10-11-22 Daily-Punjab-PPSC Current Affairs

Facing heat from the employees over the delay in implementing the old pension scheme (OPS), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led Punjab Government is planning to implement it soon, especially ahead of the crucial Gujarat assembly where the party is trying to make inroads.

Punjab Cabinet, in its meeting scheduled on Friday, is expected to discuss the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) before its implementation. However, the major challenge ahead of the cash-strained state is a deposit of nearly Rs 18,000 crore to the pension fund authorities.

It has been learnt that the state Finance Department is working overtime to chalk out the modalities to build up the required fund. Also, the government is taking a legal opinion on the issue.

Notably, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had, ahead of Diwali, announced reverting to Old Pension Scheme (OPS). My government is considering reverting to the Old Pension System (OPS). I have asked my Chief Secretary to study the feasibility and modalities of its implementation. We stand committed to the welfare of our employees, he had tweeted.

The announcement was made, the previous month, ahead of the assembly polls in the neighboring hill state Himachal Pradesh after the states agitating employees threatened to hold a series of poll-khol rallies across the State against the AAP which was promising OPS as its poll guarantee.

AMemorandum of Understandinghas been signedon 7^thNovember, 2022 between National Education Society for Tribal Students (NESTS),an autonomous organization established under Ministry of Tribal Affairs and 1M1B Foundation (1M1B) at NESTS headquarters, New Delhi.The MoU was signed by Shri. Asit Gopal, Commissioner, NESTS and Shri Manav Subodh, Managing Director, 1M1B in presence of 1M1Band NESTS team.

The program will capacitate the teachers & students with Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) skills using the AR-VR skills curriculum launched by CBSE. The programme objectives include conduct of training and capacity-building programs for teachers and students of Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRSs). In pilot phase, as part of MoU,programmeis being implemented in EMRSs of 2 states, namely Rajasthan and Uttarakhand.

1 Million For 1 Billion (1M1B), is a Bengaluru based Not for Profit Company accredited to United Nations Organization with special consultative status to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and is associated with the United Nations Department of Global Communications and also is a registered credible organization with NGO Darpan Portal of . Itis a social innovation and future skills initiative aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

NESTS in PARTNERSHIP with the implementing agency, 1M1Baims to engage students of EMRSs in nation-building by enabling teachers and students to understand the world of possibilities offered by emerging technologies and become creators using Augmented reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) to build Indias Metaverse.In congruence with NEP 2020, it is believed that this collaboration will go a long way in providing students of EMRSs an exposure to immersive,visual, and experiential Learning that shall enhance human Infrastructure resource for the nation.

India’s first privately built rocket – Vikram-suborbital (VKS)- was launched by the ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) on Friday. The rocket – developed by Skyroot Aerospace –has been named after Vikram Sarabhai, hailed as the father of India’s space sector. In a bid to symbolise a new start, the mission has been named ‘Prarambh‘, which literally translates as begining.

This comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had opened the space sector for participation by private players in June 2020. The government had called it a big reform amid the push for Make-in-India scheme.

The Global Shield Against Climate Risks, a joint initiative of the and the V20 Group of 20 vulnerable countries, was launched at the COP 27 in Sharm el-Sheikh.

This new initiative aims to respond to the call from the most climate vulnerable countries to improve the response to Climate Change-related loss and damage. In 2023, France will contribute 20 million in subsidies to the Global Shield Against Climate Risks. Germany, Canada, Denmark, the United States, France and Ireland will contribute a combined total of 210 million to the Global Shield. Other countries contribution announcements are forthcoming.

Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Fiji, Ghana, Pakistan, the Philippines and Senegal will be among the first countries to benefit from the Global Shield.

The Global Shield is structured around two pillars: a coordination platform tasked with designing Insurance solution packages together with the beneficiary countries and a financing structure that will support the deployment of these solutions. Frances contribution will go to the Global Shields financial vehicle.