • Nurture students into engaged, productive, and contributing citizens.
• Alignment:
  • Aligns with National Education Policy 2020.
  • Aims to build a society characterized by equity, inclusivity, and pluralism.
• Features:
  • Focus on cognitive development and holistic growth.
  • Equip students with key 21st-century skills.
  • Experiential, holistic, integrated, play/toy-based pedagogy.
  • Inquiry-driven, discovery-oriented, learner-centred, discussion-based, flexible, and enjoyable learning.
  • Upgraded with labs, libraries, and art rooms.
  • Developed as green schools with water conservation, waste recycling, and energy-efficient infrastructure.
  • Integration of organic lifestyle into the curriculum.
• Quality Assurance:
  • Development of a School Quality Assessment Framework (SQAF).
  • Regular quality evaluations to ensure standards.
  • Key performance indicators to measure outcomes.

• The ASMITA Project, recently launched by the Ministry of Education and the University Grants Commission (UGC), aims to enhance the availability of educational resources in Indian languages.

About ASMITA Project:

• Initiative: ASMITA (Augmenting Study Materials in Indian Languages through Translation and Academic Writing)
• Objective: Develop 22,000 books in Indian languages within five years.
• Collaborative Effort:
  • UGC (University Grants Commission)
  • Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti (High-powered committee under the Ministry of Education)
• Primary Goal: Promote and integrate Indian languages into the education system to enrich learning and enhance inclusivity.
• Standard Operating Procedure (SOP): Created by UGC for the book-writing process in each assigned language.
  • Identification of nodal officers and authors.
  • Allocation of title, subject, and programme.
  • Writing and editing.
  • Submission of the manuscript.
  • Review and plagiarism check.
  • Finalisation.
  • Designing.
  • Proofreading.
  • E-publication.

• The Department of Defence Production (DDP), Ministry of Defence, has recently notified the fifth Positive Indigenisation List (PIL), which includes 346 items. 
• These items will be exclusively procured from the Indian industry following the indigenisation timelines specified on the Srijan portal.

About Srijan portal:

• Indigenization Portal:
  • Developed by the Department of Defence Production.
  • Provides information on items suitable for indigenization by the private sector.
  • Allows DPSUs/OFB/SHQs to display items currently imported or planned for import.
  • Enables Indian Industry to design, develop, and manufacture these items.
• Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Defence.

• The critically endangered Jerdon’s Courser has not been visually spotted in over a decade.

About Jerdon’s Courser:

• • Common Name: Eastern Ghats Courser
  • Scientific Name: Rhinoptilus bitorquatus
  • Habitat: Open patches within scrub forests
  • Distribution:
    • Endemic to the Eastern Ghats of India
• Found only in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

• Diet: Insectivorous, hunting invertebrates by sight
• Conservation Status:
  • IUCN Red List: Critically Endangered
• Rediscovery: Considered extinct since the early 20th century, rediscovered in 1986

• The Archaeological Survey of India’s (ASI) scientific survey report states that the existing structure at the Bhojshala complex was constructed using remains from an earlier temple at the site.

About Bhojshala Complex:

• Location: Dhar district, Madhya Pradesh.
• Construction: Built by Raja Bhoja (1000-1055 A.D.) in 1034 AD, greatest monarch of the Paramara dynasty.
• Purpose: Served as a university teaching music, Sanskrit, astronomy, yoga, Ayurveda, and philosophy.
• History:
  • 1305 AD: First attacked by Alauddin Khilji.
  • 1514 AD: Mehmudshah Khilji II attacked and attempted to convert the complex into a dargah; built ‘Kamal Moulana’ Makbara encroaching on land outside Saraswati Temple.
• Inscriptions Found:
  • Prakrit Hymns: Two hymns of the Karmavatar or crocodile incarnation of Vishnu engraved in rocks.
  • Sanskrit Grammar: Two Sarpabandha pillar inscriptions, one with the Sanskrit alphabet and noun/verb endings, and the other with individual declensions of the ten tenses and moods.

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