PUNJAB

State to seek fiscal package from Finance Commission

The state will be seeking an incentive package from the 15th Finance Commission for meeting all parameters of national development tasks. This package could then be used to mitigate the state’s financial woes, owing to its burgeoning public debt, settlement of the legacy food credit bill and for restructuring of its power utilities under UDAY scheme.

The state’s share in central devolution of taxes has dropped from 2.45 per cent in 1971 to 1.57 per cent in 2013. This severely limits the state’s ability to engage in development and capital expenditure, said a senior finance officer. The state’s debt is expected to reach Rs 2.11 lakh crore by March-end. “While Kerala, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh got revenue deficit grants by the past two finance commissions, Punjab was deprived of this and was removed from the category of debt stressed states.

INTERNATIONAL

Oxford chooses ‘Nari Shakti’ as Hindi word of 2018

Oxford dictionaries declared “Nari Shakti” as the Hindi word for the year 2018.

The announcement was made during a session at the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) at the Diggi Palace.

According to the Oxford dictionaries, the word has been derived from Sanskrit and is used today to symbolise women “taking charge of their lives”.

March 2018 recorded a large spike in the use of ‘Nari Shakti’ as discussion arose around the Government of India’s Nari Shakti Puraskar

Oxford had named ‘Aadhaar’ as its Hindi word for the year 2017.

International Customs Day – 26 January

The International Customs Day (ICD) is observed every year on January 26 to recognize the role of custom officials and agencies in maintaining border security. It focuses on the working conditions and challenges that customs officers face in their jobs.

The 2019 theme is “SMART borders for seamless Trade, Travel and Transport”. This reflects the fact that the expectations of travellers and businesses around the world are changing.

India to participate in the International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2021

India would be participating in the PISA assessment in 2012.
India participated in PISA 2009.

Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a triennial international survey which aims to evaluate education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students.

It is a worldwide study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

It was first performed in 2000 and then repeated every three years. Its aim is to provide comparable data with a view to enabling countries to improve their education policies and outcomes. It measures problem solving and cognition.

NATIONAL

· Amul Camel Milk launched in Gujarat

The Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Limited (GCMMF)has launched Amul Camel Milk in selected markets of Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad and Kutch.
The camel milk offers a wide range of benefits such as: Camel milk assists healthy bacteria growth in the gut making it easy to digest.
Camel milk assists healthy bacteria growth in the gut making it easy to digest and it also improves gastrointestinal health and systemic immunity.
Rich in Vitamin B1 (Thiamin) Camel Milk can provide 70% of the recommended daily value per serving. Camel Milk is rich in calcium which helps to build.

· Indias first indigenously developed NGRAM was tested successfully

India’s first indigenously developedNext Generation Anti-Radiation Missile (NGRAM), an air-to-surface one, which can be fired from Sukhoi fighter jets, was successfully tested at the missile testing range in Balasore, Hyderabad.
The missile can be launched from different altitudesand all the parameters were met during the testing. The missile was developed by Abdul Kalam Missile Complex comprising DLRL, which plays the lead role, Research Centre Imarat, Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL). The missile system is being developed by the BEL and an unidentified private industry partner.

· Most child care homes have no child protection policy, shows study

At a time when the government is finalising a draft national child protection policy to hold organisations and their staff accountable for both preventing and reporting child abuse, an analysis of the data drawn from a mapping of 9,589 children homes from across the country in 2016-17 shows that most homes lack a child protection policy (CPP).

The study steered by a committee set-up by the WCD ministry shows that among the ones doing comparatively better are Meghalaya which had 50% homes where the policy was followed, Odisha (47%) and Haryana (45.6%).

In terms of training and awareness about a policy which is supposed to bring in accountability, the average was rather low with Rajasthan at the top with just 47% homes holding training workshops.

It is pointed the CPP is a tool that protects both children and staff by clearly defining the actions required to keep children safe within the organisation.

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